Compare and contrast the ways in which Fitzgerald and Steinbeck present the American Dream in 'The Great Gatsby' and 'The Grapes of Wrath' respectively

The notion of the American dream has been one engrained in the collective American psyche since the 'Declaration of Independence' of 1776. Here, Jefferson stated that 'all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness'. Fitzgerald and Steinbeck both engage with this notion, albeit in varying ways. Through his depiction of the hedonistic excess of the ultra-rich during the 'roaring twenties' in America, Fitzgerald suggests the possibility of attaining the American dream as all his characters possess huge wealth and material comfort. However, despite this surface level facade of success and contentment, Fitzgerald's characters are ultimately hollow and unfulfilled, as exemplified by Gatsby's constant yearning and grasping for the unattainable 'green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us'. Conversely, Steinbeck's bleak depiction of the Dust-Bowl era of 1930s America evokes a certain impossibility in ever attaining the American dream since the Joad family's predicament seems so entirely hopeless. However, whilst Steinbeck indeed presents an acquirement of material wealth (and achieving the American dream in this sense) as futile, the glimpses of human kindness and solidarity (epitomised in Tom Joad's famous profession 'a fella ain't got a soul of his own, but on'y a piece of a big one') perhaps suggest that 'the Pursuit of Happiness' is not entirely unrealistic. In this way, we see that Fitzgerald and Steinbeck both present differing aspects of the American dream as attainable to varying degrees, yet neither authors perceives it to be a broadly realistic or achievable concept.