American Dream Lost essays

American Dream Lost essays Gatsby as a Social Commentary on American Life The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has been celebrated as one of the greatest, if not the greatest American novel. Yet this is ironic for the society which has so hailed the book is precisely that which is criticized throughout it. Politically, the American dream was a foundation of ideals and hopes for any and every American individual. Specifically, one of the ideals was an American dream free of class distinction; that every person has the opportunity to be whomever they hope to be. In a sort of Cinderella-like fashion, it is in essence an ideal of social mobility and freedom. The social reality, however, is far more cruel. Because of the harsh truth of social America, by way of its pretentiousness and decadence, the American dream is lost. Through Nicks honest and poignant observation, the parallel lives of Myrtle Wilson and Jay Gatsby reflect The Great Gatsby as a social commentary about the polluted American Dream. Myrtle is that infamous model of how the political and social ideals of America conflict so that the American dream becomes a nightmare. Contrary to the naivete the American dream, there are indeed fine class distinctions. With them comes certain social boundaries. In a sense, it is almost as if there are unspoken sumptuary laws understood by low and high classed individuals alike. Myrtle Wilson is no exception. Instead of abiding by them, Myrtle, who represents the low and ignorant class of America, tried to break the social barriers and thus pursues wealth by any means necessary. Using her sexuality and vulgar mien, she becomes false for abandoning and dismissing her own social foundation, and like Nick, we as readers are repulsed by her grotesque approach to entering the rich class. At one point, and quite humorously to the knowing onlooker, Myrtle complains about a service done for her that was so expensive that "w ...

Words Ending in -gue

Words Ending in -gue Words Ending in -gue Words Ending in -gue By Maeve Maddox An email in which the word colleague was spelled colleag got me thinking about English words that end with a hard g sound spelled -gue. Since only a few such words are in common use, learning to spell them shouldnt be too difficult. WARNING: These words start to look strange when you look at them in a group. Twenty-six common English words end with the spelling -gue. Variant spellings drop the -ue. The following -gue words have no acceptable variant spellings, not even in Merriam-Webster: brogue colleague fatigue fugue harangue ideologue intrigue league meringue morgue plague rogue tongue vague vogue For each of the following -gue words, Merriam-Webster recognizes variant spellings without the -ue: analogue catalogue travelogue decalogue demagogue epilogue monologue †¨ pedagogue †¨ prologue The OED, on the other hand, does not dignify decalog, demagog, travelog, epilog, or monolog with entries. It acknowledges the existence of pedagog, catalog, and synagog. Pedagog and catalog are listed among obsolete spellings. Travelogue has an entry at which it is identified as originally U.S, but no variant spelling is given. Synagog is shown at synagogue and labelled U.S. The OED does have an entry for prolog, but it has nothing to do with the word prologue: prolog: (The name of) a high-level logic programming language derived from Lisp, originally designed for natural language processing but now used in many artificial intelligence programs. I can write analog, catalog, and travelog without a shudder. I cannot bring myself to write epilog, decalog, or synagog. †¨ Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial ExpressionsThe Parts of a WordWhen to use "an"