Verenicxa Torres Final Exam Essay

What is the American dream but a mere greed of wealth. The need to be superior than the rest of the society we live in. The need and desire to have everything we want in life.
I believe The Giver represents a different view of the American dream. The Giver is book in which the community is all the same. Their is no love, no pain, no feelings at all. Jonas doesn't know what it's like to feel the urge and desire to be better than the rest because they are all the same and equal. He doesn't know what it's like to live in a competitive world full of poverty and starvation. The fact that he doesn't understand those feelings makes his dream much different than the superficial and stereotypical idea of the American dream.
The way Jonas' life is set up to be the perfect life makes his dream much different than you would think. I view his dream as him being able to share the pleasures and horrids of his memories. He wants the rest of the community to realize what it's like to feel pain, happiness, sadness, starvation, pleasure and most of all he would like his community to feel love. His dream is not to have the pleasures of life we all want but to share the pleasure of his feelings; to know the difference between right and wrong and how to make their own decisions.
In the other hand The Great Gatsby represents the traditional American dream of riches and wealth. The book is based on greed alone. Gatsby who lives in a world full of riches, would only strive to keep being the rich, wealthy man that he is. He on the other hand knows what its like to be poor and suffer through life, he knows how competitive you have to be to survive in this world. Gatsby knows what it's like to have to climb the ladder to success, when Jonas is automatically appointed to that success.
With Gatsby knowing the reality of life I would only interpret his dream as being the traditional American dream. He wants nothing but the best in life and I believe he would do anything to keep himself from falling back into his days full of poverty.
The Giver and The Great Gatsby show different views of the American dream. One is full of wealth while the other is only striving to share the emotional dilemma that ordinary people deal with in everyday life.