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The Twenties was a time when people did not care about anything besides having fun. The average person had a job, the economy was flourishing, foreign trade was on the rise and the stock market was booming ("The Crash … and Beyond."). President Hoover said, during his inaugural address, "I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope" but by the end of 1929 he would regret those inspiring words (Hoover). During a time when people were living the American Dream, few were prepared for or expected the stock market crash and the American nightmare that continued through the 1930s. “The cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive, and already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colors and hair shorn in strange new ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile” (Fitzgerald 40). During the 1920s, people enjoyed the carelessness of life, attended parties, participated in new fashion and were generally prosperous. In the book, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby, the main characters rich neighbor, has huge parties every weekend in his mansion outside New York in hopes of meeting his long-lost-true love. Gatsby made his money through illegal activities and bootlegging alcohol for his parties. Beside the protagonist, Nick, the characters are rich and present traits common during that time: carelessness, selfishness, greediness and a low self-esteem. “Four solemn men in dress suits are walking along the sidewalk with a stretcher on which lies a drunken women in a white evening dress. Her hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. Gravely the men turn in at a house-the wrong house. But no one knows the women’s name, and no one cares” (Fitzgerald 176). Usin... ... middle of paper ... ..., debt statistics.” CreditCards.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2010. . Fearon, Peter. “Stock Market Crash (1929).” Encyclopedia of the Great Depression. Robert S. McElvaine ed. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 935-941. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 Mar. 2010. . Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2004. Print. Hoover, Herbert. “Herbert Hoover: Inaugural Address.” District of Columbia, Washington. 4 Mar. 1929. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 Mar. 2010. Huggins. “USA in the 1920s.” SchoolsHistory.org.uk. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2010. .