Although the characters in the Great Gatsby and A Raisin in the
Sun are of different races and lived in different time periods, they both had
similar ideas of the American Dream. Both Walter’s and Gatsby’s notion of the
American Dream stemmed off of having a better life through a materialistic perspective.
Both stories seem harmless in describing the life of a self-made man who starts
with nothing and achieves great wealth through hard work, but when this money and
power become everything in the eyes of these men, the idea can become malevolent.
Walter in A Raisin in the Sun is very greedy and only thinks
of himself when it comes to making or getting money. He is envious of others’ wealth
because he desperately wants to get out of the situation he and his family is
in. Despite warnings from Ruth about starting a business with a man of
questionable character and from Mama about the morality of running a liquor
store, Walter went right ahead with his plan because he badly wanted to achieve
his goals. The liquor store was supposed to be the means of getting Walter the
money he always dreamed of having, but his dreams didn’t come true when he got scammed
because of his naivety. He had no sense of morals and was emotionally detached because
of his strive for money. Even when Mr. Lindner made his racist and degrading
offer to the family for not moving into the new house, Walter seriously
considered taking it just because he could get back some of the money he had
lost.
Gatsby in the Great Gatsby had a similar idea of the
American Dream also based off of money from liquor. Although Walter never
really got the wealth he always dreamed of, Gatsby came from a poor family and was
able to rise to the top of wealth. He was also looking for a life better than
the one he grew up with; A life filled with fortune and materialistic wealth. But
when Gatsby met Daisy, she ultimately became his American Dream. From then on
he, did everything he could to please her and have her as his own. This went to
the extent that, just like Walter, Gatsby was naïve and didn’t listen to Nick’s
advice that he couldn’t relive the past. He refused to see Daisy’s faults and saw
that she could do no wrong. However, similar to Walter’s case and just as many
others go through to achieve their goals, for Gatsby, the American Dream was
still out of reach and was never completed because he didn’t have Daisy.
Instead of working hard and going to school like Beneatha
dreamed of, Walter wanted to take the risky and easy way to wealth. Gatsby too quit
and dropped out of school too take the easier and cheaper criminal path to success.
In both of these stories, the ethics of good, morality, and righteousness are
overshadowed by the need and greed to become rich.
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