Moreover, Fitzgerald presents wealth and the wealthy elite through the use of car motifs. ... Ironically, cars can also be seen as symbols of destruction through the car crashes that occur in both books. ... This is shown in the Great Gatsby when Owl Eyes crashes the car at Gatsby's party in chapter three (p43), and how he knew "very little about driving.... Miss Runcible has her car crash (p152-3), and has to go to a nursing home, through her own carelessness. Moreover, recklessness can truly be seen through how little mention of the actual car crash there is, almost as if it had ne...

• Word Count: 1663
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Car is like house, tending to be associated with the materialism of American Dream. Nick only had a shabby car; Wilson lived on car-repairing; Tom fooled Wilson by using his bait; Gatsby had two nice yellow cars to receive guests. To Gatsby, car is not only a means of showing off but also a means of redeeming his primary lover Daisy. However the traffic accident of Mrs Wilson caused by the car brought about the ruin of Gatsby and Wilson, which are what they finally paid for love. ... Therefore car becomes the symbol of ruin, implying the disillusionment of ideals based on material. 2. ...

• Word Count: 1437
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The American dream is a tacit promise given to all citizens in this country, which states that regardless of social class, any individual can aspire to new heights based upon the ideology of meritocracy. The American dream is a "recurring theme in American literature"(Pearson) and in American societ...

• Word Count: 1239
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Ultimately all of these ills in society- the consumerism, corruption, cynicism, vast cars and houses, massive parties, lack of moral values, plus the Prohibition movement led to class struggles between the rich and poor, a superficial wealthy class of people, and an inaccurate perception of the relationship between money and happiness. ... Consumerism, excessive material wealth, and cynicism is portrayed in The Great Gatsby through the obsession with material purchases, the enormous homes on long island, extravagant cars, and lavish parties. ...

• Word Count: 1603
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

It was during this time when the war was still rather fresh in everyone's memory and wealthy people wanted to forget and have as much fun as possible and so people would splash out on expensive things such as cars and parties and live meaningless, yet social, lives. ...

• Word Count: 1093
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, are two novels that deal with the tragic culmination of the American Dream, personified through respective protagonists. However, these protagonists are perceived very differently as a result of the different narrative pe...

• Word Count: 2039
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." A timeless statement by Thomas Jefferson that epitomizes what the American Dream origina...

• Word Count: 1786
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate