Hardly anyone shows up to Gatsby's funeral since they were only attracted by his wealth and the parties, not the man himself. You should know about WWI (and its aftermath) because: The war and its devastating after-effects, particularly in Europe, fed into the creation of a new artistic movement: modernism. In the contemporary phenomenon of "Gatsby parties"festivities intended to capture the air of the titular Jay Gatsby's famously lavish, bacchanalian partiesjazz is de rigueur to evoke the 1920s. Myrtle feels trapped in her marriage, which pushes her into her affair with Tom Buchanan, an affair which grants her access to a worldNew York City, wealth, partiesshe might not otherwise have access to. (7.106). 20% Some of the rumors swirling around Gatsby point to how fresh the war was in everyone's mind (that he was a German spy during the war, or that he is related to Kaiser Wilhelm, who ruled Germany during the war). Most suppliers of alcohol during Prohibition were highly esteemed since one who could live on the edge and without restraint was admired (The Great Gatsby Literature 151). To Nick, the way that Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby line up morally correlates with their geographical choice of lifestyle (The Great Gatsby Novels 73); in other words, Nicks unsophistication and simplicity reflect his admiration for the Midwest just as Toms, Daisys and Gatsbys materialistic and immoral behaviors mirror their affinity for the fast-paced life of New York. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? The Great Gatsby Themes and Analysis | Book Analysis Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. They are highly materialistic in nature. "Al Capone Does My Shirts a Novel by Gennifer Choldenko, Hobbes Materialist Nature of Philosophical Principles. The Great Gatsby portrays three different social classes: "old money" (Tom and Daisy Buchanan); "new money" (Gatsby); and a class that might be called "no money" (George and Myrtle Wilson). Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. Gatsbys house that was located in the seashore was characterized by immense lavishness and luxury. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. (Of course, the primary support for these arguments should come from the text itself!) In 1920, the U.S. passed the 18th Amendment, outlawing the production and sale of alcohol. This term paper on American Culture in the Novel The Great Gatsby was written and submitted by your fellow The aggregate wages had also risen from $36.4 billion to the tunes of 51.5 billion (Woods 213). In the era of writing The Great Gatsby, cultural conventions, which were perceived as out of date died to usher new ones from1920 to 1930s. Women who were never contented with pleasure wore knee-length skirts, overly long draping necklaces, and rolled stockings (Leader 14). Economically, there was an increase in working women. This paper discusses these aspects as essential constituents of 1920s American culture as revealed in The Great Gatsby. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. So while Daisy is materialistic and is drawn to Gatsby again due to his newly-acquired wealth, we see Gatsby is drawn to her as well due to the money and status she represents. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. Set in Jazz Age New York, it tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth. Continue to start your free trial. This analysis can enrich an essay about old money versus new money, the American dream, or even a more straightforward character analysis, or a comparison of two different characters. Central Idea Essay: What Does the Green Light Mean? Daisy herself is explicitly connected with money here, which allows the reader to see Gatsby's desire for her as desire for wealth, money, and status more generally. The amendment came close to eventually being ratifiedin the 1970s, but was defeated by conservatives. Indeed, Tom Buchanan believes that he needs additional power and influence despite being already powerful and blessed with a beautiful daughter and wife. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he displays the corrupt moral values of the society and culture, also their assumptions, Jay Gatz is alienated because of his class he is killed as a result of alienation. F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, depicts a portion of Nick Carraways life characterized by the time he is influenced by the mysterious Jay Gatsby and his extensive pursuit of his former flame and Nicks cousin, Daisy Buchanan. According to Zeitz, 1920s marked an era in which Americans began to reap from the benefits of increased consumerism (21). All rights reserved. She has it exceptionally clear in her mind that her success is not honestly acquired, and that it can depart from her any time. He gets wrapped up in Gatsby's dreams and his cousin's difficult marriage, all while learning about the pitfalls of wealth and the truth of the American dream. Gatsbys parties have a speakeasy feel in that people from different backgrounds and genders freely mix and mingle. Toms unethical conduct is further reflected in several other characters in The Great Gatsby who resort to lying in order to reach success, which ultimately leads to their demise. Like his fellow modernists, Fitzgerald was deeply critical of the wealth and capitalist success ushered in by the post-war boom, considering the new obsession with money and status shallow. In other words, Gatsby loves Daisy's "value" as an in-demand product. For example, it's all well and good to assume that Daisy should leave the boorish Tom, but divorce would have been way more complicated for a woman in the 1920s than it is today. Gatsby admits this fact (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 127). By continuing well assume you On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. There are two crucialpieces of background history that you have to know to understand the novel. Free Essay: Cultural Impact of The Great Gatsby - Studymode ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? By such suggestions that Gatsby was a product of his culture, Nick is able to praise Gatsby for the integrity of his belief . New York: Scribner, 2004. The jazz age was born during the 1920s era in the American history. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? After all, "People were not invitedthey went there" (3.7). Excited to dive in? 8 Ways 'The Great Gatsby' Captures the Roaring Twenties - HISTORY The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz musicepitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday nightresulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals. Contact us In The Great Gatsby, money is central to the idea of the American Dream. Entire Document, Comparison: Great Gatsby and the American Dream, The Great Gatsby and the 'American Dream', The Great Gatsby: The Fall of the American Dream, Contradictions in the culture of the period, Flappers and self-made men as new people of the period, Prohibition of alcohol and Gatsby as a bootlegger, The price for reaching the American Dream, How the novel mirrors the corrupt mindset of the Roaring Twenties. Our introduction to Tom and Daisy immediately describes them as rich, bored, and privileged. This began during WWI as more women began to work to make up for the men fighting abroad, and as more professions opened up to them in the men's absence. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925. Myrtles affair with Tom is her approach of taking advantage of him to reach an extravagant lifestyle, Daisy allows Gatsby to take the blame for Myrtles death without regret, and Gatsby changes his whole name and way of life in order to feel personally accomplished; all eventually realize that the happiness they expected to receive in the end resulted in misery, especially with the deaths of Myrtle and Gatsby. This so called Black Sox Fix proved to be an enormous scandal in the early twentieth century as Rothstein, Wolfsheim in the novel, was able to get away with committing the crime with clever and crooked smarts while obtaining a large sum of money. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. If you understand the history of Prohibition, you'll make better sense of some plot and character details inThe Great Gatsby: Police emptying out confiscated barrels of beer into the sewer. What Nicks Careless Laughter Both Reveals and Obscures - Reading No people in The Great Gatsby get rich by working hard. This situation resulted in corruption of the ideal American dream. The idea is straightforward: greater income . Gatsby suffers the most from the promise of social mobility inherent to the American Dream. Cars are clearly used to display wealth and status - even Tom, normally secure in his superiority, wants to brag to George Wilson aboutthesuper-fancy Rolls Royce heborrows from Gatsby. At the same time, many of the social restrictions of the early 20th century were being rejected, and progressive movements of all kinds were flourishing. Colonizers arrived in the US with similar dreams of a healthier life for all people. He also threw parties now and then, which were equally characterized by high consumptions. The aim was to provide a vivid description of the rebelliousness that is associated with the youths of the time. Nick Caraway, a native of Minnesota and an advocate of Midwestern values, narrates it in the first person. All these developments illustrated increased consumer spending as noted by Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. But, in 1917, the U.S. was pulled into the fighting, fearing an alliance between Germany and Mexico. Understanding historical context helps you in all sorts of ways: Having a richer interpretation of symbols, motifs, and themes. These gardeners cleaned the leftovers of the products that had been consumed during Gatsbys parties that were dominated by haphazard expenses. (1.17). Historical context: the giant arm propping up the baby that is your argument. Although many previous events eventually influenced the 1920s, there are two crucialpieces of background history that you have to know. This pessimism is also reflected in the fates of Myrtle and George, who are both trying to increase their wealth and status in America, but end up dead by the end of the novel. Increased availability of products for purchasing in the free market led to the widening of the gaps between people of different social economic classes. Samkanashvili reckons that Scott Fitzgeralds novel has the lesson of the need to subscribe to a firm belief that people must work hard to achieve their goals of becoming rich and prosperous, rather than following short-cut routes that often prompt corruption to take place (73). (2022, August 12). ), happiness, or family. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. One of the rumors about Gatsby is that he is involved in a bootlegging pipeline of alcohol from Canada - this is a reference to a real-life scandal about one of the places where illegal alcohol was coming from! Fitzgerald incorporates the topics surrounding his era into this classic of the American Dream, the contrasting cultures of the Midwest and East, the struggles under Prohibition, and the immoral behaviors exemplified throughout the nation. Hence, consumer spending increased tremendously since more people gained access to the well-paying job opportunities. Unfortunately, the depression of 1929 led to a loss of such gains (Romer 598). Jordan is direct and critical all while being collected and intelligent; she defies the typical standard of the effervescent, submissive women of her time and instead represents a new breed of women, all standardized by the future of American prosperity and affluence. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. When Nick spies on them through the window, he reports that there was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture, and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together. Because of their elite class status, Tom and Daisy share a belief that they are immune to the consequences of their actions. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, 'f20994d3-fd87-4c1e-988d-22ad8d920c1a', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); This is an interesting prompt, since you have to comb through passages of Nick's narration to find his comments about money, and then consider what they could mean, given that he comes from money himself. . American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby". The rising immorality also explains the cultures of loosening morals in The Great Gatsby. They are conventionally characterized by corruption. freebooksummary.com 2016 2022 All Rights Reserved, We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. (1.14). Unfortunately, with regard to The Great Gatsby, this dream dwindled, as materialism, consumerism, and the culture of loosening social morals became the order of the day in the 1920s America. These comments might seem a bit odd, given that Nick admits to coming from money himself: "My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this middle-western city for three generations" (1.5). Ironically enough, Nick resides in West Egg while Tom and Daisy reside in East Egg, this being analogous to where they find their moral values and happiness. Meanwhile, Tom's mistress Myrtle, a car mechanic's wife, puts on airs and tries to pass as rich through her affair with Tom, but her involvement with the Buchanans gets her killed. Literary Themes for Students. (3.1-3.6). is also why the novel's symbols of the green light and the valley of ashes are so memorable and charged. Because he creates characters that personify the American Dream, juxtaposes western and eastern American cultures, incorporates examples of law breaking under Prohibition, and depicts the corruption of the wealthy, Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a reflection of Americas culture in the early twentieth century by highlighting the cultures successes and failures. Ask questions; get answers. The theme of The Great Gatsby is decadence and the decline of society. Values And Goals Of Society In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsbys parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth. Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and first published in 1925, the setting of The Great Gatsby is an island, which is dominated by prosperous, wealthy, and poor communities of East Egg and West Egg. Together with the examples of deceit under Prohibition, Fitzgeralds novel was inspired by the corruption of certain Americans during the 1920s as reflected in the actions and deceit used by the major characters he created. Vol. What does this mean? . F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Age of Excess. Development Arrested. It took him about two and a half years to write and edit it, in between a failed play production, financial struggles, and a move to France. The Great Gatsby Historical and Social Context - eNotes.com F. Scott Fitzgerald, though he didn't actually see any fighting during his time in the army, was a member of this generation. Fitzgerald himself waspart of a circle of modernists who regularly met inParis (others included Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Sinclair Lewis, and the painters Picasso and Matisse). On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. So Gatsby ultimately provides a pretty harsh, pessimistic view of women's roles in 1920s America. Gatsby, in the summer months, was known far and wide for the extravagant parties he threw in which "men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." During the weekend, people flocked to his house for his parties, as well as to use his . https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-in-the-novel-the-great-gatsby/, IvyPanda. Scott Fitzgerald has created a social satire of America in the 1920's in which he exposes the American Dream as being inherently flawed and merely an illusion produced by idealism.This American Dream has been traditionally associated with the pursuit of freedom and equality. Everyone who comes to the parties is attracted by Gatsby's money and wealth, making the culture of money-worship a society-wide trend in the novel, not just something our main characters fall victim to. We get our best look at Myrtle in Chapter 2, when Tom takes Nick to see her in Queens and they end up going to the New York City apartment Tom keeps for Myrtle and hosting a small gathering (after Tom and Myrtle hook up, with Nick in the next room!). The Great Gatsby. Although her husband is immensely loyal to her, she possesses a strong desire to have everything else. Daisy is coercive and manipulative. Why does Gatsby arrange for Nick to have lunch with Jordan Baker? New York, NY, and London: Verso, 1998. Cultural Impact of The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, depicts a portion of Nick Carraway's life characterized by the time he is influenced by the mysterious Jay Gatsby and his extensive pursuit of his former flame and Nick's cousin, Daisy Buchanan. 146-152. She fails to comprehend why East Eggs people live materially well while she, together with her husband, still remain engulfed in the valley of ashes (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 76).