Gatsby and Raisin in the Sun

The American Dream is something that ranges from person to person, time period to time period. It is something that many people hope to accomplish in their lifetime to become happy and satisfied. The Characters in "The Great Gatsby" and "Raisin in the Sun" had a similar dream, despite their racial differences, as well as different time periods. In "The Great Gatsby", mostly everyone's dream was to be rich and live a very wealthy life filled with materialistic items. In "Raisin in the Sun", the characters hoped for wealth and success as well, but they were more humble and also desired other things, such as a fair life, good education, and genuine happiness.

Gatsby was born into a poor family, and dating a rich girl when he was young only made him more determined to satisfy her expectations, as well as her parents'. After working for a rich man (who became a good friend) and working awful jobs (such as being a janitor), he finally said enough is enough and decided to go after his dream of becoming wealthy. He managed to accomplish his goal, becoming one of the wealthiest on East Egg and hosting parties every week.

Gatsby may have achieved his dream of becoming wealthy, but he was never really happy and satisfied. He may have amazed Daisy with everything he managed to accomplish since they had last seen each other, but he was never able to lure her back to him and finish where they left off. Unfortunately, he lost her to Tom. Gatsby may have gained thousands of dollars, but he died unsatisfied and unhappy, not winning back the girl of his dreams.

Living on Chicago's south side, the Younger family was not very rich. They had enough money to maintain themselves, but they of course desired more, especially with a baby on the way. The fact that Walter invested the money that was left from his father to a random "trustworthy" man shows how badly he may have wanted to become richer than he currently was. Unfortunately, this dream faded, along with the money that the man ran away with.

Despite losing a lot of the money that their father left and the money for Beneatha's education, the Younger family still managed to maintain to accomplish their other dreams. Beneatha wanted to make something of herself and become a doctor, so she was able to study with the little money her family had. She managed to reach her goal of earning a good education. Another goal the family accomplished was living a fair life. The house Mama bought with some of her husband's money was located in a white neighborhood. A man representing the community offered to buy it off them so there wouldn't be any problems with a black family moving into the area, but they refused. Instead, they decided to keep the house to keep their dream of a fresh, happy start and giving mama the garden she always desired.

The characters from the Great Gatsby and Raisin in the Sun all had the similar dream of becoming wealthy to live a more successful life, but the comparisons stop there. I believe that the Younger family had the more realistic dream with a happy ending. They were not all greedy and selfish like characters from the Great Gatsby (such as Daisy), thanks to mama. They kept their sights on things that were good not only for them, but  for their family as well. The Youngers were able to accomplish genuine happiness despite a few hardships, which a believe is the main part of the American Dream. If you're not happy, then what's the point? (611)

West Lawn American Dream Reflection

During this process of interviewing and going around my community, I realized that there was more to the American dream than just achieving success, raising a family and getting and education. Some may wish for simple things like living a comfortable life, while others just wish for freedom. The American dream may not always be about money, though it could be, especially for those who have very little. I noticed that the dream did change and differ between generations, but that is because the times have changed. The younger generations have more aspirations now that the task of getting to the country and building a new life from scratch has been taken care of by the older generations. Older people, for example, had the priority of getting a job first, in order to bring in the money. Today, younger people have a dream of attending their dream college and getting their dream professional job.

Besides gathering photos to describe and help back up my findings for the numerous kinds of American dreams, I was challenged about actually being able to tell if the dream is alive in my community. It may not be the greatest, but compared to others, it is well off. The people within have their heads straight for the most part and know what they hope to achieve. This has definitely opened my eyes a little more to the surroundings in my community, and I have learned that there is more to the dream than I thought. It definitely varies from person to person, but it's all based on one's own happiness and goals. The Dream is very well present in West Lawn, some bigger than others.