Question

you’re happy to know that the great gatsby was chosen for this month’s reading. as you start reading the book, you’re searching for passages that speak about the theme of the american dream. you’ve written down four interesting quotes so far. which of the following quotes from the book would best suit your theme of the american dream? \in my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice... ‘whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’\ \life is much more successfully looked at from a single window.\ \they were careless people, tom and daisy—they smashed up things and... then retreated back into their money... and let other people clean up the mess they had made.\ \all i kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘you can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.’\

Explanation:

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby is tied to critiques of old wealth's indifference to the consequences of their privilege, and how this undermines the ideal of merit-based success. The third quote highlights Tom and Daisy's careless, insulated wealth—they destroy lives and retreat into their money, which reflects the corruption and hollowing of the American Dream by old, unaccountable privilege. The other quotes focus on personal restraint, perspective, and mortality, which do not directly engage with the American Dream theme.

Answer:

C. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made."