At the same time, the novel itself critiques the notion of the American Dream. New York, NY: Institute of American History, 2005. Ironically, Gatsbys good qualities (loyalty and love) lead to his death, as he takes the blame for killing Myrtle rather than letting Daisy be punished, and the Buchanans bad qualities (fickleness and selfishness) allow them to remove themselves from the tragedy not only physically but psychologically. Literary Themes for Students: The American Dream. These comments might seem a bit odd, given that Nick admits to coming from money himself: "My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this middle-western city for three generations" (1.5). Unfortunately, the depression of 1929 led to a loss of such gains (Romer 598). True to the spirit of the times . Learn more about how The Great Gatsby was received when it first came out, and also read about the life ofits author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. First of all, he makes it clear that he has "an unaffected scorn" for the ultra-rich, and eyes both new money and old money critically. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! If George Wilson had had the means, he likely would have already left New York with Myrtle in tow, saving both of their lives. The Great Gatsby. This situation is well supported by the fact that after the party and with additional of extra workers, Gatsbys gardeners toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden shears, repairing the ravages of the night before (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 121). These gardeners cleaned the leftovers of the products that had been consumed during Gatsbys parties that were dominated by haphazard expenses. The jazz age was born during the 1920s era in the American history. Jordan is direct and critical all while being collected and intelligent; she defies the typical standard of the effervescent, submissive women of her time and instead represents a new breed of women, all standardized by the future of American prosperity and affluence. Why does Gatsby arrange for Nick to have lunch with Jordan Baker? Print. Symbolically, the author denotes aristocrats as old money (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 54). West Egg residents or new money (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 54) are perceived by East Egg counterparts as upstart outsiders. Myrtle mentions this with regard to her husband, George, whom she mistook for someone of better breeding and hence greater prospects: I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasnt fit to lick my shoe. Similarly, Gatsbys pursuit of Daisy is bound up with class. "Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly. F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Age of Excess. 3: Growth of Empires to the Great Depression (1890-1930s). So all three women push the boundaries of their expected societal rolesDaisy's affair with Gatsby, Jordan's independent lifestyle, and Myrtle's affair with Tombut ultimately either fall in line (Daisy, Jordan) or are killed for reaching too far (Myrtle). The Great Gatsby was published in 1925. The clash between old money and new money manifests itself in the novels symbolic geography: East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich. on 2-49 accounts, Save 30% And on Mondays eight servants including an extra gardener toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before." IvyPanda, 12 Aug. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-in-the-novel-the-great-gatsby/. In fact, it seems that the accident may have brought them closer. and events that occur in the novels plot. This analysis can enrich an essay about old money versus new money, the American dream, or even a more straightforward character analysis, or a comparison of two different characters. So the American Dream, which in the first half of the book seems attainable based on Gatsby's wealth and success, reveals itself to be a hollow goal. must. "They had spent a year in France, for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together." Therefore, it is not surprising that the consumerist culture, which Scott Fitzgerald criticizes, had emerged. . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. How does Tom find out about the affair between Gatsby and Daisy? Modernism was all about breaking with the past. The average student has to read dozens of books per year. Fitzgerald incorporates the topics surrounding his era into this classic of the American Dream, the contrasting cultures of the Midwest and East, the struggles under Prohibition, and the immoral behaviors exemplified throughout the nation. A mentionable character representing the American Dream was Jordan Baker and her representation of womens independence. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. In contrast to Tom and Daisy's expensive but not overly gaudy mansion, and the small dinner party Nick attends there in Chapter 1, everything about Gatsby's new wealth is over-the-top and showy, from the crates of oranges brought in and juiced one-by-one by a butler to the full orchestra. The outcome of these cultures was the decaying American dream. Narrator Nick Carraway is . Zeitz, Joshua. Read more about those symbols for a fuller understanding of how money affects The Great Gatsby. Jews also served in the American military during World War I in very high numbers. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Anyone can read what you share. Scott Fitzgerald mentions in her novel an incident of prohibition of sale and the production of liquor to tame youths who had become overindulged in alcoholism. That was it. The theme of The Great Gatsby is decadence and the decline of society. Wed love to have you back! In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald documents these changes through an in-depth exploration of cultural changes such as the rise in consumerism, materialism, greed for wealth, and the culture of loosening morals in the 1920s American society. In this phrase, Nick talks about Tom and George upon realizing that their wives are cheating on them and that they had a sort of terminal sickness. Want 100 or more? Caroline Brown . Tom's restlessness is likely one motivator for his affairs, while Daisy is weighed down by the knowledge of those affairs. Copyright 2023 - IvyPanda is operated by, American Culture in the Novel The Great Gatsby. Unsuccessful upon publication, the book is now considered a classic of American fiction and has often been . Meyer Wolfsheim and Gatsbys fortune symbolize the rise of organized crime and bootlegging. (3.1-3.6). Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Gatsby, like a peacock showing off its many-colored tail, flaunts his wealth to Daisy by showing off his many-colored shirts. However, all positive traits aside, there are aspects of Jay Gatsby that call into question that admiration. Entire Document, Comparison: Great Gatsby and the American Dream, The Great Gatsby and the 'American Dream', The Great Gatsby: The Fall of the American Dream, Contradictions in the culture of the period, Flappers and self-made men as new people of the period, Prohibition of alcohol and Gatsby as a bootlegger, The price for reaching the American Dream, How the novel mirrors the corrupt mindset of the Roaring Twenties. He is guided by a culture of gathering more wealth for individualistic gains than he already has (Zeitz 13). She was incurably dishonest. A new version of the dream emerged. There are two crucialpieces of background history that you have to know to understand the novel. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. (2022, August 12). Inspired by the devastation of WWI, writers in The Lost Generationembraced a cynical view of human nature. At the same time, their prominence gave rise to an anti-Semitic backlash, and the revival of the KKK began with the lynching of a Jewish man in 1915. . 20% Get professional help from PrepScholar. My personal culture tree possesses a diverse cultural background as the 'roots', that formed the core and branch values, the values seemed to point towards unity between first nations people and Anglo-Saxon people in Australia since I . They were careless people, Tom and Daisythey smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? Although she is a famous player of golf, she can do anything on the loose to have her right always. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Read More. Myrtle explains that she married George because she thought he was a gentleman, suggesting she hoped hed raise her class status. The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsbys parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth. F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, depicts a portion of Nick Carraways life characterized by the time he is influenced by the mysterious Jay Gatsby and his extensive pursuit of his former flame and Nicks cousin, Daisy Buchanan. F. Scott Fitzgerald, though he didn't actually see any fighting during his time in the army, was a member of this generation. Then, after returning home and realizing Daisy was married and gone, he set out to earn enough money to win Daisy over, turning to crime via a partnership with Meyer Wolfshiem to quickly amass wealth (9.83-7). In Fitzgerald's most popular novel, The Great Gatsby, jazz appears as constant background music. Theory In this essay I will, by using a Marxist approach, analyze how the events in the novel The Great Gatsby reflect the changing society and the norms and values in America during the 1920s. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! Daisy is coercive and manipulative. (See our brief biography of Fitzgerald to learn more.). (one code per order). Gatsbyis now seen as both a product of and a record of the 1920s. A Comprehensive Guide. And furthermore, Daisy's willingness to stay with Tom despite his affairs underscores another aspect of women's roles during the 1920s: that divorce was still very uncommon and controversial. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. In contrast to 19th century writing that tended to reinforce the status quo, modernism rejected old-fashioned ideas like heroism and moral certitude. (2022, August 12). By Matthew Walther Mr. Walther is the editor of The Lamp, a Catholic literary journal, and a . DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. Daisy representing money also suggests money is as alluring and desirableor even more sothan Daisy herself. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education. In short, money both drives the plot and explains many of the characters' motivations and limitations. On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The public benefited from this increased success. "American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby"." Fitzgeralds illustration of the American Dream within his characters directly echoed the societys high-esteemed qualities of success and delight. This makes Daisy sound like the princess that the hero gets to marry at the end of a fairy talein other words, she's a high-value prize. Although her husband is immensely loyal to her, she possesses a strong desire to have everything else. . As Nick continues to realize, although the East appears to glitter with fascinating opportunities and excitement, it lacks the strong moral values encompassed in those like himself from the Midwest. Fitzgerald captured this period of rapid post-war growth and the frenzy surrounding the era with insightful examples of the eleterious effects of superficial behavior. She fails to comprehend why East Eggs people live materially well while she, together with her husband, still remain engulfed in the valley of ashes (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 76). A Comprehensive Guide. This is IvyPanda's free database of academic paper samples. Materialistic nature of the characters in the novel validates this claim. Want the complete lowdown on Jay Gatsby's rags-to-riches story? New York: Scribner, 2004. The characters Fitzgerald portrays represent distinct social groups who ultimately face their own struggles, demonstrating how uncertain the culture of the 1920s really was. The Great Gatsby. It took him about two and a half years to write and edit it, in between a failed play production, financial struggles, and a move to France. All these developments illustrated increased consumer spending as noted by Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. Such symbols reflect social challenges such as corruption that arose from the emergence of materialist and capitalist cultures. In 2013, a new movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby was released. For instance, rumors exist that Gatsby is involved in the importation and ferrying of illegal liquor amid the existing ban. The 19th Amendment, passed in 1919, officially gave women the right to vote in the United States. Daisy and Tom have similar traits, which support materialist culture that was prevalent in the 1920s American society as portrayed in The Great Gatsby. Continue to start your free trial. Socially progressive activists in both the Democratic and Republican parties united to pressure the government to ban alcohol, which was blamed for all kinds of other social ills like gambling and drug abuse. You can view our. In other words, while he opens the book with his father's advice to remember "all the advantages [he's] had," Nick seems to have a chip on his shoulder about still not being in the highest tier of the wealthy class. Mining the text for a character's attitude toward money can be a very helpful way to understand their motivations in the world of 1920s New York. In the monied world of The Great Gatsby, class influences all aspects of life, and especially love. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. Your privacy is extremely important to us. Nick's love of Manhattan as a diverse melting pot is illustrated by the appearance in. . Hence, consumer spending increased tremendously since more people gained access to the well-paying job opportunities. It contains thousands of paper examples on a wide variety of topics, all donated by helpful students. This implied that people had substituted responsibilities that were done by hand such as maintenance with technology such as vacuum cleaners and washing gadgets. After all, "People were not invitedthey went there" (3.7). to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. Hardly anyone shows up to Gatsby's funeral since they were only attracted by his wealth and the parties, not the man himself. This term described women who would wear much less restricting clothing and go out drinking and dancing, which at the time was a huge violation of typical social norms. He sarcastically describes the "consoling proximity of millionaires" on West Egg and wryly observes Tom and Daisy's restless entitlement on East Egg. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. To get you started, here is a sample of some of Nick's comments on money and the wealthy, though there are certainly more to be found: "Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reactionGatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." Check out our articles onGatsbys title, its opening pages and epigraph, and itsfirst chapter. When you combine this level of mass destruction with the fact that most of the war was a territorial stalemate (no army advanced, no army withdrew - they were just locked in a horrible tie), it's easy to see how unaccountable the 40 million deaths the war caused were. She is conversant with her possession of the charm that she uses maximally to maintain security for her lifestyles. The description of Gatsby's parties at the beginning of Chapter 3 is long and incredibly detailed, and thus it highlights the extraordinary extent of Gatsby's wealth and materialism. You can read more about the American Dream for details on The Great Gatsby's ultimately skeptical, cynical attitude towards this classic American ideal. Thinking about indulging in a little materialism yourself al Gatsby? Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike. ensure the integrity of our platform while keeping your private information safe. Many themes of the novel revolve around the mysterious character of Gatsby. He is a self-made man (in all respects) and as such, is admirable. . You can see the effects of these historical development several places in the novel: The 1920s saw huge increases in the production and use of automobiles. This is encapsulated in a phone call Nick describes, to a man who used to come to Gatsby's parties: "one gentleman to whom I telephoned implied that he had got what he deserved. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. This provision made them perceive themselves as equal to men. The sheer number of the party participants implies that the 1920s American culture was characterized by indiscriminate spending in an increasing number of products that were availed for sale by the rising manufacturing capacity of the nation. Ironically, with Wolfsheim being a powerful Jewish man who is more successful than Tom, his perceived fears become a reality (The Great Gatsby Literary 271); despite his unethical conclusions of other races, Tom struggles with the fact that he cannot combat the future success of others as proof of his immoral values. Gatsby never stands a chance of succeeding with his attempt to win back Daisy, who is a part of that society and of a different status. "There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. . Fitzgerald, Scott, and Matthew Bruccoli. The availability of mass-produced items among majority Americans led to the erosion of the existing mechanisms of differentiating people based on their social economic classes. ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? Knowing the hot-button issues of the novel's day gives you a good second way to support arguments about the importance of a particular theme, or your reading of the meaning of a symbol. . Women were granted the right to participate in voting. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Wealth, Class, and Society This desire of Americans to reach such a high social status and level of attainment was no better displayed through the ability that Gatsby possessed as he faithfully stuck to the conception of himself he desired to be and eventually obtained it. For this prompt, you can explore earlier examples of Tom's carelessness (breaking Myrtle's nose, his behavior in the hotel scene, letting Daisy and Gatsby drive back to Long Island after the fight in the hotel) as well as Daisy's (throwing a fit just before her wedding but going through with it, kissing Gatsby with her husband in the next room). (1.4), "My own house was an eye-sore, but it was a small eye-sore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor's lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionairesall for eighty dollars a month. In Nicks mind, the ability to create meaningful symbols constitutes a central component of the American dream, as early Americans invested their new nation with their own ideals and values. . It was a decade of tremendous wealth in the United States following the deprivations of the First World War. Jordan is incurably dishonest. The work examines the results of the Jazz Age generation's adherence to false material values. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. However, Fitzgerald illustrates the price of prosperity as he portrays its negative effects such as the greed, lies, and deceit the characters possess in order to satirize the selfish way many were choosing to live. This happened because of advances in mass production due to the assembly line, and because of rising incomes due to the economic boom. America at this time experienced a cultural and lifestyle revolution. Literary Themes for Students. Historical context: the giant arm propping up the baby that is your argument. Everyone is there for the spectacle alone. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. In 1921 to 1924, the American GDP grew from $ 69bilion to about 93 billion (Woods 213). He gets wrapped up in Gatsby's dreams and his cousin's difficult marriage, all while learning about the pitfalls of wealth and the truth of the American dream. In contrast, the old aristocracy possesses grace, taste, subtlety, and elegance, epitomized by the Buchanans tasteful home and the flowing white dresses of Daisy and Jordan Baker. 1. At the time when the novel takes place, the U.S. was in the middle of a tremendous economic boom and a soaring stock market that seemed to be on a permanent upward swing. Furthermore, by the end of the novel she claims to be engaged, meaning that like Daisy, she's ultimately chosen to live within the lines society has given her. Download it for free now: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, '688715d6-bf92-47d7-8526-4c53d1f5fe7d', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, '03a85984-6dfd-4a19-93c8-5f46091f5e2b', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. The journey to reaching a fulfilling life and the American Dream came with struggles, and many people resorted to crime and dishonest behavior as a way to circumvent their actual problems.

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