Political Issues In The Great Gatsby Essay

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby shows little, if any attention to political issues at the time. In the 1920s, also known as the “Jazz Age” the lifestyle is mostly driven by the wants and desire of individuals. Fitzgerald raises the lack of political concern at the time derived from the characters of the novel. The main political conflict is the fissure between the rich and the poor. Bootlegging alcohol was another problem in the 1920s; this is the reason why Gatsby became so wealthy. Foster explains in his novel How to read Literature like a Professor: “every story is written or inspired by the political problems around them, it contains the political reality of the time-power structures, relations among classes, issues of justice

This is also a big political problem in those days because it shows us the shadiness that went on in those times. The political issues in the 1920s are very different from the political issues we have nowadays. For example, now we deal with water shortages, pension accounting rules, the emergence of new drugs that threaten the Medicaid budgets. Back then, people from the East and West Egg lived life as if nothing else mattered, again showing signs of living the “American Dream”. Those in the Valley of Ashes didn’t have the same mindset. They believed what Fitzgerald is trying to show, the impossibility of achieving happiness through the “American Dream”. In other words, money won’t necessarily bring

A politically and socially crucial period of America’s time, The Great Gatsby succeeds in representing a society where if one is living in excess and decides to never settle down, will inevitably lead to their downfall. The 18th Amendment created the prohibition that made consuming, drinking or anything else that had to with alcohol. Nevertheless people kept on bootlegging alcohol and paid no attention to the law and had nothing to worry about because they were at the top of the food