Jennie Farshchian
Panther ID: 1084949
Response Paper # 6
THE GREAT GATSBY:
The Wasteland of the 1920’s
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts the emptiness and recklessness of the 1920s. The sense of spiritual and emotional barrenness amidst great material wealth creates an image of the moral decline that escalates during the 1920’s. One tool that Fitzgerald utilizes to portray the extreme moral deterioration of society during this period is the imagery of the wasteland. The wasteland symbolizes that which was once fertile and fruitful but has now deteriorated into a bleak and desolate scene. Even in scenes of profligate wealth the wasteland is present in that it lives inside the individuals who have lost themselves in the face of materialism. Through The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald reveals his derisive condemnation of the whole generation of the 1920’s, who are so caught up in a life of recklessness and wasteful behavior that they do not even realize the meaninglessness of their lives.