Although my adventure into F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literature has just begun, I have, without a doubt, already been beguiled by his exceptionally well-written prose. The Great Gatsby, much like Fahrenheit 451, is filled with ideologies, literary devices and themes that reveal the deepest, darkness secrets of human emotion and expose – in this case - the fabricated fantasy known as the American Dream. If there is one thing this book is, it is eye-opening. This novel, which is set in New York City during the 1920s, depicts a scandalous society where sex, money, class, love, and morals (or lack thereof) govern the lives of people and the decisions made. As such, The Great Gatsby is a social commentary on American society following the large economic boom after the First World War [].
The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.
In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses many differnt retorical devices to add a personal flare to his work. He uses diction, symbolism, and irony to adress many different themes. These themes include Materialism, The American Dream, and includes a sharp and biting ridicule on American society in the 1920’s. The main point of Fitzgerald, arguement is one where he sharply criticizes the Society of the time.
Arguably one of the most complex works of American Literature, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays a satirical United States taking place in the early twenties in New York. The roaring twenties often portrayed a happy time immediately following World War 1 however, it gave off a false feeling of joy and many people were truly unhappy. Even though Nick Carraway shows a realistic image of himself, The Great Gatsby encompasses an illusion created in this time period and portrays this image through the atmosphere surrounding the actions of its characters; it ultimately shows a conflict against reality, identical to that to the early 20th century. The Great Gatsby shows the upper class and their habits, which involved: carelessness,
The biggest question remaining after the reading of the book is what is Fitzgerald saying about American society? Is Fitzgerald insulting American society? Fitzgerald’s main ideas of American society in The Great Gatsby are about social class and status. The majority of his comments towards these subjects relates to the cars, houses, and money that people have.
The 1920s was a period of extravagance. Jazz music was viral, parties went on for days and the prohibition was not stopping anyone. But in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, depicts the Roaring Twenties as a world of deceit, affairs, and dishonesty. Scott Fitzgerald wrote this novel to demonstrate the social flaws and the social attitudes in the 1920's and 30's. In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald comments on a variety of themes.
In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”
This brings to mind how the American Dream of fortune can’t always be brought around by hard work, in the case of George. Later on in Chapter 4 the reader learns about Gatsby’s plan to win Daisy back through his show of wealth and social power. Daisy, being the ultimate symbol of success for Gatsby, is his goal that has been for so long out of reach. Next in the 5th Chapter, Gatsby starts an affair with Daisy. This makes the audience believe that he might be successful in his ultimate “American Dream” with Daisy being the last level.
Gatsby then gets involved with the nightmare of the American Dream. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s perfectly as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. This novel shows the lack of social skills in newly made millionaires such as Gatsby that cannot even pick up on an invitation to lunch. This book was enjoyable to read because it set in when America was becoming an economic superpower and it was relatable in some ways.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is the author of the twentieth century American classic, The Great Gatsby. It is a story of the American dream, settled down in the 1920’s, with issues of the time period being, prohibition, women, class structure, crime, and many more, The Great Gatsby has a taste of each. Fitzgerald incorporated subjects of his time and his very own experiences into the story to portray an era of social and moral values. The 1920’s were a time of breaking morals Class structure and wealth were among the highest pleasures achievable. The 20’s were an era of Jazz; with extravagant music playing throughout all hours of the night.
In his novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores the reality of the American Dream. Throughout the novel, he uses Daisy to represent the American Dream. In chapter eight, after Daisy crashes the car, “she vanish[es] into her rich house… leaving Gatsby nothing” (149). Daisy is depicted as soulless; she is willing to let Gatsby take the fall for her faults. In order to remain the American Dream, Daisy must appear blameless to society; therefore, the common man must always take responsibility for her mistakes.
Gatsby has spent his whole life trying to prove to Daisy and everyone around him that he is worthy of her. The only way to be on the same social level as her is to turn himself into new money. Since this is not possible, he has to try to convince to others that he truly is old money. To do this, he becomes rich, and lies about his past, but the only way for him to complete this idea is if he is with Daisy. She is the final piece in his American dream.
Daisy seemed really nice and pretty and was the goal of Gatsby to get, but turns out she's not as great and Gatsby imagined her being, represents the false sense of glory people see in the American Dream. This proved in chapter 5, page 93, "Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.
Part of the American dream is finding love and raising a family. Gatsby’s hard work was fueled by the dream of Daisy. Gatsby had never loved a girl like this one. He was so infatuated with her that he even said, “Her voice is full of money," (Fitzgerald). Gatsby loves his money and ultimately just to hear her voice brought extreme emotion to him.
Daisy is an ignorant woman, she destroys Gatsby’s dream and felt no guilt in leaving him. She feels safe as long as she had her money. She uses her money to cover up her wrong doings. Her ignorance and carelessness cause her to not understand the hard work behind the American