American Dream'in

1. How would you describe the “American Dream?”

To me, the American Dream is something that a minuscule amount of the United States population actually acquires. In my opinion, it's more of an idea and can only be obtained through luck. This means that people immigrate to America based on this "American Dream" yet, most people do not always fulfill it. It's the optimistic who take on the journey toward it, yet most find it to be unobtainable in the end and sometimes even fall into a life of poverty instead of wealth, investing in this "dream". Yes, of course, there is the idea that you can build yourself up and that the freedom that the U.S. provides allows you to do so, however, if we look at it from a 1920s perspective, only those in fortunate circumstances will win the fight for wealth. We see this to be true for the most part in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, wherein main characters such as Nick, Tom, and Daisy come from a wealthy and privileged family background. Jay Gatsby, however, was just one of the lucky people I was hinting at, who was able to meet the right people and climb the ranks. (And yes, it obviously did help that he was a white male in the 1920s). It can also be said, however, that during his journey, his new American Dream became a life with Daisy whom he had fallen in love with as a soldier. As Gatsby thinks about her in war and for 5 years after they met, Fitzgerald is able to show us how Gatsby's tunnel vision for a life with Daisy is a metaphor for people seeking out the American Dream's chance at wealth which right after the depression was a dream in high demand. Those people's suffering from the Great Depression lead them to avarice, such as Gatsby's suffering as a child lead to his lust for Daisy. 

2. What is your definition of wealth?

Not gonna lie, I find wealth to be monetary. To me, wealth will always and forever be its definition which is "an abundance of valuable possessions or money." 

I want to be wealthy when I'm older simply because I don't want to struggle to survive, and if you are struggling financially it can lead to anxiety and agitation in other parts of your life which results in overall discontent until the day you die. I say this thinking of the hierarchy of needs... no one can be happy if they are struggling to even obtain the simple basic NEEDS a person requires such as food and a place to live, let alone never getting anything they WANT. In our capitalist society, money WILL determine your livelihood and your happiness. (unless what makes you happy is being homeless, but hey, you do you man)

3. What are Americans’ attitudes toward wealth and poverty?

I think that in our society today, that being in poverty has been heavily scrutinized and that the media has kind of scared people into trying to avoid poverty at all costs. It's not bad to make people want to work harder because sometimes fear is good to get a person motivated to actually make a living for themselves, however, it's the opposite idea that the media portrays of wealth that is more sinister than you'd expect...

With wealth, the idea of being rich has been glamorized so much by the media and the idea that someone can become famous almost instantaneously on social media that it has lead to most children in America seeing these actors, models, and rappers (especially rappers because they are the ones to typically speak about their come-ups) etc., and then getting the impression that they will be able to become like them overnight. Because the youth are being fed by this "get rich quick" scheme, this, in fact, subjects them to a chance for a life of poverty because the media is keeping them distracted... AND THE MEDIA IS FINE WITH IT! The more you watch, the more money they make. This is the way that wealthy people can keep themselves on top. This can even be exemplified from the bootlegging in the 1920s. The wealthier people ran this illegal trade and made a ton of money off of it not only by selling to other wealthy people but to the poor as well. The poor would then stay where they were in the economy due to them being able to drink away their problems and fantasize about a better life instead of working, while the wealthy reaped the benefits. It's called the Great DEPRESSION for a reason and in the Roar'in 20s, the wealthy probably knew that they could take advantage of people's sorrow by offering them alcohol as a suppressant. Anyways, it's basically no different than today. Large business moguls and heads of tech companies in America have acquired the American Dream for themselves, while they make addictive computer programs that will ensure that people stay attached to their phones and don't innovate themselves...(just think about it! do you realize how productive our generation could actually be if we didn't have phones to distract us... It's crazy and sad to think about). Anyways, just as we see Gatsby and the Wolfshiem gang in the story taking advantage of the bootlegging business in the 1920s, we can see the moguls of today taking advantage of their opportunity to ensure that there is no innovation besides their own in order to keep them on top. 

4. What is your attitude toward wealth and poverty?

I think that there's a big stigma around poverty that is necessary to address, in that people need to realize that there are many factors that play into whether someone will lead a poor life or a wealthy one and those are factors that can and cannot necessarily be controlled. 

There are two kinds of people who grow up in poverty:

1) Those who will be beaten down by their circumstances and stay in a cycle of poverty.

2) Those who are stronger willed and will be able to pull themselves out of circumstance. 

The American Dream comes into play here with the idea of "if you can see it, you can be it", essentially stating that in America, due to the abundance of freedoms we have, there is almost nothing legally hindering us from being a successful citizen. 

Jay Gatsby is a prime example of #2. He was a child to very poor farmers and although hindered by his circumstance, he still believed that he should/could make something of himself. He had the will and the tenacity to try to make a better life for himself. He would do this through hard work throughout his childhood and teenage years into adulthood, before he became kind of corrupt as a member of Wolfshiem's ring. That leads in to the idea as well where one could ask themselves, "Do you have to be corrupt in order to attain wealth and success?" For the most part we see the wealthy people in the novel as being corrupt and emotionally, having something unstable and unfriendly about them. I think this could be said about a lot of wealthy people in the 1920s due to the fact that this idea of this lavish lifestyle and materialism consumed them to the point where they lost their humanity to a moderate extent. This may be because of the war era messing everyone up psychologically, however these people ultimately made their decisions on their own and have to live with the consequences. This is why they are considered the Lost Generation, because they don't know exactly what they want in life, they just know that success will only come with their conforming to the rest of society and the idea that they must jump at the American Dream in order to achieve it.