The American Dream is an idea that many Americans share and have faith in, but it can be used as a false promise of success. This notion is explored through the texts The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men written by F.Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck respectively. The Great Gatsby was first published in 1926. The novel is set in the summer of 1922 and follows the life of Jay Gatsby who tries to get the love of his life back, Daisy Buchanan, through his wealth and social status. Of Mice and Men follows the lives of George Milton and Lennie Small who are migrant farm workers. Lennie is mentally incapable but George is there to protect him. They both share a dream of one day owning a farm together. The authors have constructed the setting, …show more content…
This is evident when Tom says ‘I'll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that's a God damned lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now’. Tom’s view on marriage is much different from Gatsby’s. Tom sees love as a possession and marriage as a way of owning another person. Gatsby sees marriage as an expression of love. This is evident when Gatsby responds ‘You loved me too?’ after Daisy had confessed her love to him. West Egg, East Egg and The Valley of Ashes have been used to represent the three different types of classes in society during the 1920s. The construction of the setting has been used to show us the conflict between the people who had old money with the people who had new money and how people with no money were isolated from the high class and overlooked. The conflicts between the classes show us that the pursuing the American Dream may lead to wealth and prosperity, but it certainly does not provide happiness among people. The Great Depression was the result of life during the Roaring Twenties. People heavily valued materialism and hedonism which in-turn made many people try to find a way to gain a large amount of money in a short period of time. As more and more people were intoxicated with greed and selfishness, they became more careless through their actions and made many mistakes. These mistakes led to the
There are many things that factor in as causing The Great Depression. I believe the biggest factors to be money and confidence. Even though by year end of 1930 the stock market had recouped some of the money lost in the previous years’ loss with the devastating Black Tuesday. The US and the rest of the world would continue to feel the devastating effects of banks failing, high unemployment rates, reduced trade and purchasing of over produced goods, and a negative impact to agricultural. This would not only put a dent in the people’s confidence with the stock market and banks but also government would need to step up in a big way to get things somewhat back on track.
There are some main causes The great depression, first in 1934 per week They made $ 4.80 per week and They paid $ 3 by The incomes of Their Homes, all that happened to Birmingham Alabama in 1934, in Chicago everything rises for The men and The women for the food , And then spent $ 1.10 that was spent on food in stores, The three cases are The three cases were The financial downfall, low wages, and unemployment.
The Great Depression was an economic collapse that began in 1929 and ended in 1938. During the Depression most citizens went through hardship .Three main causes of the Great Depression were the stock market crash of 1929, the Dust Bowl, and Bank failures.
Today, it is more evident than ever that there are deep divisions within modern society along the lines of race, class and gender. These divides are highlighted by recent protests, riots and movements. These issues are relevant in modern society as well as in two famous stories. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men use character development to make commentary toward these points. Fitzgerald’s novel covers the tumultuous journey of Nick Carraway through the swanky social elite of the 1920’s. Steinbeck’s text covers the opposite end of the spectrum, detailing the experiences of George and Lennie, ranchers during the great depression. While also providing a riveting and captivating plot, these seemingly antithetical tales both develop their respective characters to be normal, everyday people who face difficult problems because of their class.
The Great Depression was caused by the stock market crash in 1929. The Great Depression was very sad time for Americans, who faced many adversities which ultimately changed the way they lived. During this period of time unemployment rose to nearly 25% of the population, those who did not lost their job saw a dramatic decrease in their pay.
Second cause of the great depression is the uneven distribution of wealth. Business owners made huge profit from the beginning of the Roaring Twenties. These business owners did not deal with the low wages of their workers. As a result, the workers were not able to afford goods as these companies produced them. Also, after the world war one, the European nations owed America billions of dollars. The economy of these European countries was devastating; thus, there was no way for these countries to repay.
Let’s say that there is a person who has an important goal that he wants to eventually reach, such as becoming a professional football player. He goes to all the practices, goes to the gym everyday, and he studies all of the plays that he might do. He puts in tons of work and at the end of highschool he gets a scholarship to play football in college. So, he is on the team, and on his first day of practice, he has a career ending injury. He can no longer play football for the rest of his life. How do you think that made him feel? The Great Gatsby is a book about a man, named Nick, who has a neighbor, called Gatsby, who likes a woman who he knew in the past. Of Mice and Men is a book about two men, named George and Lennie. They are trying to get a job and enough money to buy some land, so they can “live off the fatta the land” (Fitzgerald 14-15). The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men both show characters that are determined to achieve the american dream. As these characters get closer to achieving the american dream, things start to go downhill. This shows that no matter how determined someone is to achieve the american dream, they might not be able to achieve this dream.
The Great Depression started in 1929- 1939, it was the deepest and longest - lasting economic downturn when a stock market crashed. Many people have lost their jobs and they couldn’t afford bills. Birth rates dropped because people could not afford to care for children, and divorce rates dropped because people could not afford legal fees. The Great Depression caused many effects on the American people.
The Great Depression, was caused by a number of weaknesses in the economy. It begun with the dramatic crash of the stock markets, bank failures, and unemployment was approaching 15 million people, or 30% of the workforce. 1/3 of the farms in the state of Mississippi changed hands because of foreclosure. Farmers, couldn’t sell crops because of over production.
F. Scott Fitzgerald in his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby and John Steinbeck in his 1937 novella Of Mice and Men examine the reality of the American Dream in their respective societies. Both authors disseminate the philosophical values engendered by the American Dream, but its corruption by social ostracism is nevertheless exposed in both texts. Although Fitzgerald’s exposé of the Roaring Twenties and Steinbeck’s Great Depression tale depict vastly dissimilar socio-cultural settings, both novels portray their protagonists’ common failure in attaining the American Dream. As Fitzgerald suggests that
The Great Depression was a dreadful worldwide economic depression that occurred in the 1930s and it was the most profound and longest depression in the American History, which lasted from 1929-1939. Although the Great Depression began soon after the crash of the stock market in October 1929, it is too straightforward to say that that was the major cause of the Great Depression. This crash did not by itself cause the Great Depression. Even before the year 1929, signs of economic trouble had become evident. (Give Me Liberty! An American History, 5TH Edition, Eric Foner, Pg 811).
The Great Depression was a huge economic downfall in North America and involved many other industrialized countries of the world. The Depression began in 1929 and lasted for about ten years. Millions of people lost their jobs along with many businesses going bankrupt. The common misconception of the Great Depression is people think that the stock market crash was the main cause for it. There were many causes for the Depression; unequal distribution of money during the 1920’s was the main cause of the Depression. This unequal distribution happened on many different classes of people. The imbalance of money is what created such an unstable economy. The stock market was doing much worse than people thought
The cause of the Great Depression was many things. First the New York stock market crashed. The people bought stocks with borrowed money. It seemed
The Great Depression was started from the horrific stock market crash in October of 1929. Many people lost their life savings as the market crashed. This scared everyone to take their money out of the banks which hurt the economy even
There are various factors that led to the Great Depression. To begin, the lack of bank regulation was a big factor. The Federal Reserve Act which made banks have money on reserve, was not enforced. Another big factor was easy credit, Easy credit made it easy for people to get money out the bank without having the money to pay it back. Furthermore, the reduction in purchasing across the board can easily be said to be another key factor. With the stock market being down many people within every social class stop purchasing items. Which would cause a decreased not only the number of items being purchased but also the loss of people jobs. Many people had thing on layaway, so usually they would just pay for it monthly. However once they lost their