Essay about 1920's in The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, has been heralded as one of the outstanding novels of the Jazz Age. The characters that Fitzgerald created in this novel were laudable and disreputable. Therefore, these characters in the novel will be contrasted and elucidated.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has been celebrated as one of the greatest - if not the greatest - American works of fiction. Of course, one could convincingly argue that Gatsby barely qualified as fiction, as it is the culmination of a trio of Fitzgerald’s work that

We look back in history in order to learn from our mistakes and to help society progress in the present and in the future. “The Great Gatsby” was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. Fitzgerald wrote this piece during the 1920s after WWI and it perfectly replicates the time period. The narrative captures the essence of the Jazz Age by depicting characters, showing power struggles and by defining the societal conflicts of the time. The novel tells us about different influences on the 20’s such as the Prohibition Act, the success of Wall Street, and aspects of the American Dream. “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald possesses the social constructs and ideas of the Roaring Twenties.

The Roaring 20's was a transitional period for the United States: New ideas, technologies, and taste caused an immense shift in popular culture. The brassy flappers came into play and fueled society's obsession with social class. Big businesses were bringing in money that fed the nation's greed, and the combination of obsession with social class and greed unfortunately led to corruption in the nation. In The Great Gatsby, a tragic love story, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses historical allusions to depict the greed, obsession with social class, and the corruption that erected during the 1920's.

The 1920s was a memorable period in history because numerous notable events were occurring. Throughout the 1920s, commonly referred to as the “Roaring Twenties”, were the Women’s Rights Movement, Prohibition, and The Great War, among other events. Fitzgerald grew up during this era, which he described in his novel The Great Gatsby as a time when much sinfulness and immorality was occurring. Excessive drinking, extravagant parties, organized crime, and gambling were all major social issues throughout the “Roaring Twenties.” Fitzgerald struggled with alcoholism (Baughman, et al.), which was more than likely a result of the constant availability of alcohol. Alcoholism led to Prohibition being passed, but Prohibition was a failure, and, in the end, led to an increase in organized crime and bootlegging. In Fitzgerald’s novel, Jay Gatsby and Meyer Wolfsheim were partners in organized crime. Fitzgerald conveys the empty and shallow lifestyle that comes with the pursuit of wealth, and demonstrates in his novel that wealth does not necessarily guarantee happiness.

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in a fictional town in New York called West Egg in the prospective of the novel’s main character, Nick Carraway. Nick tells about his recollections in the summer of 1920 of man by the name of Jay Gatsby and his love, Daisy Buchanan. The novel was written during the twenties, one of the most developmental periods in America. Several factors in the 1920s influenced The Great Gatsby’s theme, such as prohibition, automobiles, and lifestyles.

The “Roaring Twenties” were an age of dramatic political, social, and economic change. Women wanted new and improved rights and the nation’s wealth doubled between 1920 and 1929. Culture, values, and the technology of America changed and it had only just begun.

The ideological concept of social hegemony, based on the stratification of class, ensures that the ruling elite, the aristocracy, have absolute power over social institutions, with the ability to control and determine dominant social values. “The Great Gatsby” (1925), by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a contemporary realism novella, which explores the tragic adventures of the titular character, Jay Gatsby, as narrated by his neighbour and friend Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald’s scathing attack upon the selfish and frivolous values of the 1920s Jazz Age is effectively constructed through the author’s use of Carraway’s distinctive voice, to develop the ironic idea of Gatsby as “great” and the representation of the American Dream, the manipulative attitude of the aristocracy towards the bourgeoisie and proletariat classes, and the alternate reading of Nick Carraway as an unreliable narrator. Furthermore, “The Great Gatsby” is a Modernist text, rejecting traditional forms of literature in favour of Fitzgerald’s use of the distinct unreliability of narration within a nonlinear structure. Audiences are encouraged to respond to the ideas and attitudes constructed through Carraway’s distinctive voice, to question the hyperbolic excess of the Jazz Age, supporting the dominant reading of rejecting the extravagant and acquisitive corruption of the period, whilst also exploring the alternate reading of Carraway as an unreliable narrator.

Works of art often portray aspects of the creator’s life unique to their character. Through literature, readers may gain incredible insight into the lives of authors from a first-hand account. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this is no exception. Fitzgerald intertwined himself throughout the story by crafting his characters based off of his life and others surrounding him. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses his characters to reflect the ambitions, shortcomings, and experiences of his own life. Fitzgerald’s life and his novel both mirror the livelihood of the time period, the yearn for a ‘Golden Girl,’ goals that were both met and never achieved, and the apparent struggle between old and new money.

No one likes to be criticised however by placing this message underneath the extraordinary gifts of hope and the American dream, Fitzgerald has presented humanity’s social weaknesses in a way can be recognised by the public to encourage change. There is much speculation as to whether The Great Gatsby is truly worthy to be on ‘Top 100 Novels of All Time’ list however as technology continues to evolve, the novel’s relevance remains permanent. Underneath all of symbolism and the flamboyant language you find the real aim of The Great

Set in the 1920’s Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby depicts the perfect image of wealth, love and aspiration. Narrated from the viewpoint of Nick Carraway, we witness the characters of West and East Egg live, what seems to be a luxurious lifestyle, filled with riches and success. But as we analyze the characters it is observed that the novel is about much more. Hope, love and dissatisfaction plague the life of Mr. Jay Gatsby as we witness his tragic pursuit of happiness.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has always been regarded as an artfully crafted tale of the roaring 20s in America. One challenge it presents though, is understanding how the story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his pursuit of romance are still relevant today. Glistering with lyrical prose, it explores themes such as materialism, corruption, superficial relationships and immorality, by portraying the high society in Long Island and the golden age of excess before the Depression. The moral centre of the story is the narrator, Nick Carraway, who is suddenly thrown in the social whirl of excess and lavish parties hosted by the mysterious Gatsby, whose efforts to win the heart of Daisy, end in tragedy.

The novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, centers around the life of Nick Carraway and his experiences in living with the upper-class socialites in New York. Along the way, the reader is introduced to many of New York’s finest - Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and of course, the enigmatic Jay Gatsby himself. While all of these characters are equally susceptible to literary analysis, as they all have been deciphered thoroughly over the past 92 years by literary critics, teachers, and students alike, Gatsby in particular is a character that continues to mystify audiences today as everyone is trying to answer the same question posed by the novel: who is Jay Gatsby? This essay will hope to reveal the answer to this question

Anderson’s article draws from Fitzgerald's literary excellence influence and endurance of the great Gatsby and what advancements brought to the American literature. Anderson writes about “The Great Gatsby which is admire, emulated, and use as basic of reference and allusions to extend only a few works”(18). Anderson bespeaks on “Gatsby’s insistence that innocent is recapture, that the edenic past can be remade, appeal to time hungry for beauty, ideas, and a sense of connectedness with fundamental American traditions”, which what lured authors by including our old Anderson is authors to write about. By including novels, Anderson is able to discuss the impact of The Great Gatsby has on the author's novels and literature. However, Anderson clarifies

Priestly, a critic regarded F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novel; the Great Gatsby as “Fitzgerald's most perfectly planned piece of fiction and one of the key novels of the twenties” (Priestly, 1955).The Great Gatsby was widely rejected in 1925 when it was first released however twenty-odd years later; The Great Gatsby is now widely commended one of the greatest novels of the modern era as Priestly highlights. The Great Gatsby should be in the greatest 100 as the novel strikingly captures the cruel, selfish tendencies of the 21st century society. Fitzgerald captured the picture of our society through the novel’s focus on dreams, the hunger for wealth and the power of love.