The American Dream
Isaiah Dye
Have you ever had a dream, or wondered what it would be like living in a huge mansion? Wouldn’t it be awesome to drive a brand new sports car every day, or even own your own personal cruise ship or yacht?
I think about things like this a lot, I’m sure I’m not the only one, anyone who’s thought about the American dream may have too, especially after reading this book called “The Great Gatsby,” For my Honors Composition and Literature class in high school. We have to write this open letter, and at first I had no idea what topic to pick out for the book, but when I found it I related pretty well to it.
If you haven’t read it, it’s about a rich guy named Jay Gatsby who is in love with this Girl, and although she loved him she married another guy named Tom because Gatsby went to war and apparently she couldn’t wait. It turned out to be an okay read.
After I read about how Gatsby had the huge house, nice car, and tons of money, but then reading how he acquired his wealth, how selfish Daisy was, and his untimely demise, did he really have it all?
I think this book may have been talking about the American dream, and in my opinion, it really went into the fine print of the contract that is the American dream and showed me why although you might have a lot, it may not actually be what you want.
So based off of some personal experiences, more like my whole life actually, I’ve lived in poverty, and I’ve lived comfortably.
I lived with my mother for twelve years of my life, growing up in horrible apartments and stinky clothes. My mother was given a quarter of a million dollars in child support by my father over the duration of my life with her, and when I switch from her home to my fathers, I moved in with two changes of clothes and a backpack, and that was when I realized the gap was a lot bigger than what I thought it was.
I live with my father now, and although we aren’t rich, there is a big difference in our life styles. We keep our home cleaner, wake up on time, set plans have goals. Although we may not have a lot of money or desirable objects, I’m happier than I was living with my mother simply because of a change in life style.
Gatsby was obviously a well-groomed man who also set goals, in chapter 9 I read about a list of a daily routines he did, which research shows that eighty-one percent of wealthy people keep and maintain a to do list, while only nineteen percent of poor people do.
In the book we also learn about how Gatsby made his money, with the help of his friend Meyer Wolfshiem, who is described as a pretty shady dude, which kind of makes me think Gatsby made his money doing some shady things, which brings me to me next point.
My father is a very hard working man, and everything he has is because of all of that over time and determination. In the ideal American dream, I personally feel like I couldn’t live guilt free unless my money was made honestly, although I’m sure some people could sleep carelessly in a new mansion and care less where the money came from to purchase it.
When you think about it that can be kind of selfish, almost as selfish as Daisy. She spent a lot of time with Gatsby until one day they got into a car accident and although she was driving
