During the Dum Dum Intellectuals meeting, the narrator takes issue with McJones when he says, “you can’t even pretend to tell me you would rather live in Africa than anywhere else in America” (219). The narrator considers this, concluding that perhaps the “relative happiness, including, but not limited to, twenty-four-hour access to chili burgers, Blu-ray, and Aaron office chairs”, is not worth the “generations of suffering” that the institution of slavery inflicted on Black people. A trend in society that this book attempts to expose is the tendency to rid America’s history of evil and suffering, and constantly do things small and large in order to save face. McJones’s argument suggests that slavery and its consequences actually can be twisted to be viewed in a positive light, because it brought black people to America and now they are here and can pursue the American dream alongside everyone else. The narrator’s response reduces the perks of American life to chili dogs and nice office chairs, and forces you to wonder if having the privileges of being American rectifies anything for the Black community. If we had the chance to go back in time and undo the horrors of slavery, the narrator points out that living in Africa instead of America might not be a deterrent.

A thought of Nick’s that I found to be particularly insightful to Gatsby’s character was his realization that Gatsby had perhaps “over dreamed” the idea of Daisy to the point that she would inevitably let him down, “not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his allusion” (96, 95). Gatsby has a very specific vision for his life with Daisy, right down to how the grass on the lawn should look on the day they reunite. Gatsby has spent years constructing this vision with Daisy at its center piece, and when it all finally comes together, the girl from his past that he has kept perfectly preserved in his mind is now an evolved woman who has experienced things, love and marriage, without him. Dreams and aspirations are crucial to happiness of people. They provide hope and motivation. Fitzgerald portrays this in Gatsby’s character, a man who came from nothing and made something of himself because he had a goal, a dream. But, dreams can be harmful. Gatsby’s dream was of the past. It only limited his purpose on earth, and rooted him to a concept that could never be realized. Gatsby’s failure to realize the power of time and absence, and the rapidness at which people evolve and change is what eventually led to his demise.

“There was about Alexandra an impervious calm of the fatalist, always disconcerting to very young people, who cannot feel that the heart lives at all unless it is still at the mercy of it is still at the mercy of storms; unless its strings can scream to the touch of pain” (89). Alexandra’s impervious calm is a product of her complete submersion in to the land and devotion to its success, a way of life that she has claimed several times takes a toll on the mind and soul making them “grow hard and heavy” (48). Alexandra feels pain, perhaps not the same sharp, roller coaster like pain as Emil or Marie, but a slow, numbing loneliness that has resulted from her inherited obligations and self sufficient nature. Alexandra’s pain is not so much acute as it is a general burden that comes with her responsibilities which she has made a certain peace with. This quote is an interesting foresight towards the tragedy that occurs later on.

The conversation that occurs between Carl and Alexandra as they are reflecting on their different stations in life after 16 years of foraging their own paths is very intriguing in the way they discuss their sense of freedom. Freedom and the desire for it has been a constant theme in our discussion of the American dream so far. Carl and Alexandra’s contrasting opinions as to whether either of them have achieved the dream or not further shows the allusiveness of its definition and the extent to which what it means to “be free” is unique in some way to every individual. Alexandra responds to Carl calling himself a “failure” by insisting she would “rather have had [his] freedom than [her] land” (47), and later in the conversation admits that she “would rather have Emil grow up like that than like his two brothers” (48). Carl disagrees, sadly sharing his reality that “freedom so often means that one isn’t needed anywhere” (47). For Carl, his dream is not complete without the strong sense of purpose and deep connection that Alexandra possesses in her life. Carl’s ability to pursue whatever path he wants with minimal consequence comes with a price of feeling detached from what really matters in life, family. Alexandra understands this yet still prefers Carl’s way of life for Emil, saying “we grow hard and heavy here. We don’t move as easily as you do, our minds get stiff” (48). Alexandra’s deep sense of purpose comes from her being born into circumstances which forced her to have great responsibility. What she wants for her younger brother is to have the freedom to choose his purpose and responsibilities, regardless of his roots.