Influences on F. Scott Fitzgeralds' writing in The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, provides a reflection on the societal issues and attitudes of a modernist, post-war era. The “Roaring Twenties” was an age of prosperity, consumerism and liberalism that led to unprecedented economic growth and significant changes in culture and lifestyle. The right to vote redefined women’s roles and gave rise to a “new breed” known as the flapper, that drank, wore excessive makeup, and flaunted her disdain for conventionalism. The introduction of prohibition led to an increased demand for black market alcohol and bootlegging, thereby providing a financial basis for organized crime. Despite the progression, the 1920s was an era of social tensions

When an author writes a novel he keeps many things in mind. The author will precisely uses word choice, syntax, imagery, and many other literary devices to craft their own piece of art. From F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby a selected passage can reveal all the feature to his piece of art. From this passage things such as syntax and imagery will be discussed. Fitzgerald crafts his ideas through these literary features for the reader.

The Roaring Twenties were a time of leisure and parties. The media and events surrounding this time period greatly impacted the carefree, extravagant lifestyle. This era was one of the most dramatic and energetic times in American history. To many, the symbols of the roaring Twenties were F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, due to their tales of the young and the wealthy (Hanson 96). The Roaring Twenties influenced many literary works, throughout the 1920s such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise.

The roaring 20’s was an era where people did whatever they wanted. It was a time of rebels and most importantly it was a time of crime. During the 1920’s alcohol was in demand, and the reason for this was the prohibition of the substance. Prohibition in the United States caused illegal business between the people of the 1920’s making the 18st Amendment useless, it brought about bootleggers, speakeasies, and this is clearly shown in The Great Gatsby when Gatsby himself is a part of the distribution of illegal alcohol.

The 1920s gained its nickname, The Roaring Twenties from its wild and carefree lifestyle. The extensive wealth of the time filled most nights with parties, dancing, crazy antics, and illegal alcohol. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, encompassed all of the aspects listed above. Not only did the book express the exciting side of the Twenties, it also expressed lack of morality of the time. According to The Great Gatsby, this lack of morality stemmed from the focus on material items, drinking, and dreaming.

The novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in the 1920s America, New York - a class society of money -, depicts a society which exists in a state of moral confusion and chaos, through the eyes of the narrator; Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald condemns the character’s tendencies in the novel to become greedy and materialistic in order to be successful, displayed throughout the chaos that arises as a result of the repercussion of these actions. This chaos continues to grow through the unfaithful marriages and illegal practices that exists extensively throughout the novel. Furthermore, Fitzgerald explores the prejudice discrimination between the newly rich and those with “old money”. Through all of this we come to see that during the “roaring 20s” was one of moral disorder and mayhem.

“All these materialistic belongings paint a picture of beauty for those chasing this fictitious happiness but in reality they bring life full of stress, jealousy, hubris, and corruption…” (St. Rosemary Educational Institution). When looking back at the exhilarating, and wild 1920’s, it is easy for one to presume it was a time full of economic growth, entertainment, and leisure for the people of America. But alas, hidden underneath the glow of its prosperity, lies a time span full of deceit, fraudulency, and law breaking. Author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, expertly captures this corruption as well as the deluded hopes and dreams of the people in his book, The Great Gatsby. So, During the Roaring Twenties, the decade where The Great Gatsby was depicted,

The 1920’s in the United States was an age of transition, with the end of WWI the economy was booming, technological advances were never-ending, and the whole nation partied to its heart’s content. On the contrary, this time also marked the beginning of the prohibition act with sparked organized crime and included many other downfalls. It was in this decade where F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby took root. Fitzgerald looked around him and noticed a shifting in the a world he wasn't fond of and criticized immensely, inspiring him to write this story. The Great Gatsby uses satire to illustrate the vision of the 1920’s American Dream and how it shaped their society’s concept of morals and ideals.

Many novels have attempted to divulge the inner depths of the era known as the Roaring Twenties, but few have had such a profound look into the wild time like F. Scott Fitzgerald. As can be seen, the characters within The Great Gatsby brought their own demise upon themselves by allowing themselves to be swept away by the passions and desires. The tale of the man known as Gatsby has shown its readers how corruption, overindulgence and extravagance can wreak havoc upon an individual’s morals and values. The world should take heed of these vices and the dangers that follow them, before they begin their own destruction.

“He smiled understandingly - much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in a life.” (48) This quote introduced in chapter 3, and produced by Nick is a prime example of Fitzgerald's use of descriptive writing presented in his book The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald's sensory - oriented writing style allows the reader to feel as if they are a character in the story, by describing sight, smell, taste, feeling, and sound. Fitzgerald's complex style of writing literally makes the words jump off the page and become realistic; just with the short excerpt presented earlier Fitzgerald allows the reader to mentally preview what it would be like to witness a smile as such from Jay Gatsby. Traditionally while a reader analyzes the story the lexicon provides help; in Fitzgerald's novel his complex diction does much more including creating positive and negative connotations and an atmosphere.

The novel The Great Gatsby helps generations portray what life was like in New York during the Roaring twenties and the era of Prohibition. (Moss). The Great Gatsby reflects America’s own loss of influence in the face of the crass materialism of the 1920’s (Pavolski). The 18th amendment, the people’s disregardment of morality resulting to lack of spiritual views and the vast corruption during this time period are all displayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald. During this novel color symbolism and other various types of symbolism are portrayed. The influence of money greed and fortune are also vastly displayed throughout this novel. In

Rarely do such poor values consume a decade and the case of the roaring twenties is perhaps the defining example. Fitzgerald brings the issue to light in a complex book with the final and most meaningful reminder in the death of Jay Gatsby. This rude awakening goes on to demonstrate the unsustainable behavior of the twenties. The death is Gatsby is an excessively unhappy ending in which he died with nothing to live for. Everything in his life was a sham; to world he appeared as the most elated man with his charming personality and boundless material possessions when in actuality he felt deep unrest.

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing style features long drawn out sentences broken up by commas and semi colons, making for more interesting sentences. Fitzgerald’s style is also symbolic through the use of images, for instance, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg allude to God allowing the world to crumble and fall. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is also symbolic as it represents Gatsby’s goal of obtaining Daisy, but that goal is out of his reach. The light itself is so bright and clear, but he just simply cannot get to it. It’s no surprise that Fitzgerald has a very extensive vocabulary, as he uses sophisticated adjectives and adverbs.

On first glance, The Great Gatsby is about a romance between Gatsby and Daisy. The true theme behind this wonderful novel is not merely romance, but is also a very skeptical view of the extinction of the American dream in the prosperous 19s. This loss of the American dream is shown by Fitzgerald's display of this decade as a morally deficient one. He shows its incredible decadence in Gatsby's lavish and ostentatious parties. This materialistic attitude toward life came from the disillusionment of the younger generation of the old Victorian values. Also, with Prohibition in effect, illegal bootlegging practices made for yet another way for Americans to fall down the path of

The Roaring Twenties is considered to be a time of excessive celebration and immense corruption. The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a criticism of American society and its values during this era of history. This criticism is first apparent in the people who go to Gatsby's parties. They get absurdly drunk, do not know who their host is and are rude by excessively gossiping about him. This commentary is also shown in the corruption of the police. Gatsby is able to pay off the police so that the activities going on at his home will go unnoticed and so that he may behave as he wishes. This criticism is finally shown in the corruption of friendship and love, the simple fact being that there is none. People use Gatsby and