(2022, August 12). In short, money both drives the plot and explains many of the characters' motivations and limitations. Nick and Gatsby live in this community. Ask questions; get answers. Almost 1 in 4 people now had a car! "American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby"." Similar to other characters in The Great Gatsby, she has an intense greed for money (Leader 13). Suppose you wanted to analyze the importance of cars in The Great Gatsby. Daisy and Jordan are both old money socialites, while Myrtle is a working class woman married to a mechanic. "Old money" families have fortunes dating from the 19th century or before, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. Jordan does not understand the concerns of the need to work hard and genuinely. The 19th Amendment, passed in 1919, officially gave women the right to vote in the United States. Nick's comments about money, especially in the first chapter, are mostly critical and cynical. She has it exceptionally clear in her mind that her success is not honestly acquired, and that it can depart from her any time. Curious to see how much Daisy and Myrtle's struggle for more echoes the lives of real women? The journey to reaching a fulfilling life and the American Dream came with struggles, and many people resorted to crime and dishonest behavior as a way to circumvent their actual problems. That was it. In this context, Gatsby is a representation of a fallen American dream due to the rising immorality that characterizes the culture of the 1920s America. The characters Fitzgerald portrays represent distinct social groups who ultimately face their own struggles, demonstrating how uncertain the culture of the 1920s really was. Like 1920s Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby longs to re-create a vanished pasthis time in Louisville with Daisybut is incapable of doing so. Discount, Discount Code TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. . August 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-in-the-novel-the-great-gatsby/. All rights reserved. In the era of writing The Great Gatsby (1920s), America had experienced an immense economic growth. The first nickname points toAmerica's post-WWIeconomic prosperity and the country's greater influence abroad. Inspired by the devastation of WWI, writers in The Lost Generationembraced a cynical view of human nature. Car ownership increased mobility between cities and outer suburban areas, which enabled the wealthy to work in one place but live in another. (one code per order). Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Set in Jazz Age New York, the novel tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth. Characters such as George and Toms wives exemplify the rebellion that is characterized by dwindling moral standards. Understanding what the world was like during the time the novel is sethelps you in all sorts of ways: Figuring out an author's assumptions. Even though he wasn't able to inherit any part of Cody's fortune, he used what he learned of wealthy society to first charm Daisy before shipping out to WWI. (3.1-3.6). The novels narrator illustrates well the increased consumerist culture. For some time now I have been thinking about the validity or vulnerability of a certain set of assumptions conventionally accepted among literary historians and critics and circulated as "knowledge." This knowledge holds that traditional, canonical American literature is free of, In Nicks mind, the ability to create meaningful symbols constitutes a central component of the American dream, as early Americans invested their new nation with their own ideals and values. Why Did Gatsby Fail to Achieve the American Dream? Many themes of the novel revolve around the mysterious character of Gatsby. Nick laments, I stared at (Wilson) and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before-and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 158). WWI was a war of trench warfare, chemical weapons, shrapnel artillery, and other gruesome technologies that had never been seen before. is also why the novel's symbols of the green light and the valley of ashes are so memorable and charged. Russian allies France and England were pulled in to defend Russia. They were careless people, Tom and Daisythey smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. Gatsbys parties have a speakeasy feel in that people from different backgrounds and genders freely mix and mingle. The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsbys parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth. As such, theGreat Gatsby era is theperiod in 20th century U.S. history nicknamed both the Roaring 20s and the "Jazz Age." Myrtle explains that she married George because she thought he was a gentleman, suggesting she hoped hed raise her class status. to reacquaint himself with Daisy through massive parties instead prove to be areas where those yearning for liquor could obtain their desired alcohol with little to no regard toward their host; this is exemplified in the fact that Owl Eyes is the only character other than Nick to attend both Gatsbys lavish parties and his funeral. One of the rumors about Gatsby is that he is involved in a bootlegging pipeline of alcohol from Canada - this is a reference to a real-life scandal about one of the places where illegal alcohol was coming from! However, all positive traits aside, there are aspects of Jay Gatsby that call into question that admiration. The outcome of these cultures was the decaying American dream. But that knowledge doesn't dampen his pursuit of wealthif anything, it makes it even more desirable. Despite society's changing nature, the world still hasn't accepted Jordan as an independent person. Print. Daisy, for her part, only begins her affair with Gatsby after a very detailed display of his wealth (via the mansion tour). The Great Gatsby. "They had spent a year in France, for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together." Great Gatsby", the American Dream plays a big role. SparkNotes PLUS A mentionable character representing the American Dream was Jordan Baker and her representation of womens independence. She even breaks down in tears after Gatsby shows off his ridiculously expensive set of colored shirts, crying that she's "never seen such beautiful shirts" before (5.118). Increased availability of products for purchasing in the free market led to the widening of the gaps between people of different social economic classes. The rising immorality also explains the cultures of loosening morals in The Great Gatsby. For example, it's all well and good to assume that Daisy should leave the boorish Tom, but divorce would have been way more complicated for a woman in the 1920s than it is today. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-in-the-novel-the-great-gatsby/, IvyPanda. Gatsby's early romance with Daisy is heightened by the initial idealism that he was about to go fight in a noble and glorious endeavor. The amendment came close to eventually being ratifiedin the 1970s, but was defeated by conservatives. This claim suggests that 1920s were marked by the coming out of an impatient society that was led by the adolescents who opposed honorable margins that were constant in the previous age group. If George Wilson had had the means, he likely would have already left New York with Myrtle in tow, saving both of their lives. Gatsby, like a peacock showing off its many-colored tail, flaunts his wealth to Daisy by showing off his many-colored shirts. (5.117-118). New York: Scribner, 2004. Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted havening sired a child with a house help, even though he was still married. This situation is well supported by the fact that after the party and with additional of extra workers, Gatsbys gardeners toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden shears, repairing the ravages of the night before (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 121). The availability of mass-produced items among majority Americans led to the erosion of the existing mechanisms of differentiating people based on their social economic classes. Of course, this did little to actually stem the desire for alcoholic beverages, so a vast underground criminal empire was born to supply this demand. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. Gatsbys failure to attain the American Dream suggests the Dream is both an unattainable and unwise goal. Gatsby admits this fact (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 127). In this novel, actual mountain climbing is safer than social climbing. Past and Future. Central Idea Essay: What Does the Green Light Mean? A+ Student Essay: The Automobile as a Symbol in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby Background. America at this time experienced a cultural and lifestyle revolution. Indeed, Tom Buchanan believes that he needs additional power and influence despite being already powerful and blessed with a beautiful daughter and wife. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? . "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Getting a deeper grasp of character. Perhaps this attitude was tempered at Yale, where he would have been surrounded by other ultra-wealthy peers, but in any case, Nick's cynical, sarcastic attitude seems to be a cover for jealousy and resentment for those even more wealthy than him. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. The American Dream refers to a shared set of ideals that guide the spirit of the United States. The novel includes Nick's anti-Semitic description of a Jewish character - Meyer Wolfshiem. At the same time, the novel itself critiques the notion of the American Dream. Woods, Clyde. However, even though Gatsby succeeds in acquiring wealth, he is never accepted by the upper class. Scott Fitzgerald mentions in her novel an incident of prohibition of sale and the production of liquor to tame youths who had become overindulged in alcoholism. They even went to the extent of assimilating masculine ways and fashions into their lifestyles. On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted highershirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue. She thinks that she deserves to be with Tom whose money, influence, and power provide answers to her (Mytle) problems of poverty. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. The ramifications of this were political, economic, and social. No one has time to read them all, but its important to go over them at least briefly. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. Fitzgerald positions the characters of The Great Gatsby as emblems of these social trends. On the one hand, it elevatedthe U.S. into a world super power and ushered in a decade-long economic boom. Free trial is available to new customers only. Looking for other literary guides? Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? Because he creates characters that personify the American Dream, juxtaposes western and eastern American cultures, incorporates examples of law breaking under Prohibition, and depicts the corruption of the wealthy, Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a reflection of Americas culture in the early twentieth century by highlighting the cultures successes and failures. This desire of Americans to reach such a high social status and level of attainment was no better displayed through the ability that Gatsby possessed as he faithfully stuck to the conception of himself he desired to be and eventually obtained it. We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. He spends his life believing that if he makes enough money and acquires enough possessions, he can transcend his lower-class birth and become equal to Daisy and Tom. Read more about how the American Dream is treated in The Great Gatsby and whether the novel is ultimately optimistic or pessimistic about the dream. Even Gatsbys all-consuming passion for Daisy seems more of a desire to possess something unattainable than actual love. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? This claim implies that they thought that money could make them more authoritative than other people. Although her husband is immensely loyal to her, she possesses a strong desire to have everything else. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Ironically, with Wolfsheim being a powerful Jewish man who is more successful than Tom, his perceived fears become a reality (The Great Gatsby Literary 271); despite his unethical conclusions of other races, Tom struggles with the fact that he cannot combat the future success of others as proof of his immoral values. It was all very careless and confused. Please wait while we process your payment. In Myrtle's eyes, money is an escape from life with her husband in the valley of ashes, something that brings status, and something that buys class. The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s. Jordan is direct and critical all while being collected and intelligent; she defies the typical standard of the effervescent, submissive women of her time and instead represents a new breed of women, all standardized by the future of American prosperity and affluence. 12 August. It would help your argument to talk about the sudden skyrocketing prevalence of cars on the road in the 1920s, connecting them to increased danger, status symbol consumerism, and modern life. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. Being dishonest makes her (Jordan) incredibly uncomfortable with life. Gatsby's business partner Meyer Wolfshiem is a gangster who is affiliated with organized crime and is based on the real-life crime boss Arnold Rothstein, who was indeed responsible for fixing the World Series in 1919. Both Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby have military backgrounds. This term paper on American Culture in the Novel The Great Gatsby was written and submitted by your fellow So Gatsby ultimately provides a pretty harsh, pessimistic view of women's roles in 1920s America. Nick's connection to Daisy in turn makes him attractive to Gatsby. You can see the effects of these historical development several places in the novel: The 1920s saw huge increases in the production and use of automobiles. 1. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? Myrtle mentions this with regard to her husband, George, whom she mistook for someone of better breeding and hence greater prospects: I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasnt fit to lick my shoe. Similarly, Gatsbys pursuit of Daisy is bound up with class. Excited to dive in? Unfortunately, the depression of 1929 led to a loss of such gains (Romer 598). (9.146). Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. This provision made them perceive themselves as equal to men. In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald documents these changes through an in-depth exploration of cultural changes such as the rise in consumerism, materialism, greed for wealth, and the culture of loosening morals in the 1920s American society. Want to write the perfect college application essay? Download it for free now: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, '688715d6-bf92-47d7-8526-4c53d1f5fe7d', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, '03a85984-6dfd-4a19-93c8-5f46091f5e2b', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. However, jumping up beyond her roots, using Tom's money, is ultimately unsustainableher husband finds out and threatens to move out west, and then of course she is killed by Daisy before they can make that move. Upon noting the degradation of morality among youths in the 1920s, Samkanashvil claims that the American youths were incredibly concerned with nobility (75). Daisy and Tom have similar traits, which support materialist culture that was prevalent in the 1920s American society as portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In this phrase, Nick talks about Tom and George upon realizing that their wives are cheating on them and that they had a sort of terminal sickness. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination BoardTM. Print. The survivors of the war - both the veterans and those who came of age during the fighting - were called the Lost Generation. This makes Daisy sound like the princess that the hero gets to marry at the end of a fairy talein other words, she's a high-value prize. What trench warfare looked like. Artists from that time include W.E.B. The overindulgence is perhaps well reflected in The Great Gatsby in Gatsbys parties that are analogous to those that were thrown by the American youths in the 1920s. To get you started, here is a sample of some of Nick's comments on money and the wealthy, though there are certainly more to be found: "Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reactionGatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." let other people clean up the mess they had made.. But even Gatsby, who makes an incredible amount of money in a short time, is not allowed access into the upper echelon of society, and loses everything in trying to climb that final, precarious rung of the ladder, as represented by Daisy. The concept of the American dream as developed in chapter nine of The Great Gatsby revolves around the concepts of moral values that have been used to pursue happiness. Nevertheless, it was still very much frowned on, and being a housewife and having fewer rights than man was still the norm in the 1920s. The 1920s marked a key time of change in the social status of women as so called flappers defied the traditional norms for conduct and dress, and women finally received the right to vote (The Great Gatsby Novels 74). According to Zeitz, 1920s marked an era in which Americans began to reap from the benefits of increased consumerism (21). So how exactly does materialism reveal itself as a theme, how can it help us analyze the characters, and what are some common assignments surrounding this theme? The Buchanans exemplify this stereotype when, at the end of the novel, they simply move to a new house far away rather than condescend to attend Gatsbys funeral. American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby". When his dream crumbles, all that is left for Gatsby to do is die; all Nick can do is move back to Minnesota, where American values have not decayed. I also shared the assumptions of the stimulus materials that were common because of my cultural background. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925. We've compiled a list of 15 must-have items for fans of The Great Gatbsy book and movie adaptations. Fitzgerald and Bruccoli reckon, Tom would drift on forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game (10). In spite of this, Gatsby is actually more ignored and used as opposed to honored. Tracing historical development in the US, Scherer and Ross inform that only 16 percent of homes in America had electricity by 1912 (82). Everyone who comes to the parties is attracted by Gatsby's money and wealth, making the culture of money-worship a society-wide trend in the novel, not just something our main characters fall victim to. Why is Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby a Satire? After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, Austro-Hungary and its ally Germany declared waragainst Russia. As Fitzgerald saw it (and as Nick explains in Chapter 9), the American dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. Meanwhile, Tom's mistress Myrtle, a car mechanic's wife, puts on airs and tries to pass as rich through her affair with Tom, but her involvement with the Buchanans gets her killed. Scott Fitzgerald has created a social satire of America in the 1920's in which he exposes the American Dream as being inherently flawed and merely an illusion produced by idealism.This American Dream has been traditionally associated with the pursuit of freedom and equality. However, despite her airs, she matters very little to the "old money" crowd, as cruelly evidenced first when Tom breaks her nose with a "short deft movement" (2.126), and later, when Daisy chooses to run her over rather than get into a car accident. In 2013, a new movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby was released. When World War I ended in 1918, the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America seem like stuffy, empty hypocrisy. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. He accurately describes and critiques this materialistic society in order to leave a lasting impact on the public to recognize the inevitable failure of their economy and success waiting. What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? The Great Gatsby. Scherer, Frederick, and David Ross. Renews March 11, 2023 In this sense, better economic fortunes in America, together with the rising mass production in the 1920s normalized the culture of consumption so that products that were consumed by the wealthy members of the society became now affordable to persons in the lower social economic classes. In real life, this represents aristocracy, which took a long time to establish. A reinterpreted version of the story about Jay Gatsby's endeavor to become rich, achieve status in the high-society of 1922's Long Island, New York, and get back together with the love of his life - Daisy Buchanan. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols sufficiently to give the novel a more vivid description of the American culture. As Caraway describes the nature of Gatsbys parties, it is clear that even though Americans enjoyed prosperity that was associated with the jazz age, they also feared its social implications. | Unlike Jordan, Mytle possesses little material items. A close look at these two distinct societies gives an image of a future fictional American society culture, which is free from corruption and largely not driven by individualism. Fitzgerald illustrates the era of Prohibition by displaying Gatsbys flagrant misuse of the law, which only results in his own demise and failure as he perishes the same way he entered the city of New York with himself being his only true friend. You can read more about the American Dream for details on The Great Gatsby's ultimately skeptical, cynical attitude towards this classic American ideal. By such suggestions that Gatsby was a product of his culture, Nick is able to praise Gatsby for the integrity of his belief . Continue to start your free trial. Romer, Christina. (2022, August 12). Vol. Read more about those symbols for a fuller understanding of how money affects The Great Gatsby. As discussed above, moneyand specifically having inherited moneynot only guarantees a certain social class, it guarantees safety and privilege: Tom and Daisy can literally live by different rules than other, less-wealthy people. Unfortunately, with regard to The Great Gatsby, this dream dwindled, as materialism, consumerism, and the culture of loosening social morals became the order of the day in the 1920s America. Ironically enough, Nick resides in West Egg while Tom and Daisy reside in East Egg, this being analogous to where they find their moral values and happiness.
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