The time period the novel is set in is dubbed “The Roaring Twenties”. This was an era when people were trying new things; women smoked and drank, many men found themselves in more wealth than they had ever had before, and the recently ended World War I sent the nation into an economic growth. This very period is the complete setting for The Great Gatsby. According to Anaya, Gatsby is a 'nouveau riche', someone who only just came into a great deal of money and finds extravagant ways of showing it off. (Anaya). He does this to attract Daisy. Although Daisy herself is not a complete "flapper", he was highly influenced by them. (Anaya). When Gatsby returns, Daisy is still in love with him and, even though she is married, runs away with him, but only for a short period of time. Before the roaring 20s, this would be uunusual, but as the women's rights movements set in, it is not so uncommon of a sight. (Caldwell). Daisy can be seen as a “flapper”, a woman of the 1920’s who went out as much as men and went to great parties, like Gatsby’s. But how did Gatsby acquire his wealth in the first place? It is important to understand that in the 1920’s, alcohol had been prohibited, and people were finding ways to acquire it illegally. (Wikipedia). This made “bootleggers” a lot of money, and Gatsby is involved in such business.
The Great Gatsby should be considered as one of America’s greatest novels because it provides a wealth of information while following an interesting story line. Most novels which contain information about America’s past tell of stories which are boring and hard to read. The Great Gatsby, set in a time period with interesting laws and interesting political happenings, appeals to most readers who did not live through that time period as millionaires. The novel allows the reader to look at the twenties through a different perspective and learn about the economy and prohibitions which affected individuals.
...Marius. "Scott Fitzgerald's Criticism of America." Modern Critical Interpretations: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Ed. Harold Bloom.
Bewley, Marius. "Scott Fitzgerald's Criticism of America." Modern Critical Interpretations: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
The Great Gatsby does not follow the traditional American Dream of beilf in progress or triumph of the indivudual, its grity, its modern. the charecters are careless and hypocritical. The novel relates more to the modern "American dream" or perhaps more apropriatly, the modern American expirence, where just because someone does not abide by their own morals or acts without thinking, does not mean they are not considered good people. While the charecters in the Great Gatsby maybe "terrible" they are just like the rest of American sociaty, they drink, party, lie and cheat.
The Great Gatsby was published by F. Scott Fitzgerald during the peak of the Roaring Twenties. During this period in history, America was rising into economic prosperity and growth. The citizens of the nation were looking for their chance to become great, to gain fame, or in essence, to achieve the American Dream. Fitzgerald’s characters illustrate multiple perspectives on what the so-called American Dream is. Through these illustrations, he remarks on what the country of America has become and the extent to which it affected the different classes. Through the lens of the American Dream, The Great Gatsby could be examined by both an optimistic and a pessimistic viewpoint to generate a supporting and dissenting opinion of the American Dream.
Many critics question what Gatsby’s role is in this text is and how it applies to the American Dream. In Marius Bewley’s “Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America,” the critic argues that Fitzgerald is able to “mythicize” Gatsby by never permitting him to “become soiled by the touch of realism” (Bewley 14). Bewley believes that Gatsby is “a creature of myth in whom is incarnated the aspiration and the ordeal of his race” (Bewley 17). The critic, therefore, is not solely citing America for Gatsby’s desire for the ideal but instead his “race” or creator for making him wish these unattainable wishes. Continuing with this idea, Bewley implies that Gatsby’s mythic qualities present him as “less as an individual than as a projection , or mirror, of our ideal selves” (Bewley 24). Thus, Gatsby, in Bewley’s opinion, is a reflection of all human aspirations. On the contrary, Joyce Rowe believes that Gatsb...
Gatsby’s dream can be identified with America herself with its emphasis on the inherent goodness within people, youth, vitality, and a magnanimous openness to life itself. With the destruction of Gatsby, we witness a possible destiny of America herself. Critic Matthew J. Bruccoli, writing in Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, quotes a letter written by Fitzgerald while composing Gatsby: “That’s the whole burden of this novel—the loss of those illusions that give such color to the world so that you don’t care whether things are true or false as long as they partake of the magical glory.”
Society tends to unconsciously, or perhaps consciously, aggregate people of similar wealth and outlooks of life in social classes. Typically, the rich associate with those of comparable prosperity, as do the poor and those of moderate wealth. This raises the question of whether it is possible for one to traverse disparate social classes. Disputation of this matter has arisen from the contemplation of one of the greatest modern novels The Great Gatsby. Whilst some may adamantly insist that the novel substantiates the view that one can never possess the capability of fraternizing with or amalgamating separate social classes, in fact, the Great Gatsby himself stands as the quintessential example of shift in status within the hierarchy of social class.
Bewley, Marius. "Scott Fitzgerald's Criticism of America." Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Great Gatsby. Ed. Ernest Lockridge. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. 37-53.
Throughout “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald characterizes the citizens of East Egg as careless in some form. This relates to the prominent class issue seen all through “Gatsby.” It seems as though Daisy and Tom almost look down upon others. At one point in the book, Nick says “in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.” It is because of their belief of superiority that they deem themselves better than other and allows them to live so carelessly.
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays a story of misguided love between a man and a woman who struggle to determine the role in which wealth abides in the people around them. He creates a culture, in which its foundation, continues to be persistent on their self-worth upon materialistic possessions. In this piece, Fitzgerald explores and comments on how Americans pursue the American Dream through Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s dream, however, reflects something beyond his reach which, defines the green light. Throughout this novel, Fitzgerald shows how the American Dream cannot be obtained but can always be hoped and reached for.
Although it can be considered as “the great American novel,” the main theme of the novel covers a much darker and less romantic area. The Great Gatsby is a novel full of symbolism about the United States’ cultural expression in the 1920s, and in particular, on the decay of the American Dream in a time of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald portrays the “roaring twenties” as a time of devalued social and moral values, as evidenced by the cynicism, greed and the pursuit of pleasure from the member of the “Lost Generation.” The irresponsible desire that led to those decadent parties and the frenetic jazz music, which are represented by those opulent receptions Gatsby offers every Saturday night; it ultimately led to the corruption of the American Dream, to the extent that this unstoppable desire for money and passion depraved one of the ultimate American
In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald is criticizing American society of the 1920s. He uses the characters to demonstrate the power than men had over women during these times, as well as their mindless, self-indulgent actions, where consequence was only an afterthought. The attitude towards and the role of women is shown throughout the novel. Fitzgerald also shows how many people in America during this time were delusional and had meaningless existences.
In the history of world literature, American literature became one of the most popular genres of works. This period hosted many of the greatest authors, and their names even dwell to this day. The author’s novels always present many similar themes, and one of the themes is social classes. Social classes consist of the novel’s characters’ social structure which includes wealth, status, reputation, and education of each character. An example of social classes, outside of the literature realm, is presented thoroughly by the United States’ social classes. In the United States, there are five different social classes. According to Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus, today’s social classes include the part-time or unemployed, the clerical or