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Modernism In The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

“Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold.”(Proverbs 11:27) The Great Gatsby takes place in the roaring 20’s. The 1920’s was a good time in America, the country was flourishing and money was plentiful. During this time,the prohibition, alcohol was illegal which led to bootlegging or the illegal production and distribution of alcohol. The most popular music of the time was Jazz hence the 20’s nickname, the Jazz Age. Jazz was most commonly played at parties. Nick Carraway expressed modernism, was characterised by the author and expressed judgment of other characters. Nick Carraway expresses modernism throughout the novel. He expresses disillusionment or being disappointed by the realisation that something is not as good as it seemed. “‘They’re a rotten crowd,’ I shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.’”(Fitzgerald pg 154). Here Nick has discovered his disillusionment for the rich and expresses their lack of character towards Gatsby. Nick expected the wealthy east coast crowd to be good people but they were just selfish, characterless people. He expresses disjointedness or separated connections. “I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon; so everything that happened has a dim, hazy cast over it,...”(Fitzgerald pg 29). Here, Nick is stating that the following story is not perfect because he was drunk at the time. The story is disjointed and incomplete due to his drunken state. “It was nine o’clock-almost immediately after I looked at my watch and found it was ten,” (Fitzgerald pg 36). “People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away,” (Fitzgerald pg 37). In these quotes Nick loses track of time and the events get jumbled together. This is disjointedness because the events do not connect and there are random gaps in time. Nick expresses uncertainty, or the state of not knowing, throughout the novel. “He looked at me sideways-and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying,” (Fitzgerald pg 65). This is when Nick is first getting to know Jay. Mr. Gatsby is telling him the story of his life and the holes in it are

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