The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s. For some time now I have been thinking about the validity or vulnerability of a certain set of assumptions conventionally accepted among literary historians and critics and circulated as "knowledge." This knowledge holds that traditional, canonical American literature is free of, (Of course, the primary support for these arguments should come from the text itself!) Obviously there is physical chemistry driving her affair with Tom, but she seems to get as much (if not more) pleasure from the materials that come with the affairthe apartment, the clothes, the dog, the parties. Only the most affluent couple pulls through the events that conclude the book. The Great Gatsby: Critical Essays | Social Stratification: The Great (3.1-3.6). "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. Nick, meanwhile, dates Jordan Baker throughout the book, and though their relationship has its moments of warmth and kindness, both parties generally seem lukewarm and emotionally distant. What Nicks Careless Laughter Both Reveals and Obscures - Reading Although the story is told with grace and beauty, its events are intended to be shocking. Hardly anyone shows up to Gatsby's funeral since they were only attracted by his wealth and the parties, not the man himself. 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. Fitzgerald and Bruccoli write, they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together (187-188). . Nick and Gatsby are continually troubled by timethe past haunts Gatsby and the future weighs down on Nick. Summary. Societally, divorce became more common. 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. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You can view our. Of course, this did little to actually stem the desire for alcoholic beverages, so a vast underground criminal empire was born to supply this demand. Similar to other characters in The Great Gatsby, she has an intense greed for money (Leader 13). Nick Caraway, a native of Minnesota and an advocate of Midwestern values, narrates it in the first person. The Buchanans exemplify this stereotype when, at the end of the novel, they simply move to a new house far away rather than condescend to attend Gatsbys funeral. Daisy, for her part, only begins her affair with Gatsby after a very detailed display of his wealth (via the mansion tour). ." All rights reserved. In short, money both drives the plot and explains many of the characters' motivations and limitations. 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." Fitzgerald, Scott, and Matthew Bruccoli. The 1920s marked a key time of change in the social status of women as so called flappers defied the traditional norms for conduct and dress, and women finally received the right to vote (The Great Gatsby Novels 74). She is passionate about improving student access to higher education. Retrieved from https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-in-the-novel-the-great-gatsby/. Abrief recap of what happened. After all, Tom's money secures her fancy apartment and allows her to lord it over her guests and play at sophistication, even while Nick looks down his nose at her. #3: How their final outcome is shaped by their wealth status and what that says about their place in the world. Best Analysis: Money and Materialism in The Great Gatsby, Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, Analyzing characters via money/materialism, Common assignments and analysis of money/materialism in Gatsby, Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now, he opens the book with his father's advice, We've compiled a list of 15 must-have items for fans of. and events that occur in the novels plot. Print. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you 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. However, drawing from her work, these prohibitions seemed to have little implications (Zeitz 23). DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. Developing a richer interpretation of symbols, motifs, and themes. So money here is more than just statusit's a shield against responsibility, which allows Tom and Daisy to behave recklessly while other characters suffer and die in pursuit of their dreams. What Makes the great Gatsby by F.S Fitzgerald Great? Journal of Education 1.2(2012): 73-78. Suppose you wanted to analyze the importance of cars in The Great Gatsby. Daisy representing money also suggests money is as alluring and desirableor even more sothan Daisy herself. Myrtle feels trapped in her marriage, which pushes her into her affair with Tom Buchanan, an affair which grants her access to a worldNew York City, wealth, partiesshe might not otherwise have access to. "American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby"." However, even though Gatsby succeeds in acquiring wealth, he is never accepted by the upper class. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! 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. In 2013, a new movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby was released. The theme of The Great Gatsby is decadence and the decline of society. . Gatsby, in the summer months, was known far and wide for the extravagant parties he threw in which "men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." During the weekend, people flocked to his house for his parties, as well as to use his . This paper discusses these aspects as essential constituents of 1920s American culture as revealed in The Great Gatsby. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. This implied that people had substituted responsibilities that were done by hand such as maintenance with technology such as vacuum cleaners and washing gadgets. "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." . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Development Arrested. After all, "People were not invitedthey went there" (3.7). As further proof of Nicks morals, he declines Gatsbys reward for reuniting him with Daisy, a risky business deal that would provide Nick with a surplus of money, as he realizes its faults, and he retains his dignity. 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. Increased availability of products for purchasing in the free market led to the widening of the gaps between people of different social economic classes. The post-war boom also had a positive effect on minorities in the U.S. One of the effects was thatJewish Americanswere atthe forefront of promoting such issues as workers rights, civil rights, woman's rights, and other progressive causes. We touched on this a bit with the quotes, but all of the characters can be analyzed from the point of view of their wealth and/or how materialistic they are. 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. Car ownership increased mobility between cities and outer suburban areas, which enabled the wealthy to work in one place but live in another. Like 1920s Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby longs to re-create a vanished pasthis time in Louisville with Daisybut is incapable of doing so. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Despite society's changing nature, the world still hasn't accepted Jordan as an independent person. must. She indeed admires East Eggs people with mega envy together with intense animosity. Myrtle is obsessed with shows of wealth, from her outfits, to insisting on a specific cab, to her apartment's decoration, complete with scenes of Versailles on the overly-large furniture: "The living room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it so that to move about was to stumble continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the gardens of Versailles" (2.51). 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? Such symbols reflect social challenges such as corruption that arose from the emergence of materialist and capitalist cultures. (one code per order). Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. 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. Being dishonest makes her (Jordan) incredibly uncomfortable with life. The Great Gatsby I Summary, Context, Reception, & Analysis F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, depicts a portion of Nick Carraway's life characterized by the time he is influenced by the mysterious Jay Gatsby and his extensive pursuit of his former flame and Nick's cousin, Daisy Buchanan. The ideals of love and marriage are profoundly strained in The Great Gatsby, a book that centers on two loveless marriages: the union between Tom and Daisy Buchanan and between George and Myrtle Wilson. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the smoky air" (2.56). As such, the Great Gatsby era is the period in 20th century U.S. history nicknamed both the "Roaring 20s" and the "Jazz Age." The first nickname points to America's post-WWI economic prosperity and the country's greater influence abroad. Everyone who comes to the parties is attracted by Gatsby's money and wealth, making the culture of money-worship a society-wide trend in the novel, not just something our main characters fall victim to.