---
title: "The American Dream | American Lit"
description: "The American Dream is the belief that hard work can lead to success and mobility in U.S. literature, but texts from Fitzgerald to Steinbeck question it."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/american-literature-since-1860/key-terms/the-american-dream"
type: "key-term"
subject: "American Literature – 1860 to Present"
unit: "Unit 2"
---

# The American Dream | American Lit

## Definition

The American Dream is the belief that hard work and determination can lead to success, freedom, and upward mobility in the United States. In American Literature since 1860, writers often test that ideal against class, race, money, and disappointment.

## What It Is

The American Dream is the belief that a person can build a better life through effort, ambition, and perseverance. In American Literature 1860 to Present, that idea shows up less like a simple slogan and more like a stress test for American society. Writers use it to ask who gets access to opportunity, who is shut out, and what happens when success does not match the promise.

A lot of texts in this course treat the American Dream as both hope and illusion. On one side, it stands for self-improvement, reinvention, and the chance to rise. On the other, it can hide unequal starting points. A character may work hard and still face poverty, racism, gender limits, migration, or bad luck, which makes the dream feel uneven rather than universal.

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby gives one of the clearest literary critiques. Jay Gatsby looks like the self-made success story, but the novel shows that wealth alone does not create belonging, love, or meaning. That gap between glitter and emptiness is exactly why the American Dream matters in literature, it gives writers a way to show how success can be performed, marketed, and still feel hollow.

Steinbeck uses the idea differently. In works like The Grapes of Wrath, the dream is tied to labor, land, and survival, but economic collapse makes it unreachable for migrant families and working-class people. Instead of celebrating mobility, the text shows how fragile it is when banks, drought, and exploitation control the rules.

Midwestern literature often adds another layer. It can connect the American Dream to hard work, ordinary life, and small-town resilience, but it also exposes how conformity, industrial change, and geography shape what is possible. In absurdist drama, the dream can become even more unstable, turning into repetition, confusion, or futility when traditional success stories no longer seem believable.

So when this term appears in class, it usually points to a tension, not a guarantee. Ask who is speaking, what version of success they imagine, and what the text suggests that dream costs.

## Why It Matters

The American Dream is one of the main ideas tying together American writing from the late 19th century to today. It gives you a way to connect very different texts because authors keep returning to the same question: can people really rise through effort alone, or does the country make that promise unevenly?

This term matters because it helps you read beyond plot. A rich family, a farm, a factory job, or a failed romance can all become evidence for how a text treats mobility, class, and identity. When you see a character chasing success, the real question is whether the work celebrates that chase, criticizes it, or shows it collapsing.

It also gives you a shortcut for comparing authors. Fitzgerald often reveals the dream as glamorous but empty. Steinbeck shows it as blocked by poverty and systems bigger than the individual. Midwestern writers may frame it through grit and local values while still exposing limitation. Absurdist drama can strip the dream down until it sounds absurd on purpose.

In essays and discussion, this term is useful because it opens up pattern-based analysis. You can track symbols like wealth, land, movement, or reinvention and explain how they support or undercut the dream. That kind of reading usually earns more than simply saying a character wanted success.

## Connections

### Social Mobility

Social mobility is the real-world movement between classes, while the American Dream is the promise that such movement is possible. In literature, writers often test whether mobility is actually available or just advertised as available. A character can seem upwardly mobile on paper, but the text may show that money, education, race, or family background still limit access.

### Disillusionment

Disillusionment is what happens when a character or society stops believing the dream will come true. Many post-1860 American texts build toward that feeling, especially when the promise of success turns out to be shallow or unfair. Fitzgerald is a strong example because the shine of wealth gives way to disappointment and emptiness.

### Self-Made Man

The self-made man is one version of the American Dream, the idea that a person can rise through individual effort alone. Literature often complicates that idea by showing how much help, luck, and privilege are hidden behind the success story. If a text questions who gets to be 'self-made,' it is also questioning the dream itself.

### [Jay Gatsby](/american-literature-since-1860/key-terms/jay-gatsby)

Jay Gatsby is one of the most famous literary figures connected to the American Dream. He appears to embody reinvention and wealth, but Fitzgerald shows that status cannot buy the past, love, or social acceptance. Gatsby is useful because he turns the dream into a character study, not just a theme.

## On the AP Exam

A passage analysis or essay prompt will usually ask you to identify whether a text supports, questions, or rejects the American Dream. You might point to symbols of wealth, land, travel, or reinvention, then explain what they reveal about class and opportunity. If the work is Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, or an absurdist play, the safest move is to look for the gap between promise and reality.

You can also use the term in compare-and-contrast writing. For example, Gatsby chases glamour and social status, while a Steinbeck novel may frame the dream as basic security, food, or home. That comparison lets you show how one idea changes across genres and historical moments. In short-answer or discussion questions, define the dream, then give one concrete way the text complicates it.

## The American Dream vs Self-Made Man

The self-made man is a specific story about individual achievement, while the American Dream is broader and includes opportunity, freedom, prosperity, and mobility. A text can use the self-made-man myth to critique the dream, especially when success depends on class, inheritance, or social access rather than effort alone.

## Key Takeaways

- The American Dream is the belief that effort can lead to success, mobility, and a better life in the United States.
- American literature since 1860 often tests that belief instead of simply celebrating it.
- Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Midwestern writers, and absurdist playwrights each show a different side of the dream.
- The term usually comes up when a text shows the gap between what America promises and what characters actually get.
- A strong analysis explains whether the dream is affirmed, complicated, or exposed as unreachable.

## FAQs

### What is The American Dream in American Literature since 1860?

It is the idea that hard work and determination can lead to success, freedom, and upward mobility. In this course, writers often use it to question whether that promise is real for everyone or only for certain groups.

### How does The American Dream show up in The Great Gatsby?

Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s wealth and reinvention to show the dream in its glamorous form, then reveals its emptiness. Gatsby can buy status, but not belonging, love, or a stable future, which turns the dream into critique.

### Is The American Dream always a positive idea in literature?

No. Many American texts treat it as hopeful on the surface but unequal, fragile, or even false underneath. Writers often show that race, class, geography, or economics shape who can actually reach it.

### How do I write about The American Dream in an essay?

Start by saying whether the text supports or questions the idea, then point to a symbol, character, or event that proves it. A strong paragraph usually connects one character’s goals to the larger social conditions that help or block those goals.

## Related Study Guides

- [2.6 F. Scott Fitzgerald](/american-literature-since-1860/unit-2/f-scott-fitzgerald/study-guide/5akITuO58IeDUX7z)
- [2.8 John Steinbeck](/american-literature-since-1860/unit-2/john-steinbeck/study-guide/8lE8ZJ6DyyHVyOkS)
- [8.5 Absurdist drama in America](/american-literature-since-1860/unit-8/absurdist-drama-america/study-guide/ArDe2EVfVsjPy8Ot)
- [3.4 Midwestern literature](/american-literature-since-1860/unit-3/midwestern-literature/study-guide/rVXQd3mvZCnUDL11)

## About This Document

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