Disillusionment In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

After the Great War, which was later called World War I, the United States went through a time of hope, opulence, optimism, and just general “fun” (Moss & Wilson 1). Over 17 million people were killed during World War I, yet when the War was over the United States was able to prosper as a result. During this time period the stock market was up, oil was abounding, cities were roaring, and Americans were living life to the fullest through extravagant parties (Moss & Wilson). However, many Americans, like F. Scott Fitzgerald, did not quite fall into the careless fun life that everyone else did. Fitzgerald expresses how he wasn’t blinded by the fun times and parties, he actually sees the time for what it really was. As a result of his disappointment

The end of The Great Gatsbyis disappointing, morbid, and heartbreaking to say the least. To end the book, the main character, Gatsby is who we the readers are rooting for. We have fallen in love with Gatsby and we want so desperately for him and Daisy to run away together. We believe it is going to happen, but instead he is shot and killed. This book gives so much hope and charm that the realistic ending is what haunts us just like Fitzgerald was haunted by the disillusionment of the 1920s. What is really sad is that Gatsby always through the biggest and most exciting parties with hundreds of guests each time, he only had one friend attend his funeral.At Gatsby’s funeral it is raining, and Fitzgerald described it as “Blessed are the dead that the rain falls on” (Gatsby 154). Rain on a wedding day symbolizes good luck, but what is Fitzgerald using it to symbolize at a funeral? In The Beautiful and Damned, by the time Anthony got his inheritance his life no longer had meaning. He has nothing left to care about or look forward to. He lost his wife because he, like so many others of this era was more caught up in the ‘here and now’ and placed no effort into what truly mattered. Once all the materialistic things are gone what isleft but the people who love you? At the very end of the book Anthony’s final thoughts show just what his life had come to. “He had been exposed to ruthless misery, his very craving for romance had been punished, his friends had deserted him---even Gloria had turned against him. He had been alone, alone---facing it all.” (Beautiful 358) At the end the beautiful is faded away, and he is left as the