Scott Fitzgerald's Use Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

Although the American Dream seemed more attainable than ever in the 1920’s, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby demonstrates how materialism and the demise of moral values in society leads to the corruption and impossibility of the American Dream. This is accomplished through the use of symbols such as the Valley of Ashes, The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, and The Green Light. These 3 symbols play a huge roll in the novel for each of them are massively important in their own ways. Mid-way between New York City and West Egg, lies the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is a dreary place symbolizing the moral descent of society.

That period of time was all about alcohol, partying, gambling, fashion, and money. The Great Gatsby presents its characters as having living the American Dream. However, it is only a belief; the behaviors they have and decisions they take only leave them with a false perception of life and lifestyle. The Great Gatsby relates to the corruption of the American Dream for those materialistic people who were after money. Fitzgerald reveals the idea of corruption in the American Dream through conditions such as wealth and materialism, power and social status, and relationships involving family and affairs.

4.03 Developing Theme Thesis Statement F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and The Jelly Bean both use Irony, Foreshadowing, and symbolism to describe how many people’s endeavor to achieve great wealth and class drove people’s decisions in the 1920s. I. Main Idea for 1st Body Paragraph: Irony A. Literary element use and effect in novel 1. Nick’s relationship to Gatsby is an example of irony because Nick tells the story about Gatsby, but he doesn’t like him.

Of all the themes, perhaps none is better developed than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is regarded as a brilliant piece of social commentary, offering a vivid peek into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct groups but, in the end, each group has its own problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious place the world really is. By creating distinct social classes — old money, new money, and no money — Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism running throughout every strata of

Jay Gatsby symbolizes the crucial American Dream, yet the symbols surrounding him display an immoral side of the dream. Gatsby’s parties signify the materialistic component of the ideal American life. According to most critics, both Gatsby and Daisy represents the American Dream. Jordan Baker reveals to Nick that “[Gatsby] half expected [Daisy] to wander into one of his parties, some night” (Fitzgerald 85). The parties display the massive amount of money that Gatsby has at his disposal.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ is a novel that illustrates the ideologies of the ‘American Dream’: a fundamental of American identity since the inception of the country. The term was coined in 1931, and certainly ‘The Great Gatsby’, set during the Roaring Twenties, is a seminal exploration of this. F Scott Fitzgerald attempts to portray the two sides of the ‘American Dream’: its materialistic goals that gave individuals hope and the corrupt mindsets that shattered this hope and led to a decade of deceit. Therefore, these sides which Fitzgerald explores can be seen through the symbols used within the novel, such as the ‘green light’ that comes from Daisy’s dock, the divided setting of the novel between East Egg and West Egg, and through Gatsby himself. As Fitzgerald describes the light at the end of Daisy’s dock, he uses the colour ‘green’ as a symbol for ambition, finance and money.

As one of the most celebrated novels of the 20th century Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has attracted critical attention for candidly portraying “about America, American character and the American Dream” (Miller 252). Few critics have comprehensively examined the American Dream that permeates the text. The novel reflects some of the images of horror of modern life in America. The reader can gauge the deeper psychology discovering the universal malaise of ‘sickness’ and common darkness in the individual gloom personified for the generation of twenties. It suggests much about the sterility, aridity, vacuity of modern life.

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald about people living in the town of West Egg which is on the prosperous Long Island. The story concerns the young millionaire Jay Gatsby and his dreamy thoughts for his long lost lover Daisy Buchanan. Extract 2 has shown the decadence society at the Jazz Age filled with an atmosphere of extravagance. It further shows that the people judge each other by how high their social status is, wealth is a way to show that you have power. Furthermore, extract 2 discusses about Nick’s interesting relationship with the Buchanans.

My character, Jay Gatsby appears in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s historical fiction novel, The Great Gatsby. I believe, Mr. Gatsby should win the award for “The Most Determined Person.” By determined, I mean he is steadfast in achieving a goal despite difficulty or delay. Some critics will state he represents The American Dream, yet he is much more than that. Set in New York during the 1920s, the novel is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, who is the new neighbor to Mr. Gatsby. Gatsby is introduced as a very wealthy but mysterious man.

The Great Gatsby Plot: Nick Carraway, a young lad from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond business. He rents a small house almost like a shed in the West Egg district of Long Island. This is when he sees and starts to hear about his extravagant neighbour, Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is a very secret and mysterious man, who throws huge and over the top parties all the time. A little later Nick decides to pay his cousin a visit.

Appropriately titled, the roaring twenties popularized the fascination, as well as the opportunity, for wealth and success. These ideals directly reflect the foundations of the American Dream, however, these goals would often lead the pursuers down a path of corruption and extreme individualism─alienating people, even with those who refer to them as acquaintances. The characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby undergo the same experience, as multiple characters in the novel that chased the American Dream were left with the hollowed shell, which contained nothing but outsidedness. Fitzgerald, through characterization, develops the thematic idea of chasing a wealth-based American Dream, and the great consequences that accompany it.

The period of the nineteen twenties was characterized by dynamic social and economic trends. F. Scott Fitzgerald is a celebrated writer for not only his ability to write popular stories, but also his embodiment of the spirit of what was called the roaring twenties. Fitzgerald led a fiscally irresponsible life which was typical, even romanticized for that time. Additionally, he was known to write notable novels which enraptured the reader with adept uses of rhetorical tools and vivid descriptions instead of direct statements. This is common in two of his short stories, The Camel’s Back and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The American Dream is the ideal that if one works hard, he or she will gain success and prosper in life. Based on many outcomes of the American Dream, one 's dream is often very personal and subjective. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 American novel, The Great Gatsby, he utilizes the green light, the Valley of Ashes, and the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg to portray the central theme of the hope and hopelessness of the American Dream. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how the American Dream can be achievable and personal through utilizing the green light. In the 1910s and 1920s, red-green traffic lights had first begun to be installed in the United States.

The Great Gatsby Independent Reading Essay #6 Many readers identify The Great Gatsby as an American classic due to the fact that it rips away at “The American Dream.” This novel takes place within the roaring twenties where the American dream could only be described as wealth and power. In The Great Gatsby, one of the main characters, Daisy Buchanan, lusts after this, but she must choose between love or safety, and this struggle illuminates F. Scott Fitzgerald’s theme for the work as a whole. In the novel, Daisy Buchanan finds herself torn between two forces, true love or security. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Daisy continually tells Gatsby how much she loves him, although she is married, but when faced with the choice of telling her husband Tom that she loves Gatsby and not Tom she can’t do it (Fitzgerald 133). She says it is because it isn’t true, because at a time she was in love with Tom, but it was because he offered security and safety and wealth, and that’s what she truly wants.