Universal Values In The Great Gatsby

Human nature empowers even the most unfortunate people to reach for superiority. In search of these aspirations, some people become obsessed with perfecting past decisions, or returning to a “golden time”. However, human nature renders the seeker unable to achieve such a delusion. F. Scott Fitzgerald explores this principle within his novella, The Great Gatsby. Establishing déjà vu throughout the novel, Fitzgerald juxtaposes cyclical plot with the unattainability of the past to portray flaws in human nature at what seems to be the zenith of Gatsby’s American Dream.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby focuses on the excitement and adventure of the roaring twenties, a time filled with great economic success and parties said to last the whole decade. New to Long Island and New York, aspiring bond man Nick Carraway becomes infatuated with the lifestyle of his rich peers living the “American dream”. He gains interest in his mysterious neighbor Jay Gatsby, who lives in an incredible mansion and has a vast amount of wealth. Gatsby uses his money to try and steal his love, Daisy Buchanan from her unfaithful husband, Tom. Characters in The Great Gatsby are unhappy and unfulfilled with their lives due to greed manipulating their view of The American Dream. This skewed perception also affects their unreasonable life expectations and their narcissistic thoughts create a larger potential for failure, such as Gatsby’s extravagant plan to steal Daisy Buchanan.

The Great Gatsby is a symbol itself. The Great Gatsby was written to represent the rise and fall of the American Dream. The author places the rich and wealthy lifestyle on a high pedestal while he shows the dramatic consequences of moral and social decay amongst the characters. As each turning point is revealed, the American Dream slowly crumbles in the selfish hands of those who remain ignorant to anything else in the world. The significance of the many symbolic elements in The Great Gatsby plays a role in revealing the underlying themes of the American Dream, the ongoing clash between love and wealth and social and moral destruction.

Jay Gatsby is a self-made man, he turned himself from a farm boy to one of the richest men in America at the time and bought himself a beautiful mansion on West Egg, Long Island with the other new millionaires. In contrast to the newly rich, there is those who have inherited their wealth from family before them such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan. These people were lucky to be born into their lives and reside on East Egg along with other family’s with “old money”. Readers come to easily identify that despite their different upbringings, the wealthy characters all are very materialistic people. As a result of trying to win Daisy back, Gatsby has become very reliant on proving his worth through his spending of money. He buys beautiful shirts, shelves

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.

“I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others--young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life” (Fitzgerald, p.xx). This is the feeling one might feel in their lives no matter how much money they have. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to portray the different social attitudes within the upper class. F. Scott Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was 29 years old when The Great Gatsby was published on April 10, 1925. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald sheds light on the different personalities between the aged rich families and the modern rich families. An example of the sophistication of Gatsby are the elaborate parties he throws for the people he invites, while on the other hand, Tom and Daisy have a simple dinner with only a few people over. The emptiness one might feel at any time in their life cannot be fulfilled with money but only with other friends surrounding one.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby divulges the unscrupulous 1920s, comprising of the hedonistic and materialistic society of America. Correspondingly, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s various sonnets establishes a restrained, solitary response, revealing the composer’s context. Both mediums explore the notion of religion, either prominently or vaguely utilising a variety of literacy and poetic techniques.

Life in the Roaring 20’s was a flurry of parties and money mostly made by illegal activities, such as bootlegging, since the Prohibition and Volstead Act were both in effect. This is the setting in which The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald took place. It offers a look into the life of the eccentric Jay Gatsby, the man known for his extravagant parties. There was one thing that money could never buy him though, and that was the love of his dream girl, Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby tells the story of hope, love, betrayal and death. Daisy Buchanan, the golden girl, lives a prosperous life in “old money” East Egg, while her past love Jay Gatsby lives across the bay in West Egg, the land of new money.

The morals and ethics of the characters in the Great Gatsby are twisted.Their ideas of morals and ethics are very selfish and apply to their wants and needs. Fitzgerald creates characters that have very different ways of thinking but, in a way, the same.They all have their own twisted ways of lying,cheating, and being manipulative.

During the 1920s, a new need for materialism emerged out of society’s desperate search for meaning after World War I. When young soldiers returned from the war, they found that that their old way of living had little importance. Rather than finding a meaning for this, they immersed themselves in money and spending and consuming. The Stock Market and organized crime became very popular and common ways to feed mans greed and their hunger for wealth. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows this greed and regard for money as the downfall of American society during the 1920s. He uses his characters and places in his novel to represent the different sides of this new twisted mentality. Nick and Gatsby are examples of the World War I veterans who searched after money and status that they felt they needed and deserved. The guests at Gatsby’s parties symbolize the need to gain wealth. Fitzgerald uses the disparities between the East and West Egg to portray the differences between the aristocracy and the newly rich.

   Throughout History there are many examples of perversions, from sexual, social to the very morals themselves. One of the greatest examples is the continuous corruption of the American Dream. As the Dream evolves, it tends to conform to the illicit dealings of the time and immortals of society. No longer is an individual interested in working hard to achieve goals, it is desirous of the quick fix. Society wants its wishes and wants them now. This social attitude is thoroughly explored in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and by Arthur Miller in his Death of a Salesman. As the instantaneous achievement becomes more valued it gives rise to the lie, the

The Great Gatsby [book titles always get italicized, not underlined or quote marks] shows the tide turning east, as hordes flock to New York City seeking stock market fortunes. The Great Gatsby is a novel about what happened to the American dream in the 1920’s, a period when the old values that gave substance to the dream had been corrupted by the vulgar pursuit of wealth. Money doesn’t buy happiness. Gatsby wants Daisy and Daisy to Gatsby is like money. Gatsby lived on the West Egg which was new money. One of the central ideas of ‘The Great Gatsby’ is that Gatsby corrupted the American Dream by wanting power and pleasure, he wanted wealth to get Daisy, he got wealthy by selling illegal things, and he also is very showy but (wording is unclear) fundamentally empty form of success.

The universal values portrayed through the texts ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ (1845) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ (1926) highlight the similar and different intertextual perspectives and values relevant to the Victorian Era and 1920 's Jazz Age. Both composers offer compelling critiques of their society dedicating thematic concerns of the restorative power of hope and courtly idealised love. Through numerous literal techniques, substantial diversity arises through the historical context, composer’s personal experiences, and human values.

Although it is the repercussions of their deceptive fantasies that Gatsby and Lester fall victim to, it was their continued search for love that leads them to these. Love is the principal value in The Great Gatsby and is illustrated best by the contrast of Gatsby’s idealized romantic love for Daisy with Daisy’s “love” for wealth and status, a love which is common to the majority of their irresponsible society. F Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes Gatsby’s “romantic readiness” through this contrast as well as Gatsby’s fall from grace that results in him becoming lost in “the colossal vitality of his illusions” (pg. 92). Daisy characterizes the power of a love of money in the Great Gatsby and is used by Fitzgerald in condemning Gatsby’s hedonistic society as well as his own. However it is the absence of love –rather than the presence- that is most prominent in American

All literary genres are dealing with the particular context and construction to reflect on values, attitudes in human societies of various eras. The comparative study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnets of the Portuguese” and Scott Fitzgerald’s Pros fiction “The Great Gatsby” allow for a thorough evaluation of the relationship between the texts contexts and values. Both composers craft arguments on the nature of and value of life itself within the framework of love and spirituality. Browning, however writes from the perspective of a woman challenging values of the conventions of the Victorian era. Whilst, Fitzgerald construct’s his text as an accusation on the emerging hedonistic and capitalist creed of 1920’s America – the Jazz Age. Each writer’s context will influence our understanding of the discourse and will see the meaning and significance of each text, at the same time showing the connections that are achieved.