American Dream

During the 1920s the idea of the American Dream was having a lot of money, being able to party, and just enjoying life. Due to the differing time period my personal views of the American Dream are very different. I view the American Dream as being able to provide myself the necessities for life and to be able to enjoy the life I have. It is being able to practice the rights that I have and not be discriminated against for any reason. It seek equal treatment in society. Not only that but it is also hoping for a better future.


I think that like in the Great Gatsby and in the 1920s hope is a large part of the American Dream. We still everyday hope for our futures to be better as did people in the 1920s and people will continue to look to further themselves in the future. Hope is a continuous piece of the American  Dream that will remain for as long as the idea of the American Dream lasts. My view of the American Dream differs from that of Gatsby and people of the 1920s in that my idea of the American Dream is not to obtain as much wealth as possible. While my views may not be the same of other people, to me wealth has less of an impact on how successful we view ourselves as. While wealth is very important to obtaining power in society I feel that this is not as important now as it was in the 1920s. This can be seen by the removal of the terms "new money" and "old money". No longer to we see people with money from their parents as better than those who made their own living. In fact, there as been a shift and those that earned their own money and worked hard to make it to where they are now are more looked up to than those who are given money through inheritance.


My definition of wealth is not necessarily finances but more in terms of happiness. What is the point in having a lot of money if I am not happy and I feel that my life has no meaning? I think that the happier I am with my life the more wealthy I am. This is a direct contrast to the views of people in the Great Gatsby and the people in the 1920s. They viewed wealth as the most important thing. They didn't seem to care if they were happy or not all they wanted to do was to become more and more financially wealthy. This is because at this time the United States was going through great financial increase and everyone wanted to be a part of it.


I believe that the overall American view towards wealth and poverty has stayed the same. Poverty is always viewed as awful and with terrible living conditions. Americans in the media portray poverty as unbearable when in reality this may not always be the case. In some cases those that are in poverty are happier than those with a lot of money. Sure they have to worry about money, but if someone cares about them it is less likely to be because of something they have. People in poverty are more likely to build real relationships with people as opposed to fake ones where people are only after someone else's money. The view of poverty as negative and wealth as positive I think comes from the idea of the general idea of the American Dream. The general idea is that we should want more and seek as much financial gain as possible but seeking financial gain does not always bring the happiness that we seek. I view wealth as not all it is hyped up to be and poverty as not as bad as it is frequently portrayed. This is my opinion because I feel like it is easy to be wealthy and unhappy because sure you may be able to buy whatever you want but there is a lacking human connection that occurs with people when you reach a certain level of wealth. Poverty isn't as bad as it is portrayed because while you may not have the funds you need while in poverty you can develop a deeper connection and find who is really there for you and who isn't. While when you have wealth everyone wants to be around you and it becomes difficult to separate real friends from fake ones.