The Great Gatsby by F.S Fitzgerald epitomizes the 1920's.

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The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F.S Fitzgerald epitomizes the 1920’s, Jazz age an era which saw a time of great economic prosperity, a time of jazz bands and parties but also a time of much corruption. There was a legal ban on intoxicating drinks and homemade alcohol from bathtubs was of poor quality so there was a huge market for organised crime. The liquor was sold around the back of drug stores or speakeasies, which was used as a front for the illegal activities. The criminals acquired the name of bootleggers and made a fortune selling alcohol, which was served at many of the richer parties. Women also enjoyed a much less restricted lifestyle with newfound freedom; they went to parties wearing skimpy, elegant, sexy and flamboyant dresses. Women were given the right to vote and it became fashionable to act masculine, hair and dresses were shortened and women began to smoke in public. A romantic image of the 1920’s may have included flappers, pin stripe suits, Model T’s and the Charleston but corruption and crime was rife in an era that was not as romantic as it seemed. The Great Gatsby is both a criticism of the period of social change that was the jazz age and a symbol of the development of the American social identity, including the changing beliefs of the American dream.

Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby severely criticizes the Jazz Age, a period of social change that had serious ramifications for some people some good and some bad transmogrifications. The Jazz age was a time of much corruption people were getting rich fast through illegal activities, not adhering to the guidelines of the American. It world appears that all the immoral people have the most money and live by immoral ideals and believes. The 1920s saw the crumbling of America, as America's powerful optimism, vitality, and individualism become subordinated to the amoral pursuit of wealth. Fitzgerald criticizes the materialism of the generation of the 1920’s; they were influenced by wealth, an easy life and material luxury. Daisy is especially influenced by these material possessions, even in love with them so Gatsby tries to win her back by achieving wealth and acquiring these material possessions. Though Daisy does not fall for Gatsby so his dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption that wealth causes and the unworthiness of his one goal, his one hope and dream. His whole career, his confidence in himself and in life is totally devastated when he does not succeed to win Daisy back, so death when it come to him is almost inconsequential, for, with the disintegration of his dream, Gatsby is already spiritually dead. There was a significant loss of spiritual life and spiritual values in the 1920’s; religion was thrown out the way for parties, living the good life and the amoral pursuit of wealth, which also ties into the American dream. Class conflict is explored in The Great Gatsby the lower classes want to break into the upper class escaping from their lower classes. In particularly Jay Gatsby who wants to break into the upper class due to his idealism, his belief in life's possibilities. Undoubtedly, his desire is also influenced by social considerations; Daisy, who is wealthy and beautiful, represents a way of life, which is distant from Gatsby's, the symbol of the green light unreachable by Gatsby. Therefore this distant, unreachable way of life is more appealing so Gatsby struggles to fit himself into another social group, the old money group. The West and East Egg are symbols are class and social standing. Daisy and Tom live on East Egg, which is far more refined and well bred. Nick and Gatsby are on the West Egg, which is for people who don't have any real standing, even if they have money. The East Egg, represents the old money, the people who have been wealthy for many generations, the West Egg represents the new money, the people who have only just acquired their fortune, possibly through illegal activities. Fitzgerald criticizes the treatment of women in the 1920’s, a social environment that, to a significant degree, does not appreciate intelligence in women. Daisy is a key example of the treatment and social standing of women in the 1920’s; she is all gesture over substance. The older generation values subservience and docility in females, whilst the younger generation values careless giddiness and pleasure seeking. “I’ll hope she’ll be a fool-that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” on p.22 Daisy while not a fool herself realizes that women in the 1920’s were not respected, instead treated as more of a material being, like being owned by someone, like Tom ‘owns’ Daisy. Daisy's comment is to some extent ironic: while she refers to the social ideals of her generation, she does not seem to confront them. Rather, she illustrates her own monotony with life and gives the impression that a girl can have more pleasure if she is beautiful and simplistic. Daisy herself often tries to play such a part; she conforms to the conventional social standing of American femininity in the 1920’s in order to evade such tension-filled subjects as her eternal love for Gatsby. The 1920’s, the Jazz Age was a time of new music, Jazz, smooth jazz and rag music were key music forms of the time. With memorable songs such as the Charleston and Swing, Swing, Swing though this music revealed many of the discriminations in America. Poor, middle class girls would go to Upper class parties such as Gatsby’s, in an attempt to break into the upper class. Into material wealth and social standings that they hadn’t experienced in their lives before, some would even marry purely for money, such as Daisy who’s ‘love’ was bought with a three hundred and fifty thousand dollar pearl necklace. The 1920’s were a materialistic society where religion and individuality was cast aside for the amoral pursuit of wealth.          

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The Great Gatsby is an exploration of the American dream as it exists in a corrupt period, and it is an attempt to determine that concealed boundary that divides the reality and illusion, as stated by Bewley. The Great Gatsby is essentially a social commentary on the failure of the American dream, from the point of view that American political ideals conflict with the actual social conditions that exist. Gatsby is revealed as an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby’s main hope was to reclaim Daisy, who ...

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