Social Values In The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald depicts 1920’s America as an age of decline in traditional social and moral values; primarily evidenced by the cynicism, greed and the relentless yet empty pursuit of prosperity and pleasure that various characters in The Great Gatsby exhibit. He presents a society in which uninhibited consumerism, materialism and an all-pervading desire for wealth have perverted the previously righteous qualities of the American Dream, corrupting it in the process.

Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is set in America of the 1920’s, a predominantly materialistic society revolving around wealth and status above all else. Fitzgerald depicts this obsession with money and luxury through complicated relationships full of trouble, infidelity and sorrow. The relationships Fitzgerald portrays all symbolize the materialism and hedonism of the age; each relationship is doomed to a certain extent based on the social class of each character.

In the period of the 1920’s, there was a certain status of wealth that was difficult to achieve. There were two societal classes consisting of those with wealth from prior generations, and those who worked to earn it themselves. Tom, Daisy, and Nick, who represented the old money society did not have to work hard, unlike Gatsby which he represented the new money and they had to work to earn money. People like Gatsby, who gained their wealth on their own often fought for the approval from the upper class who inherited their wealth. Rather than having new money and old money, people who tried achieving the American Dream and ended up in failure usually they end up like George and Myrtle Wilson In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the notion that social norms in the upper class depict the idea that being apart of it was impossible unless they were born in it was expressed through Daisy’s rejection of Gatsby because of the corrupt way in which he gained his wealth, making his American Dream unattainable.

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.

Character Values In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the story takes place in the 1920s. During the 1920s probation caused many people to have private parties. Many of the characters have values that have to do with finding someone or something they need. Also some of the characters values change by the end of the story.

What are the best morals to have? In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are many morals good and bad to learn from. F. Scott Fitzgerald creates a very clear picture in The Great Gatsby of many things about society and their morals. The two most stressed morals are compassion verses profit and is greed a good quality to have? First, Compassion vs. profit which is better money or feelings.

After a time of prosperity, the roaring 1920’s became a decade of social decay and declining moral values. The forces this erosion of ethics can be explained by a variety of theories. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald paints a convincing portrait of waning social virtue in his novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald portrays the nefarious effects of materialism created by the wealth-driven culture of the time. This was an era where societal values made wealth and material possessions a defining element of one’s character. The implications of the wealthy mindset and its effects on humanity are at the source of the conflict in The Great Gatsby, offering a glimpse into the despair of the 20’s. During a time

People have many values and goals threw out their lifetime, but are they good or bad? Some people have good values and goals, while some people have bad ones. Do objects and people impact them? What about the themes? People have many themes in the lifetime, from taking things for granted to purpose.

The Roaring 20s, The Jazz age, the 1920s were 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.

Fitzgerald displays many of these social anxieties that plagued American society during the 1920s in the Great Gatsby. The preoccupation with money, wealth and lavishness, the theme of losing purpose in one’s life and wandering aimlessly, the infusion of racial issues, and the discussion of sinful lifestyles (drinking, partying, leading affairs, sex) can all be traced back to the era of the Prohibition.

“The Great Gatsby” is a 1925 novel written by American Author F. Scott Fitzgerald that criticizes the values of society in America during the decade of prosperity (the 1920s). It features a diverse range of archetypal characters, each representative of values and attitudes found in America during the time. The characterisation of these characters serves to comment on the environment and society in which they live and are the product of. Fitzgerald’s characterisation of Gatsby, Daisy and John is used to criticise the American middle class’s preoccupation with established wealth, the emptiness of the American dream and the carelessness of the era respectively.

Life is packed full of moral choices that must be made, and people often in life tend to skew what is morally correct in order to serve their best interests. In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, the central character in The Great Gatsby, skews his mortality for Gatsby, he chose to invite Daisy over in order to help Gatsby rekindle his relationship with Daisy. “I’m going to call up Daisy tomorrow and invite her over here to tea.” (Fitzgerald, pg.79) The book Gray Mountain also contains skewed morality around love, Samantha Kofer, a laid off lawyer, partakes in inappropriate relationships. In chapter 37 we learn of the purpose of a current relationship “If I go to Gray Mountain on the weekends with you, they’re not suspicious, and why would they be?

During the Roaring Twenties, success and ideals were based off of “material abundance”(McAdams 657). Many people living in America after The Great War began to party, drink, and commit crimes. Some owned luxurious houses and cars, mostly to prove their wealth to society. Their morals changed along with their dreams. Fitzgerald, author of the novel, The Great Gatsby, created characters who embodied the idea of the new, materialistic dream in America. Hearn (qtd. in McAdams) states that “...The Great Gatsby simultaneously depicts both the allure of wealth and moral disapproval of the sometimes empty, corrupt, unsatisfying lives of those who achieve wealth.” In the novel, the characters are acquisitive, making their lives a “waste land”(McAdams

The Contribution of Values and Goals in The Great Gatsby There are many subtle and prominent aspects that contribute to the theme of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Many of these are found from the lurking past history of characters, but some are supring and hold a deeper meaning. With the many simple and complex relationships of Nick and Jordan, Daisy and Gatsby, and Gatsby and Tom, an apparent theme of the novel is that love, in fact, can not be defined. The theme of the novel can be supported by the values and goals of Jordan Baker and Nick Carraway, the values and goals of Daisy, and the lifestyles of Tom Buchanan and Gatsby. First of all, the theme of the novel can be supported by the relationship of Nick and Jordan, which contributes knowledge of

The Roaring Twenties was a gilded age. The flourishing economy and the lavish and carefree mentality shrouds the immorality and corruption. The American Dream progressively becomes tainted by materialism and individuals covet money to climb up the social ladder. Class divisions strictly divided society and class disparity becomes apparent among the wealthy during the formation of the “old” and “new money”. F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporates the elements of the 1920’s in Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby. During the course of The Great Gatsby, Gatsby becomes the most immoral character because Gatsby is willing to let go of his morals to ascend the social ladder.