How Does Gatsby Represent The American Dream Essay Example For Students

How Does Gatsby Represent The American Dream Essay A Lifetime of Change- American Dreams The quest for truth and Justice, for social and economic equality. A place where everyone had a fair change at making it big. America! America! The land of the FREE and the home of the brave, set your sail and travel to the New World of wonder and where your wildest dreams come true. Through the eyes of Peter Noyes you can see a drastic change in America. Within his lifetime the American Dream became real, and the ways of life became a lot better. When Peter left England he left an entire system of rules and regulations unknown to the settlers in the New World. During the time of Imperialism in the 19th century, the U.S wanted toexpand worldwide and strive for the lead in the imperialistic race. In1871, the U.S and Canada signed the Washington treaty meaning that the U.Srecognized Canada as an independent dominion. Any schemes to forcefullyannex Canada and to unite the North American continent under the U.S flaghad been rejected. The U.S could not expand any further in North Americaand had to look at other parts of the world for expansion. At the time,there were many other nations looking to expand its empire such as Britainand Germany. Some Southern expansionists saw Cuba as an interest becauseit could have possibly been used as a slave territory. Because Northernerswere highly against slavery, the plan was dropped. After the Civil War,Secretary of State Seward had negotiated a treaty to purchase the virginIslands from Denmark, but the senate rejected this treaty. They were notpurchased until 1917. In 1859, the U.S annexed the Midway Islan ds in theSouth Pacific, and half the Samoan Islands; the other half belonging toGermany. Hawaii, another Pacific island, had always been important to theU.S. It served as an important base for trade with Japan and China. Whenthe U.S annexed Hawaii in 1893 after a coup, to justify it, the U.S claimedit was an important strategic military foothold. They also claimed that theinferior Hawaiian natives were incapable of self government, and that itwas in their best interests. After the annexation of Hawaii, and later thePhilippines in 1899, it seemed clear the U.S was relentless in becoming themost powerful imperialistic nation. It is this idea of expansion thusgaining power and superiority over other nations that proves the AmericanDream/Ciity upon a hill being about superiority. Compare and Contrast:Martin Luther King Jr. EssayThe Gulf war showed that no nation should violate the interests of theUnited States. After the re-unification of Germany in October 1990, endingthe cold war, a large number of U.S forces were no longer needed.Conveniently, at the same time, after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, theU.S had the perfect place to move its forces where they were needed for adeterrent to Iraq of invading other neighbouring countries. When war brokeout in January 16, 1991, and ended a few months afterwards in April withIraq defeated, plans for a Middle East peace conference startedimmediately. The defeat of Iraq affirmed the U.Ss total control of theMiddle East. With Iraqi aggression ceased, the U.S wanted to resolve theIsraeli-Arab hostilities to therefore build a new post-cold war Middle Eastto meet American interests. Iraqs invasion of Kuwait violated Americaninterests, with consequences following. The defeat of Iraq deterred otherMiddle East nations fro m violating American interests thus bringing themtogether to work out some form of peace that will accommodate the U.S inthe perhaps coming American dominated New World Order. The U.S in bringto parties that hate each other Arabs and Israelis to a peace tablefor U.S interests shows that the U.S is a superior dominant force in theWorld. Its driving force, the idea of the American Dream of being aCiity upon a hill. This means to be the best, to be superior, which theU.S has clearly shown in the Middle East. From the birth of America, to America today, the driving force and theheart of America has always been the American Dream. By looking atAmerica today, the most powerful nation in the world, the dream hasliterally become a reality. The United States has always strived to besuperior and it is today the most powerful nation in the world. The UnitedStates right now can not go much farther than it has already reached. Ifit tries to go beyond the dream, it could become a nightmare. Words/ Pages : 1,671 / 24