“The American dream has become a death sentence of drudgery, consumerism and fatalism: a garage sale where the best of the human spirit is bartered for comfort, obedience and trinkets. This is unequivocally absurd. –Zoltan Istvan. In This Side of Paradise and This Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald comments on the corruption of the American dream. Throughout the beautiful text and prose of his first and second novels, respectively, Fitzgerald mocks the horrible nightmare that the American "Dream" has become. The first follows the story of the downfall of a rich and promising young man who struggles to achieve romantic success, who enlists in the army along the way, to a poor alcoholic who struggles to achieve success romantic and commercial. The latter is largely the same tragic story told over and over again by F. Scott. Corruption and the failure of the American dream is the main and overarching theme of all of Fitzgerald's works. He draws on his harsh realities in his writings. Additionally, his thematic attack on the American dream presents three main topics worthy of in-depth discussion. The first of these includes the illusion of said dream in relation to its actual reality. The next step involves the real shift from the classic American dream to the dream-turned-nightmare. And finally, the final subject revolves around Fitzgerald's personal commentary attached to all of his stories, as it not-so-subtly draws inspiration from his real life. He had only one point to prove: the only thing that successfully chases away love and happiness is, in fact, money and the materialistic consumerism that it implies. The American dream is divided into two parts, both equal.... ..middle of paper......the upper class is pure joy. Anthony and Gloria Patch are very well off and repeatedly parade to party after exuberant party, living “the life”. But once again, it would be wrong to believe that happiness resides solely in alcoholic promiscuity and expensive purchases. It is the perfect demonstration of how F. Scott paints a vivid picture of the corruption of the American dream for the benefit of materialistic ideals. People were enchanted by the promise that more and more things would make their lives easier and therefore happier. It is at this point that reality sets in. The reality of the American dream is that it is impossible. It cannot be achieved to the end. This is what the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald are trying to convey to the world. Happiness cannot be achieved through the acquisition of material goods or wealth..