What is the American Dream Really?

From a young age, I've always witnessed the notion of the "American Dream" as making, or becoming, something out of nothing -- starting from the very bottom and becoming something brilliant. I've been told that the American Dream is the belief that any person, no matter what their background is, whether they come from wealth or poverty, can achieve great success, prosperity, and comfort in life as long as they put in hard work and are willing to make sacrifices. Having coined the term in 1931, historian James Truslow Adams refers to the American Dream as being "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement."

I think that, more commonly than not, the American Dream and "success" have been tied closely to wealth in particular -- starting in the lower or middle class and then becoming rich. This isn't just demonstrated in movies, but also in the lives of celebrities or very influential people in real life. For example, Oprah Winfrey, now one of the biggest talk show hosts in the world with a net worth of $2.6 billion, was born in Mississippi to a poor family. Even Jeff Bezos, the literal richest man in the entire world with a net worth of $105.2 billion, was born when his mother was just 16 and had very little money. We consider these people to "have made it" and be the image of the American Dream because they have now achieved financial success.

For me, I do believe that these individuals and people like them who started with nothing and are now rich can in fact be examples of the American Dream. However, I think someone can also be the definition of it without becoming extremely wealthy. I think it is absolutely crucial to establish that success, which is what the American Dream is based on, means different things to different people.

In my world, my American Dream would be becoming the happiest and most confident version of myself, doing the things I love the most without being held back by any factor. I have no desire for extreme amounts of money or materialistic things like expensive cars or interior decorations. I want my "wealth" and "success" to come from experiences. I want to be able to say I've done amazing things, not that I have amazing things. I also want to be wealthy in the sense that I am surrounded by good relationships and people who love and support me.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the theme of appearance vs. reality is notoriously present, especially in relation to the American Dream. Throughout the 1920s, success and the American Dream were largely equal to materialism and green dollar signs, and in this way, Jay Gatsby was the epitome of what everyone wanted. With his mansion, lavish suits, fast cars, charming mannerisms and smile, and brilliant parties that drew in everyone living in New York, Gatsby was the image of a life that many Americans living in the Jazz Age wanted desperately. He had started off as a kid in an impoverished family but had grown up to become a millionaire. His story gave Americans hope that socioeconomic divisions within society could be defeated and no matter their backgrounds, they too could have all of these extravagant things. 

On the outside, Gatsby did seem to have it all. He was young, rich, charmingly mysterious, and by every means powerful. However, this was a carefully calculated illusion. In reality, he just wanted one thing -- he wanted to be loved by one particular girl, and her name was Daisy Buchanan. The only reason he had all of these expensive things was because he felt the only way he could win back this girl he hadn't seen in 5 years was to capture her attention with them. She had come from old money and was used to a comfortable life and because of the spirit of the 1920s, Gatsby had done everything he could to achieve financial success to win her over again. 

Eventually, though, it all ended up being for nothing, because Daisy didn't end up leaving her husband Tom for Gatsby after all. For this reason, I believe that Fitzgerald's whole purpose is to criticize the mindset of many Americans during the time period and how focused they are on wealth; to say that money and materialism aren't everything. Through Gatsby himself, Fitzgerald emphasizes how you can have all the money and wealth in the world, but be poor in the sense that you have no true happiness or satisfaction. He also shows through Tom and Daisy that you can have all the money and wealth in the world, but be poor in the sense that you have no character. While Nick, the narrator, was considered to be poorer than his cousin Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby when it came to money, he was wealthier than all of them in the end because he had good character and was comparably happier. Nick may have lived in a small, "weather-beaten cardboard bungalow" (Fitzgerald 3) that he was renting for $80 a month next to Gatsby's "colossal affair" (Fitzgerald 5), but he still had good character, standards, and passions that weren't tied to so much wealth.

Overall, I agree with Fitzgerald's general commentary. The definition of wealth and poverty is not set in stone. Wealth and poverty can be defined by many different things. Wealth is subjective and unique for each person based on the things that they value in life. With that being said, I believe Fitzgerald is trying to warn his audience and make it clear to everyone that money isn't and shouldn't be everything we wish to have. We should want to achieve true happiness and joy, among many other things, not just financial success.