Industrialization In The Great Gatsby

As interest in the Romantic period rapidly declined, society was beginning to shift away from the established romantic mindset and modernize their way of thought. During this time industrialization had become a prominent aspect of American life, and as this wave of big business began to take over, the American people slipped into a more realistic state. No longer did society idealize the divine or any type of enlightenment thinking, but rather they rejected these traditional ways of thought in an effort to “make it new” (Ezra Pound). Far gone were the days of romantic relationships, and in their place were a slew of material-driven lives, holding desire and lust over love. F. Scott Fitzgerald was able to perfectly capture this transition between

Due to rapid urbanization as a result of the growth of industrialism, the east was a metaphorical bloodbath consisting of people doing whatever they could to get ahead of their fellow man. It was a vicious arena where only those with a competitive edge would prosper and all others would fail miserably. With big business there were very few winners, but those who were on top held an unfathomable amount of importance and wealth over the rest of the citizens. Such as Gatsby’s acquaintance Meyer Wolfsheim, who through immoral measures gained enough sway in American life that he supposedly became “the man who fixed the World’s Series” (Fitzgerald 52). In the setting of The Great Gatsby, those who were bested by their fellow man lived fruitless lives in the valley of ashes, scrounging for every penny. Those who succeeded lived with the rest of the upper class in either East Egg or West Egg. East Egg represented “old money” and harbored those with large inheritances who had possessed wealth in their family for years. These citizens had lost the drive and desire in their lives that once fueled their ancestors to create the fortune which citizens of East Egg used to carry on their legacy of wealth and prestige. Citizens of East Egg had reached a state of complacency and had accepted what their lives had come to. Daisy acts as the epitome of a complacent East Egg resident