Jazz Age And The Great Gatsby

There is a reason why the 1920s were nicknamed the “Roaring Twenties”. The twenties were a time period where, for the first time in American History, people had lots of excess money. What do people do with excess money? They spend it. People were partying, drinking, and dancing to jazz. Fitzgerald coined the term the “Jazz Age” for this period, because of how fast moving it was, like jazz. Fitzgerald lived and wrote the Jazz Age, however when he wrote it, he often would portray the hidden truth. This is especially evident in his novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald depicts the tragedy behind the American Dream during the Jazz age using rhetorical strategies such as metaphor and symbolism.

As Gatsby reached out to the green light across the harbor, he mistakenly thought there was still hope of getting back into a relationship with a married woman, Daisy. He regretted his actions that occurred five years ago, and did everything in his power to regain Daisy’s respect. Gatsby used his wealth to summon Nick, Daisy’s cousin, under his “spell” as his first step to fulfill his path to the love of his life. Gatsby’s fixation to getting back with Daisy makes his judgment unclear since he cannot think distinctly. His craziness for her is seen at, “Yes,” he said after a moment, “but of course I’ll say I was” (Fitzgerald 143). At this scene, Gatsby takes the fall for what Daisy had done. When he does this, he was not thinking about the consequences that might follow which included the revenge of the dead woman’s husband. Gatsby was clearly not thinking straight because his obsession to be with Daisy overcame his intelligence. His dream of being with her slowly became into a nightmare. If he had not done some of his actions, he would not have been in this mess in the first place. If he had let go of her and let her be happy by marrying Tom, this whole situation would not have happened.

The “Roaring 20’s” was a time period where material and wealth mattered even more to people. Greed consumed people and the thrill of the time devoured people as well. Parties occurred daily and wealthy members of society appeared out of nowhere. The American Dream, of what once was a dream of self, became corrupted. The opportunity to be oneself became the opportunity to become rich and powerful. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald exemplifies the corruption of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby, an upper-class member of society, allows the thrill of the American Dream to take over his life and determine his actions, in his extravagant plan of winning back his old love, Daisy. This corruption of the American Dream destroys not only his ideals and inevitably, his life but also sabotages Daisy as well. Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby’s versions of the American Dream are a true example of the hold and destruction that the American Dream had on people. Fitzgerald’s way of incorporating the American Dream reflects the truth behind the dream and shows the damage that it did to millions of people during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby is a criticism of the American Dream and how monetary greed and excess destroy the characters’ attempts to find true happiness.

After Gatsby hosts a party which Nick and Daisy and Tom attend, Gatsby gets upset because he doesn’t think that Daisy liked what he had made of himself. He wants to live in the past, despite Nick’s warning against it. Nick reflects on this and what he thinks Gatsby was like. After that, he tells a story about Gatsby’s life 5 years ago, when he was walking with Daisy.

The Roaring 20s, The Jazz age, the 1920s was a time of great prosperity in the United States. The 1920s were an era of change, both politically and socially. Americans began to move into cities, rather than living on farms, and the nation's wealth more than doubled. Buying the same goods, listening to the same music, dancing the same dances, and overall having the same values, people felt united. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, these values are reflected in the characters’ lifestyles. A recurring theme in the novel is that money cannot buy a person’s true happiness, and this theme is exhibited in the various characters’ actions, choices, and what they value most in their lives.

Gatsby truly believed in himself and what he could accomplish. Like many other pursuers of the American Dream, he believed that his initial social standing as a poor farm boy would not prevent him from achieving his dreams to be rich and marry Daisy. If he can go from a dirt-poor Dakota farm boy to a war-hero and fabulously wealthy, anything can happen. However, Gatsby's true, great hopefulness comes from his desire for Daisy. Throughout the novel, he insists, hopefully that he has created the perfect life, to which Nick states, “’You can't repeat the past,’” to which Gatsby replies, “’Why of course you can!’” It is his hopeful pursuit of Daisy and achieving his goals that allows us to forgive him for a host of sins, like illegal activities involving Meyer Wolfshiem. The article states, “What saves Gatsby, and what makes him a masterful literary achievement rather than a two-bit criminal, is the driving force behind his well-orchestrated rise: that years earlier, he was a poor boy, jilted by the most popular young girl in Louisville in favor of a wealthier suitor, and he has spent a lifetime working to get her back. The callow Daisy, whose voice is ''full of money,'' may not be a worthy goal. But Gatsby's longing for her, and his willingness to sell his soul to pursue her, are the purest things in this sordid tale.” Therefore, Gatsby's hope and pursuit of incorporating Daisy

The Jazz Age was a period of great economic, social, and political change happening in the 1920’s. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, however, sees in this a time of boundaryless death, and urban decimation. The Great Gatsby is modeled towards the death of the American dream during the 1920’s. Based on the happening of the 1920’s, this model is certainly reasonable. F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby use the motifs of materialism, carelessness, and decay seen in the 1920’s in order to show a decimation of the American Dream, and the human race.

The lifestyle of the 1920s was much different than what it was like before. In the 1920s, World War I had just ended. After the war, people decided to live life more abundantly. The standard of living increased, and people were able to spend their money on items that they needed as well as more luxury items. The 1920s was called the “Roaring Twenties” because it was about having a “roaring” good time. Throughout the book The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the scenes of the 1920s and the characters within the novel to critique the values of the Jazz Age.

Gatsby’s experience resembled those of the American strivers who always reach towards something greater than themselves that is just out reach in America believing that they would be able to procure that. Dreamers like Gatsby failed because they are not like Daisy or Tom who were born with money and do not need to strive for anything so far off. Even though American Dreams are “equalized” on the surface it is not so in the actual reality, the class distinguish still was extremely strong among people. The life of Gatsby is totally contradictory to the slogan of America: “everyone’s dream is going to be achieved through hard work and everyone has the chance to success.” From the start to the end, he pines for Daisy and give up everything in his attempt to achieve his American Dream. Even with the noisy and extravagant parties that Gatsby hosted with his own money to catch Daisy’s attention, he did not gain back the love of Daisy. As if not worse, Gatsby ended his life because of his American Dreams. His experiences showed a completely careless and heartless America where dreams abandoned their strivers and where people’s tied relationship were mainly based on money rather than connection. Gatsby’s huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself. However, Daisy cannot hold up under

Gatsby stayed at Daisy’s house until 4 and nothing happened, so Nick goes to Gatsby's house to see if he was okay and he tells him he should leave because they'll trace down his car. Nick tells Gatsby to go to the Atlantic city for a week but Gatsby refuses to leave, because of Daisy. Gatsby reveals the past of him and Daisy to Nick. Daisy and Gatsby fell deeply in love when they were younger. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was gonna wait for him until the war was over, Daisy later married Tom. This is the chapter where Gatsby tells Nick he loves Daisy and Daisy loves Gatsby as well. Gatsby’s gardener approaches Nick and Gatsby and tells him that he is going to drain the pool. Gatsby tells him to hold off on it because he hasn’t used it all

The Great Gatsby is an entertaining, twisted version of the classic love story that thoroughly describes New York City during the Roaring 20’s. Nick Carraway, one of the main characters, tells this materialistic themed story through first-person narration. The story begins with Nick Carraway moving from the Midwest to West Egg, Long Island looking to become a bond salesman. Nick moves in next to Jay Gatsby, a mystery party man,“The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard-it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby’s mansion” (Fitzgerald, 5). Nick’s cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan live across the water in East Egg. When Nick goes over for dinner with the Buchanans and their friend Jordan Baker, Jordan tells Nick about Tom’s affair with Myrtle Wilson. Nick sees first hand the strain this affair is having on Tom and Daisy’s marriage. As soon as Nick gets home, Gatsby invites him to his next party where they meet. They soon become good friends and Nick learns that Gatsby and Daisy were lovers before Gatsby went off to World War II; Gatsby is still in love with Daisy and wants to win her back even though she is married to Tom. He threw all those parties for her and bought that house to be near Daisy and impress her with his new richness, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald, 78). “He expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night” (Fitzgerald, 79). Gatsby and Jordan convince Nick to invite Daisy over so Gatsby could show off his new house and to see if the spark between them is still there. Gatsby and Daisy rekindled their love for each other, sadly Daisy is still married to Tom so they can’t begin a new relationship. Want to find out what happens next? Read The Great Gatsby!

Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most important author in United States history.Scott wrote many novels but the most iconic is The Great gatsby. The Great Gatsby is a fun, and famous novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This book is a book that will make one feel excited, and feel sad for Jay Gatsby. This book also talks about life, and that just because someone hase money, it does not mean you will find love. Fitzgerald inspiration to write this iconic book was the culture that he was living during the roaring twenties.(Legacy on Scott) Also, Fitzgerald inspiration was his wife Zelda Fitzgerald and alcohol. (F.Scott Fitzgerald)He was such an important person during the roaring twenties, and with all that controversy of this

"It was an age of miracles. It was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.” (“Fitzgerald: The Jazz Age” p. 3). As the 1920s began, the old, conservative ways of life began to disintegrate. A new era was just beginning. This era is called “The Jazz Age.” The Great Gatsby, a literary masterpiece written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the social historian of the 1920s, directly reflects the virtues, materialism, and revolutionary nature of this new “Jazz Age.”

Perhaps the most interesting element of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and the perspective it presents to readers on the 1920’s is how it does so in an irredeemably negative light. One would expect the Jazz age in American history, lovingly called the Roarin’ 20’s, to be a time of flourishment, success and materialization of the American dream. For many this was the case and for even more it was no more tangible and common than the idea of the “nuclear family” that would be propagated in the 1950’s. With the style, fads and even the popular choice of music for the time. It’s not a difficult sell to imply the Jazz age is the non-fiction equivalent of Gatsby’s rise and fall in Fitzgerald’s novel, or rather the two have come to be symbolic of one another due to how history played out. What I hope to prove here, more than anything, is that the Jazz age as it stands in American history, will always be tied to the success and timelessness of the Fitzgerald novel and how new generations of Americans can be drawn to it’s themes.

Jay Gatsby is the epitome of an American dreamer. He has lived the past five years of his life reaching and stretching for the love of his life, the alluring Daisy Fay. He will stop at nothing to reach his dream, to make Daisy his wife and for her to love him like she did all those years ago. Due to Nick’s ambivalence towards Gatsby, it makes it difficult to distinguish if he reached his goal. But, it can be seen through his quick demise that Gatsby was a failure. Gatsby not only didn’t get the girl of his dreams, but he died for it. He spent his entire life working towards this image that he created for himself, and let it all crumble due to his stretching for perfection. The dream was so close that he could taste it, but he had it bitterly ripped out of his hands before he could grab it.