In both Gatsby film and Franklin’s Poor Richards Almanac demonstrate divergent assertions on what individuals need to do to acquire wealth and attain the American dream. Comparing the different assertions on the same matter, it is evident that Franklin’s assertions on the subject are false while those shown in Gatsby are largely true. Benjamin Franklin illustrates that poverty only catches up with lazy individuals and consumers that purchase products that they do not need. On the other hand, Gatsby demonstrates that individuals belonging to different sociocultural backgrounds have an opportunity to accumulate wealth and achieve their American dream despite a surge in the spending of individuals. As is evident in the film The Great Gatsby , Franklin’s assertion that the American Dream is available to all people is incorrect because the American dream to Jay Gatsby has nothing to do with wealth since Gatsby was a dishonest man for most of his life, and essentially, what many view as the American dream, is never enough.
Gatsby demonstrates that the American dream has nothing to do with accumulation of wealth. Firstly, Jay Gatsby pursued Daisy because his greatest desire was to have her as the love of his life. Despite the challenges that they both encountered in their marriage, the couple experienced moments of great warmth and they shared the great love they had for each other. Furthermore, pursuing Daisy and getting her to agree to marry him seemed like he achieved his American dream after he successfully bait her (Fitzgerald & Simpson, 2021). Pursuing Daisy seemed like chasing an American dream because it was important for Jay to connect with Daisy. Love seems like a dream that is difficult for Jay to achieve, which gives the incident a beautiful twist because it contradicts the assertions proposed by Franklin because he emphasized on people achieving happiness by only pursuing to acquire money (Franklin, 2014). Evidently, Gatsby demonstrates that achieving the American dream to Jay was the ability to share his life with Daisy. The author explains that “He had passed visibly through two states and was entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock” (Fitzgerald & Simpson, 2021). Therefore, contrary to Franklin’s assertions, the American dream does not guarantee individuals to acquire happiness compared to the little things and passions that people decide to follow.
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Gatsby was a dishonest man because he was willing to engage in lies, deception, and do a lot of dirty work as long as he managed to get Daisy into his life again. To demonstrate Gatsby dishonest, the author explains that “he is involved in dodgy dealings as this is how he has made his money “I found out what your drugstores were… sold grain alcohol over the counter… I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him” (Fitzgerald & Simpson, 2021). When Gatsby first met Daisy, he had no wealth attached to him and he was assured that he had to have money to get her attention (Fitzgerald & Simpson, 2021). Subsequently, Daisy resolved to engage in illegal sale of alcohol, which led him to purchase a drug store across the streets in Chicago and sold the commodity over the counter. Furthermore, after he acquired money, he made attempts to lie to people about what his work was and how he grew up. It was essential for him to engage in such lies because he purposed to create a positive impression to Daisy and win her love. The nature of lies and deception he told to conceal his history demonstrates that achieving an American life through acquisition of wealth was not everything as people will still be concerned on other aspects in his life. Moreover, Gatsby was willing to take the blame that he murdered a woman by hitting her with his car while he was covering Daisy’s mistake. He said that he was one who was driving the car at the time during which the accident occurred. Nevertheless, Nick managed to discover that Daisy was the one that hit the woman and Gatsby was covering her up. Consequently, even though Gatsby did not live a virtuous life, he was able to accumulate wealth and fame unlike assertions raised by Franklin and he managed to achieve what he desired for a long period.
Attaining the American Dream that revolves around accumulation of money, having a successful career, owning a home, and family is not enough. Gatsby was eventually left alone because after getting married to Daisy, he engaged in adultery and his wife could not forgive him and asked for a divorce. It would be assumed that after doing all the things that Gatsby did so that he would get a chance to be with Daisy he would never have a desire for other women. Acquiring a wife that he desired, money from illegal business, and some status made Gatsby attain the American dream (Fitzgerald & Simpson, 2021). Nevertheless, he does not seem to have a high regard for the achievements he made because his actions risked losing everything that made he struggled to achieve. Given the challenges and sacrifices he made to win over Daisy, it was unlikely that he would risk losing her. However, it is evident that without love American dream is nothing since even after accumulating a lot of wealth, there are chances that an individual will not have a fulfilled life. The relationship between Daisy and Gatsby failed soon after their honeymoon because they felt a surging boredom. The turn of events demonstrates that the desire for the couple to get married was not driven by love but by something else. Nevertheless, the assertions by Franklin do not hold in this case because his focus was on the role that earthly wealth plays in helping people achieve fulfilled lives (Franklin, 2014). Both Daisy and Gatsby had all the earthly wealth and they managed to achieve other attributes such as a family, home, and social status. Nevertheless, the family still broke up and each one of them sought for happiness from other factors they considered crucial. The author states; “Gatsby must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass” (Fitzgerald & Simpson, 2021). Therefore, even though Gatsby had everything he could dream of at some point in his life, he essentially died alone without love and he had nothing.
Franklin’s assertion about the American dream did not hold in Gatsby’s life because he did not meet attributes that he argued to be essential in realizing such a dream like honesty and hard work. Gatsby lived a life characterized with lies and deception as he pursued Daisy who at the beginning seemed like a dream not easily achievable for him. Therefore, Gatsby never shared to anyone his true past and gained all his wealth from selling alcohol, illegally. All of his wealth and fame was for one thing and one thing only, his true love, Daisy. As is evident in the film The Great Gatsby, Franklin’s assertion that the American Dream is available to all people is incorrect because the American dream to Jay Gatsby has nothing to do with wealth, Gatsby was a dishonest man for most of his life, and essentially, what many view as the American dream, is never enough.
References
Fitzgerald, F. S., & Simpson, A. (2021). The great Gatsby: a novel . Black Dog & Leventhal.
Franklin, B. (2014). Poor Richard’s almanac . Simbach Am Inn] Miniaturbuchverl. Leipzig.
