Great Gastby and A Raisin in the Sun

     The American Dream Presentation varied from person to person. For my neighborhood it resembled wealth and education that is associated with acquiring that wealth. This obviously relates  to both books because of the wealth aspect showing in both The Great Gatsby and A Raisin in the Sun. In "Raisin" it relates well with Beneatha's dream of going to college and becoming a doctor. The same goes with the American Dream of my neighborhood of the adults providing the best education to their children and sending them off the college. She wants to go off and be someone in the world and she has the support of, some, of her family. In my neighborhood we have a similar situation except that the children in my neighborhood don't have the ambition and don't want to do anything with their lives and they have FULL support from their families to go to college, get a good education, and have a career in something they'd like to do. This was Beneatha's american dream, which is the same as the one portrayed in my neighborhood.
     The American Dream project is also relative to The Great Gatsby in that they both have a wealth aspect to them related to happiness. They say money can't buy you wealth but it can buy you things that make you happy. Gatsby was a big representation of money in Great Gatsby especially because he came from a family of farmers, poor, and changed in his goal to become wealthy and respectable for Daisy. In my neighborhood the motto seems to be "money and education will bring you happiness", this is clearly not true as shown in The Great Gatsby. People seem to associate money with happiness because of all the things and luxury you can buy, it also seems almost stress-free to be wealthy which leaves you healthier and happier. By contrast though, Gatsby was the wealthiest caracter in the book, yet he seemed to be the loneliest. He achieved his american dream of becoming wealthy, yet he still wasn't happy. Perhaps the people in my neighborhood already know this and that's why they decide not to do anything about achieving goals or even setting any in the first place! Another example, also in this book, is Daisy and Tom. They are also living the american dream, Daisy being famous and Tom having power over people. But, although they have achieved their drams, they also are unhappy. They are married and don't even seem to love each other even though they have a child together. Tom is even having an affair because he is not happy enough with Daisy, then later on in the book Daisy has an affair with Gatsby, her first love. They, Tom and Daisy, both know that their "significant other" is having an affair but they don't really get jealous, until the end of the book, because they know that they are unhappy in their marriage and don't love each other as they should as a married couple.

WORD COUNT: 502

Reflection/Analysis

My neighborhood is consisted of the middle class and is a family oriented values. Most parents in my neighborhood have high paying labor intensive jobs and want better for their children. They try to provide the most for their kids by sending them to school to get an education and having the opportunity to get into college, hopefully by scholarship.  I remember the type of children that I went to school with. There seemed to be a 50/50 chance for them. Half of the students really cared about achieving more than what their parents could. The other half seemed to have other priorities above their education, most of them included hanging around with the wrong types of people.  Those students that do care about their education seem to be on the right path. Those that have never really shown an interest have either gotten better with high school or continued their old habits. I believe that the American Dream is alive in my neighborhood, even if for only part of the population.  In my neighborhood, the American Dream is not based so much on sole happiness, but the belief that with money comes happiness because of the economic security you can have. This also ties in with the belief that an education is required to achieve this. Even those that do not care about their education realize this and don't believe to be ever able to be financially stable or achieve happiness, or the American Dream.