The American Dream is an ideal that many aspire to in the United States; it is the faith that through hard work, courage, and determination one can achieve financial prosperity. However both Scott Fitzgerald and Edward Albee present within ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ that the idea of the American Dream is actually an illusion and they try to show the corruption underneath the glamorous surface.

Firstly the settings within the two texts both present on the surface a part of the American Dream, however when looked at more closely show how the writers both view the American Dream as a deception. In ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ the play is set in the fictitious New England college town of New Carthage which initially seems a respectable place to be living however the academic setting is ironic because in a place where there should be high levels of achievement and the sophisticated culture normally associated with a University and “being in the History Department” this has instead been replaced with lust and sadness ‘Musical beds is the faculty sport around here’. This quote is a subtle way for Edward Albee to imply to the play’s audience that under the surface of the respectable front of the University that in reality things are not as they seem; in this instance the University’s professors and wives are being adulterous, plus it is said by George in such a casual manner as if it happens frequently and no one really cares. This links to how Albee views the American Dream, as an illusion and of decayed moral values. Furthermore, the name of the town is linked with the ancient civilization of Carthage, which the Romans conquered and then salted the land in order to prevent fertile growth for years to come; this may be a metaphor for the American Dream and how the ideals that it once stood for have now become distorted and figuratively sterile.

The way of presenting the American Dream through setting is also used by Fitzgerald in ‘The Great Gatsby’. This first chapter introduces to us the clash between the "old money" of East Egg (the established aristocracy) and the "new money" of West Egg (the self-made rich). Both on the surface seem to represent the American Dream as something to aspire to, wealth and class status; however as the novel progresses Fitzgerald undermines this aspiration by contrasting the two locations with The Valley of Ashes “where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” The use of language highlights the bleakness of the area due to the emphasis on ashes and its greyness. In addition the connotations of the word ‘ashes’, not only reminds the readers of a bland and rather dull colour but ashes are what are left behind after a fire has destroyed something and what is left is ‘crumbling’ and falling apart. This seems to be a metaphor for the corruption of the American Dream and the social decay that has been created from an uninhibited pursuit of wealth; it is an effect of the rich indulging themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the plight of the poor, like George Wilson who loses his vitality for life because even though he has worked hard the American Dream is still beyond his reach.

Another way the American Dream is presented in both texts is through the characters within them. In ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf’ many of the characters are at first presented as respectable and as if they are in a position that we should aspire to be in ourselves, but in the end there turns out to be something rather more sinister under the surface. This serves to dismantle the ideal that they appeared to stand for; the quintessence of success, of wealth, security, friendship, good health, having a family and how hard work has got them to that social standing in life. However, the authors clearly want us to realise that this way of life is unfulfilling, an empty illusion. Tom Buchanan is first presented as “one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven - a national figure in a way”, seeming to suggest that Tom is an important man and his way of life has put him on a pedestal and on the surface appears to have a great life and everything he want “he’d left Chicago in a fashion that rather took your breath away: for instance, he’d brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest.” However as the novel progresses Nick starts to describe Tom in a very different way, “Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart.” Some of the stale ideas that are being referred to here are how society is changing and ‘the rise of the coloured empire’, and the connotations of stale imply that what Tom is angling for are not nourishing, they are not healthy. In the rest of the quote Fitzgerald goes on to further corrupt our original impression of Tom. Tom’s egotism, his arrogance and his pride of who he is and where he is positioned in society, is being threatened by people like Gatsby and Tom is fearful of no longer having the ability to control people around him and have the air that demands obedience. This is emphasised by associating peremptory with Tom’s heart, this is his essence, his nature through and through, right from his soul. Fitzgerald turns the Tom he initially created into the “brute of a man” that Daisy originally describes seemingly in jest; the result is a person whom the novel’s readers would not aspire to be even though Tom appears to have achieved the American Dream.

The same technique is used for Daisy; the reader’s introduction to Daisy “in white” with her dress “rippling and fluttering” manages to make her seem almost angelic, the sense that she is just as exciting as she looks is explored further with the description of her “low, thrilling voice”, a voice that is “full of money”. This has the effect of creating a character that is enchanting, however Fitzgerald sets about revealing more of Daisy as the novel continues which make her seem less compelling and simply foolish. Fitzgerald uses Nick in order to achieve this as he notices moments of Daisy’s haughtiness “She looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged” the contrast between ‘lovely face’ and ‘smirk’ convey the corruption of the American Dream, the imagery is used to show how someone beautiful has been masked by their snobbery as a member of the upper class, it shows a lack of moral values. Nick in ‘Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf’ is portrayed similarly to Tom Buchanan in ‘The Great Gatsby’ in the sense that our first impressions of Nick are altered as the play continues. Nick is first portrayed as a good-looking, ambitious young man achieving his Masters when he was “… what? … twelve?” “Twelve and a half, actually. No, nineteen really.” This is what many believed the American Dream was about, if you worked hard you could do anything, including getting a Master’s age nineteen and landing a very respectable job at a University where a comfortable life is secure. However, just as Fitzgerald changed his reader’s perceptions of Tom Buchanan, Albee changes how we view Nick by showing how his ambition corrupts his originally respectable position; Nick admits that in order to get promoted “he’d better get her off in a corner and mount her like a goddamn dog”. This image is not pleasant and depicts what Albee believes the American Dream has become, clearly not the idyllic picture it once stood for.

The divulgence of Nick’s real character and the corruption of the American Dream are also exposed through Nick and Honey’s marriage. At first they appear to be “this nice young couple”, happily married whom may soon start a family; they have an education, wealth and as a result been successful with Nick achieving a position in “the Biology department” with the ambition of running it “Perhaps when you’re forty-something and look fifty-five, you will run the History Department . . . . Biology. . .” This is a direct comparison to George who has failed to succeed in being promoted George “is not the History Department, but only in the History Department”, and Albee passes across Martha’s disappointment at how her American Dream has failed to follow through after marrying George. Nick and Honey however, their American Dream is shown to be built upon lies to each other, Nick married Honey because “she was a money baggage” and “got all puffed up one day”. The language here is childish and its a reflection on Honey and how she is childlike and does not seem able to cope with reality, plus it fits with the idea of the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’. Money and a hysterical pregnancy is where Nick and Honey’s marriage came from and this revelation shows the shallowness of the supposed American Dream. Marriage is also used in ‘The Great Gatsby’ as a way of presenting the corruption of the American Dream. Tom and Daisy’s marriage has been riddled with affairs “I thought everybody knew…Tom’s got some woman in New York” by using Nick’s ignorance of the fact Fitzgerald lets the reader’s know that Tom’s not ashamed his affair and even lets the world know. These lack of morals are what Fitzgerald believes is becoming of the American Dream and he uses Myrtle as a an example of what hope for a corrupt American Dream can do even to a woman who had “an immediately perceptible vitality about her”, she ended her dream dead. It symbolises all the working class’ lives, there was the belief that if you did not succeed it was your own fault. Fitzgerald is trying to demonstrate how this is fallacious, how they struggle yet still do not succeed and in spirit end up spent.

Tom and Daisy’s adultery is another similarity between the two texts, Martha and Nick attempt to have sex in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ however Nick lets Martha down “You’re certainly a flop in some departments” this affair could be a metaphor for the American Dream, at first it seems to offer hope of something better “When people can’t abide things as they are, when they can’t abide the present…they set about to . . . alter the future” however when Martha achieves what she set out to do it gives her no satisfaction “I pass my life in crummy, totally pointless infidelities” Albee believes the American Dream gives no happiness or fulfilment just like Martha’s affairs. With moral values like these so decayed Albee presents the grim outlook of a country where people must imagine another reality in order to compensate for what is missing. This is also presented through George and Martha’s imaginary child, something created to fill a hollow emptiness that the couple have felt shown when George reveals his disgust with Honey “you don’t want children?”. Albee is presenting how the American Dream and its ideals have degenerated by representing it as a desperate, sad, and seemingly hopeless couple.

Furthermore, Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship together is ‘a glamour’ for the American Dream. Gatsby worked hard to become rich and enter the upper class in order to win Daisy back from Tom, however Gatsby made his money from “bootlegging” and he has lied about his past as a way to secure him passage into the elite upper class. Also, even though Gatsby has gone to extreme lengths to have success and wealth he still has a yearning for more which Nick recognises “I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He must have come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.” Nick acknowledges here how Gatsby, even though he was wealthy, still never achieved his American Dream of securing Daisy as his wife because he never fitted into the “old money” scene and she rejected him because of her snobbery; Gatsby failed. When Daisy discovered that Gatsby was not an Oxford boy and that he had resorted to crime to secure his wealth she could not bring herself to leave her high status in East Egg, which show her shallowness and pretentiousness. In addition this is a presentation of the corruption of the American Dream as it demonstrates how there is still an unconditional yearning for more, and a feeling of emptiness as those striving for an American Dream still fail to achieve what they are looking for.

Jay Gatsby is used as a demonstration of how the American Dream has changed from what it once stood for, hard work and values to a selfish pursuit of wealth, and Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s end to outline this successfully. Gatsby appeared on the surface to have everything and his elaborate parties were a demonstration of this however when Gatsby died none of his guests apart from Nick and “owl eyes” turned up for the funeral “because no one else was interested – interested, I mean, with that intense personal interest to which everyone has a vague right at the end”. Not one of Gatsby’s ‘friends’ cared enough to come and pay their respects. “Why my God! They used to go there by the hundreds.’ He took off his glasses and wiped them again, outside and in. ‘The poor son-of-a-bitch.” This shows the emptiness that the pursuit of the corrupt American Dream brings, a lack of real friendships and relationships; no one who really cares, Fitzgerald shows the hollowness of the American Dream by making Gatsby meet this end. The ending of the novel is in contrast to the ending of the play, in ‘The Great Gatsby’ Gatsby and George Wilson die and Nick becomes evermore cynical “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” The use of the words things and creatures emphasises how Daisy and Tome do not really see those they have hurt as people and how they appear to be oblivious to the havoc they have created to real lives. Tom and Daisy seem to live in fantasy and Fitzgerald suggests this is what money does, creates an unreality for those within it. Nick’s feeling of hopelessness deepens at the end of the novel when referring to Gatsby’s dream, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further… And one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” The language used successfully transfers to the reader a sense of trying desperately hard ‘run faster’ to achieve their ambitions and the imagery of the boat creates for the reader a perception of the desperate struggle to do so. Nick reflects on how people fight to achieve their dreams and keep going for want of what ‘eludes’ them, however while they never seem to be able to escape their past and turn their dreams into reality, they never loss their optimism. This metaphor characterises both Gatsby’s struggle and the American Dream itself.

‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ however has a rather more hopeful ending. After “The Exorcism”, the removal of all George and Martha’s demons, it seems that the couple may be able to move on in the future and actually start again. “It will be better” There is a definite hope there that Martha and George managed to can try again without illusions such as their imaginary child corrupting their lives.

Fitzgerald and Albee both present the corruption of the American Dream in their texts; they use the setting, imagery and the characters themselves in order to show the corruption and the decline of moral values in an America pursuing fantastic wealth and happy lives but ultimately never reaching their goal or finding emptiness within their lives. “Even when the East excited me most… it always had for me a quality of distortion”. The glamour never lived up to expectations, not only did Nick experience it but also Martha and George within their relationship, they created an imaginary child to fill a gap in their lives.