The 1920’s were a time of great social and political revolution. The nation’s wealth more than doubled, and since Americans had more money in their pockets, they were spending it on consumer goods. People from all across the United States were being influenced by the same advertisements; they were buying the same kind of cars, learning the same style dances, and even using the same kind of colloquial jargon. This is called mass culture, a result of a growing consumer society in America, and it is one of the most identifiable characteristics of the 1920’s. However, the seemingly perfect prosperity of the country did not come without consequence. There was an insufferable wealth inequality in America, with the top 1% of Americans owning between 20%-25% of the wealth share in the United States (Saez, Zucman). Because of this wealth inequality, the consumer society of
Scott Fitzgerald’s most popular works to date is The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is often times mistaken for an enthralling love story between two star-crossed lovers, Mrs. Daisy Buchanan and Mr. Jay Gatsby. The novel is actually a social critique of the 1% of the 1920’s. Like the men who made up the 1%, Jay Gatsby seems to be living out the American Dream. He throws lavish parties, has an obscenely large house, and spares no expense in any aspect of his life. Fitzgerald makes no attempt to characterize the 1% as “nice” people, though. “They were careless people— Tom and Daisy— they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money…” (Fitzgerald, 29). Unfortunately, that characterization of the 1% is accurate. The seemingly endless pockets of the upper class made a consumer society that much more attainable for them. In the end, Jay Gatsby ends up face first, dead, in a pool. That fate is both an example of literary dramatic irony as well as a metaphor for how Fitzgerald imagined life would eventually be for the 1%; death has no preference for the amount in one’s bank
The 1920s were a time of change for the United States. Following the First World War there was a rush of new cultural, social, and artistic dynamism, partly fuelled by the Progressivism movement that was cut short when American entered the Great War. This decade was defined by a change from more rural farm life to industrialism in big cities. The shift from the frugality and traditional family values or previous generations to the happy-go-lucky consumerism and metropolitan life occurred more rapidly than any other social shift in living memory. These swiftly changing tides caused cultural clashes and confrontations throughout the decade as America struggled to define for itself a fresh national identity in the wake of its new position as a world power.
The 1920s became known as an era memorable for being a time when new products, new ways of marketing and advertising, and standardization gave the country new ways to interact, enjoy themselves, and introduce them to new products. Although very common today, standardization of mass culture like magazines, radio, movies, music, and sports were exciting new innovations to the people of this time. Not only did they distract from the monotony and stresses of work but they created celebrities that people aspired to be like.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby provides the reader with a unique outlook on the life of the newly rich. Gatsby is an enigma and a subject of great curiosity, furthermore, he is content with a lot in life until he strives too hard. His obsession with wealth, his lonely life and his delusion allow the reader to sympathize with him. Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth.
The 1920’s were an age of dramatic changes. More and more people were moving into the cities, leaving the rural way of living behind. People were beginning to value independence, and fend for themselves. American society began to adopt the new desire to become rich and famous; and modernists were doing anything they could to achieve their dream of becoming very wealthy. Traditionalists were doing anything they could to preserve the old ways of American society without any of this new technology or city life. The traditionalists believed that it was best to keep things the way they were, while modernists felt it was important to try a new way of doing things. Traditionalist in the 1920’s
The novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, deals heavily with the concept of the American Dream as it existed during the Roaring Twenties, and details its many flaws through the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and ambitious entrepreneur who comes to a tragic end after trying to win the love of the moneyed Daisy Buchanan, using him to dispel the fantastic myth of the self-made man and the underlying falsities of the American Dream. Despite Gatsby’s close association with the American Dream, however, Fitzgerald presents the young capitalist as a genuinely good person despite the flaws that caused his undoing. This portrayal of Gatsby as a victim of the American Dream is made most clear during his funeral, to which less than a handful of people attend. Gatsby makes many mistakes throughout the novel, all of which Fitzgerald uses these blunders as a part of his thematic deconstruction of the American Dream.
Lindop, Edmund, and Margaret J. Goldstein. America In The 1920s. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group Inc., 2010. Print.
The classic novel of a corrupt American dream– F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby – makes a bold statement of the era of disintegrating goals and low expectations of Americans commencing in the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald was known to be one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and many of his literary works have been recognized for their brilliance. This flawless novel being an essential basis for Fitzgerald’s fame and certainly one of my favorites, exemplifies that more worthwhile goals have gone out the window, and wealth truly doesn't buy happiness or in this case love.
The roaring twenties was a time for happiness and celebration, but the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows a different side of this dynamic decade. Fitzgerald uses a poignant, yet hopeful tone to show the shadier side of the nineteen twenties most refuse to look at, while tying in the brighter side. In The Great Gatsby, the reader is sucked into a story of corruption, and empowerment by the rich hidden by extravagant parties and bright colors. Jay Gatsby, who only dreamt of wealth and love had an ideal dream life, that ideal life could be defined as his “American Dream”. His dreams were later crushed by very powerful people, careless people, people who used and abused others to get their way, no matter the consequences. Those people were Tom and Daisy Buchanan, they were the empowered rich. They crushed Gatsby’s American Dream, by being careless. Gatsby created this extravagant life for one reason, and one reason only; to impress the girl he fell in love with, years ago. The girl he gave his heart to hold forever, but after Gatsby left for war, she married someone else, someone who was from old money, like her. She married Tom Buchanan. Although Daisy was married, Gatsby held onto the hope that they would find a way to be together again, and forever. Close to the end, the reader wonders if matters will work out in Gatsby’s favor or not, but after the tragic accident that bring three dreams to an end, the reader ignores Gatsby’s hopefulness and just hopes for a happier ending, when in reality, nothing ends the way anyone wishes it to.
Book Analysis F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of "The Great Gatsby," reveals many principles about today's society and the "American dream. " One of the biggest fears in today's world is the fear of not fitting into society. People of all age groups and backgrounds share this fear. Many individuals believe that to receive somebody's affection, they must assimilate into that person's society. In the story, Jay Gatsby pursues the American dream and his passion for being happy only to come to a tragedy and total loss.
During Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, it is apparent to be an absurd time for the wealthy. The shallowness of money, riches, and a place in a higher social class were probably the most important components in most lives at that period of time. This is expressed clearly by Fitzgerald, especially through his characters, which include Myrtle Wilson, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and of course, Jay Gatsby. This novel was obviously written to criticize and condemn the ethics of the rich.
The Great Gatsby “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored.
The 1920’s was a decade that changes American life. Frederick Lewis Allen describes the twenties as a “revolution in manners and morals.” The twenties has been named all types of nicknames, such as: “The Roaring Twenties”, “The Era of Wonderful Nonsense”, “The Decade of the Dollar”, “The Period of the Psyche”, “ Dry Decade” and the age of “Alcohol and Al Capone” (Gales Research, 1998). During the twenties, the way Americans lived had changed. The 1920’s was a time in history that has been remembered for its great prosperity but also for its great loss. The Great Depression is what ended the Roaring Twenties.
Through the use of symbolism and critique, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to elucidate the lifestyles and dreams of variously natured people of the 1920s in his novel, The Great Gatsby. He uses specific characters to signify diverse groups of people, each with their own version of the “American Dream.” Mostly all of the poor dream of transforming from “rags to riches”, while some members of the upper class use other people as their motivators. In any case, no matter how obsessed someone may be about their “American Dream”, Fitzgerald reasons that they are all implausible to attain.
Carlisle, Rodney P. Handbook To Life In America. Volume VI, The Roaring Twenties, 1920 To 1929. Facts on File, 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 30 May 2012
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores the idea of the American Dream as well as the portrayal of social classes. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct social groups but, in the end, each group has its own problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious place the world really is. By creating two distinct social classes ‘old money’ and ‘new money’, Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the underlying elitism and moral corruption of society. The idea of the American dream is the idea that opportunity is available to any American, allowing their highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. In the case of The Great Gatsby it centres on the attainment of wealth and status to reach certain positions in life, which Fitzgerald’s protagonist sets out to achieve even if it means moral corruption.