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The Great Gatsby: Positive Or Negative Era?

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1920s: Positive or Negative Era? The 1920s, was it a time for change or a time of corruption? According to the book, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it was a time for corruption. Fitzgerald used the book to show how ecstatic (5) everybody was about change. This was a time for new jobs, new leisure activities, and prohibition. Underneath all this new change though, it was purely insidious (6) corruption do to bootlegging, affairs, and false dreams. One of the most major issues that caused corruption during the 1920s was bootlegging. During this time most peopled lapsed (7) into a drunken and hung-over state. Whether it was during the day or at night, if people could get alcohol, they would. There were infinite (1) numbers of sources …show more content…

Men acted haughtily (6) towards women and felt like they could do whatever they wanted. Women were gaining more freedom, but men still seemed to control them. History claims that “in addition to being more sexually ‘free’ than previous generations” women were getting more prominent in society. Not only were married men cheating, married women were also cheating. Although, to men it was inconceivable (8) that women were allowed to do that, to have that much freedom. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrayed these affairs within three characters. Tom and Daisy Buchanan were the two main characters, cheating on each other. Tom was cheating on Daisy with many, many women, but the one mentioned in the book was Myrtle. During these times, Tom saw nothing wrong with his cheating. Although, when Daisy went out to have fun or when he found out she was cheating, he tried to force her to suppress (5) her actions. It never worked because Daisy was a free woman to herself; she would do what she wanted, whenever. Fitzgerald showed in the book that Daisy’s feelings fluctuated (4) between Tom and her secret man, Gatsby. She loved Tom, but she loved Gatsby too. Affairs showed how disloyal and untrustworthy people could be during that time. Women were very vehement (3) about what they could do, but still men gave them limits. These limits created secrecy and secrecy created false dreams, which destroyed a

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