A Critiscm on the Corruption of the American Dream, using the works of Fitzgeralds' The Great Gatsby and Miller's Death of a Salesman

Essay by CMallonHigh School, 11th grade March 2005

download word file, 13 pages 3.7

"You see for me, America is an idea. It's that capacity to dream and then try to pull it off, if you can." (Bharati Mukeriee). The American Dream has become an idealistic way to live ones life. The American Dream has been a long-standing idea that in America all is possible. An idea that through the accumulation of wealth will come happiness. Unfortunately this is no longer the case. The American Dream as it stands has become corrupted. Since, the main goal of the American dream is to reach a monetary goal, people have abandoned the normal pursuits to reach this because they feel that reaching the ultimate goal is the final step, and they are more then happy, to take illicit paths to reach this dream. As this becomes more and more true, the American Dream is becoming corrupted because people are following a corrupted path, to a dream that they believe will bring them happiness when they achieve it.

But the path they take, will bring them nowhere near happiness, but instead lead them to failure. A failure of knowing that they strived too long for a false dream. The American Dream is a corrupt dream that will not bring happiness to those that strive for it. Both Arthur Miller and F. Scott Fitzgerald believe this idea. The novels of Death of a Salesman and The Great Gatsby, focus on the corruption of the American Dream, and the seductive nature of it. But these authors did not write their novels to discourage a pursuit of a dream; they feel that instead of pursuing the American Dream, one should pursue his own dream and be true to himself.

The traditional idea of the American Dream is presented in both novels. Within each work, the authors present the illusive...