Some people want power.
Some just desire the idea of starting a family in a nice little house by the seaside.
Each of those individual aspirations could classify themselves to be an "American Dream". Once you set that goal--that dream of yours that you want to obtain--that's something that should definitely stick with you for life and become one of your major motives.
So what is the ideal American Dream, or the standard one at least? No matter what, everything all leads back to the idea of having some sort of wealth, which (as CBS says) "may very well be the root of all evil". They say that the dream has been split into two different sections and types: those who work to earn it and those who think it's owed them.
It's ludicrous to think about just how similar this definition is to the views of those in the book The Great Gatsby. The two divisions can definitely be identified as East Egg (the earning of money) and West Egg (the inheritance of it).
Perhaps the most damaging piece of popular career and leadership fluff is that you should reach for the stars, aspire to the corner office, and don't stop until you achieve your dreams. Now, I know what you're thinking: Isn't that the American Dream, start from nothing and become a big-time success?-- CBS
The quote "start from nothing and become a big-time success" is practically the exigency of Gatsby's entire being. Originally, Gatsby wasn't the man who he became later in the book--he wasn't a big hotshot with loads of cash to fill all of his pockets. Gatsby actually started out not having anything and eventually worked hard in order to achieve the status of becoming infamous. In this sense, Gatsby is like the symbol of the American Dream that is being questioned today: the idea of starting from nothing and working up to something.
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