In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” the narrator, Nick Carraway, moves to West Egg to work as a bond trader in Manhattan. He grew up in a prominent family. He came from an old money family in Chicago. He attended Yale University and is known as a very well rounded man. This novel is based off of the 1920’s era. It was named the Roaring Twenties after the Great War when the United States underwent a change in radical and social reform. During this period, society was torn apart due to the clash between old and new money. The Great Gatsby reflects the American society during this period and undoubtedly depicts the difference between traditional and corrupted values. The Great Gatsby is a great depiction of the Roaring Twenties because of greed, parties, and fast women.…
The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, pictures the wasted American Dream as it depicts the 1920s in America. The novel paints a vivid picture of the ‘roaring’ twenties, a time when values of the old generation were being rejected. Skirts became shorter and women cut their hair into bobbed styles; a lifestyle with little moral or religious restraint began to appear. It was a time of extravagance and high living. On the other hand, the 1920s was also a time of extreme loneliness and non-identity as people longed for life as it used to be. The war had promised so much and for many the results were disappointing. The number of cars on the road during this decade went from 9 million up to 26 million and this allowed young people to ‘escape’ from the supervision of their parents, which contributed to a more carefree set of morals. From a modern reader’s perspective, this novel demonstrates the superficiality of the lives of the wealthy, such…
The 1920’s was a decade full of careless spending, lavish lifestyles and the American dream. Anyone from anywhere could make it in life if they just worked hard enough. The 1920s proved to be a prosperous time for many, in fact so many people thrived in this decade that almost everyone thought that they would eventually grow to be very rich themselves. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the sumptuous lives of the wealthy and the economic boom in America shaped the characters, plot, and setting of the novel. The effortless spending of the time influenced the lives of the characters as well as the background of the story.…
On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era…
One of the key themes in The Great Gatsby is ‘The morality and importance of Wealth’ in high end New York social circles of the 1920s. Fitzgerald himself lived during this period of significant culture change in America and therefore I feel his own feelings and concerns on obsession with money and the new consumer culture was one reason as to why he wrote this novel.…
During a time dubbed the “Roaring Twenties” a tragic story filled with great hope, lost love, and distressing carelessness unfolds within the classic novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Through the viewpoint of Nick Carraway, the novel follows Jay Gatsby’s futile attempt to win back the girl of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan. Only by amassing a great fortune and reinventing himself into the enigmatic figure known as the Great Gatsby, does he temporarily succeed in his endeavor. Sadly, Gatsby’s life meets an unexpected end that is seemingly caused by the destructive influence of his newfound riches. Wealth within The Great Gatsby is portrayed by the author negatively to reveal several harsh truths about living the American Dream life…
On the surface, The Great Gatsby reads as a story of thwarted love between a man and a woman. The real theme of the novel, however, encompasses a highly symbolic meditation on 1920’s America as a whole, and, in particular, the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920’s as an era of decaying social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby himself hosts every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the…
The 1920s was a time in history defined largely by Prohibition and organized crime. In The Great Gatsby, life back then is perfectly illustrated from the wild parties to the behind the scene drug deals. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald is constantly showing you that behind the elegant parties and extreme wealth, America is not what it claims to be.…
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on the wealthy class that live in New York, and takes place during the “Roaring Twenties”, and era of economic prosper and recklessness after World War I. Fitzgerald highlights the irresponsibility and lack of morality that derives from wealth. Throughout the novel, there are a number of characters that abuse their wealth or power in a way to excuse their moral irresponsibility. Through Gatsby’s disputed accumulation of wealth and Tom’s unceasing trysts, Fitzgerald paints a vivid picture of two men who choose to use their wealth and objectives as an excuse for their immoral habits.…
Throughout the Jazz Age, the people of America dreamed of attaining financial greatness. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is set in New York City, the epitome of industrialization and economic opportunity during the Jazz Age. The young, charming, and charismatic Jay Gatsby flaunts his financial prosperity through lavish and colorful parties. However, Gatsby’s money is earned dishonestly and is short lived. Fitzgerald reveals the intangibility of the American Dream through various characters in the novel.…
Scott Fitzgerald outlined the events and lifestyles of the roaring 20s through his writings “The Great Gatsby” and “The Jelly Bean”, readers learn that wealth and class effected all the decisions and events that occurred. Jim and Gatsby, from the two works, had drastically different lives but had a lot in common when it came to people and how their story ended. Both used wealth and status as a way of gauging someone’s worth, both of them saw wealth and property as a way to get the girl and both ended up losing it all together. By using foreshadowing, irony and symbolism, F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the way of life during the 1920’s and the importance of…
To gain a clear understanding of The Great Gatsby and its underlying messages, one must be familiar with the author, have an accurate summary of the plot, and be able to recognize the attributes of the characters as well as the conflicts they face. F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for incorporating real life events and societal difficulties into his novels. Many of Fitzgerald’s works address the economy during the 1920s. During this time period, the economy was thriving. Mass production had created a way to quickly manufacture products which ultimately saved time and money.…
Long hailed as one of the great American novels, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald embodies the image of the Roaring Twenties to some readers; a time of new wealth, extravagant lifestyles, Prohibition, jazz, and flappers. The novel tackles the idea of the American Dream, as well as issues such as wealth versus class, infidelity and materialism. Both the character of Jay Gatsby and the narrator, Nick Carraway, are said to mirror Fitzgerald’s life – the Ivy League educated middle-class young man brought up in the Midwest who sees through the materialism of the time (Nick) and the World War I soldier who comes back from battle (like Gatsby) only to fall in love with a wealthy southern belle. The Great Gatsby is considered by some a tragic love story, but running through this novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals themes of deception, obsession and Gatsby’s quest to obtain his “holy grail”, a quest that means so much to a man that he tries fruitlessly to become something he never truly was.…
Published in 1925 American, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is set in 1922, a time period commonly referred to as the ‘the Roaring twenties’ or the ‘jazz age’. This period in American history reflects the extremities of both romanticism and materialism, as well as a time of prosperity and the classic ‘American dream’ due to the conclusion of world war one. Love, hope and morality are reflected through the naivety of the time.…
The 1920’s could be described as “a great time to be rich” in America. It was a time where the rich got richer, and the poor worked to better their lives. It was a time of hope; when people strived to achieve the American dream of money, family, and happiness. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, attempts to uncover the truth of the American Dream. It follows the experience of Nick Carraway and his meeting with the one and only Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is perceived as one trying to live out the American Dream - a man with great ideals determined to achieve the unachievable. It is through his pursuit of Daisy that Fitzgerald is able to show that the Dream itself is truly indeed unrealistic and corrupted by materialism.…