We often get caught up with a value system which considers social status as being determined by prosperity and wealth. Also believed by many is the idea that buying, spending and accumulating material wealth will lead to greater happiness. In fact some could argue that this has been the truth since post-industrial society and continues to be present in modern day culture. Themes of this nature have been reflected in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, set in the affluent Long Island, New York in the Roaring Twenties, The Great Gatsby. The characters of the novel are over obsessed with material things and fail to grasp what is essentially important. The Great Gatsby provides a social documentation of America set in an age of consumption, wealth and social stratification. It is the ultimate example of how we today present similar principles of greed and self gratification through our excessive consumerism. At present our society is based around materialistic beliefs. To some level, we all take part in the consumer culture by valuing material possessions. Most of us are constantly striving for more and there is no denying we want the best of the best; whether it is the newest iPhone or high-tech car. We have closets full of clothes that we don’t need. Large houses (our own Gatsby mansions) And lots of, well... things! And even when our demands are met, still there is the all-consuming desire for more things! Despite mounting credit card debt we still manage to find a need for more things! The result of this rampant consumption is in fact a miserable and unfulfilled life. According to researchers, materialistic people struggle to be grateful for what they have, may it be their family, a nice house or a descent job. They are never fully s... ... middle of paper ... ...aw behind the illusion of wealth and happiness. A rather depressing ending for most main characters was an intention by Fitzgerald, signifying that greed never constitutes happiness. Also to display how the materialistic attitude of the 1920’s lead many to fall into a downhill spiral of fervent obsession and unfilled expectations. The Beatles gave us some valuable advice that money can't buy love, and it wouldn’t hurt to remember that money can't buy happiness either. We can see that there is no direct association between wealth and happiness. After our fundamental needs are met our over-all well being and happiness is no longer affected by money. The prevailing issues in classic texts such as The Great Gatsby continue to endure. Of these consumption and materialism are a few of the timeless themes have lasted throughout society and continue to be valid today.
The Great Gatsby displays how the time of the 1920s brought people to believe that wealth and material goods were the most important things in life, and that separation of the social classes was a necessary need. Fitzgerald’s choice to expose the 1920s for the corrupt time that it really was is what makes him one of the greatest authors of his time, and has people still reading one of his greatest novels, The Great Gatsby, decades
Imagine a society where people do what they want to achieve prosperity. F. Scott Fitzgerald most famous and respected novel, The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is one of the most penetrating descriptions of American life in the 1920s. It has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The novel tells a story of fabulously wealthy people floating aimlessly through life during the 1920s. People were driven to gain as many materials possession as possible. People did not allow morals to get in the way to their pursuit of happiness. The color green serves as a metaphor for the greed and envy of the consumer-driven 1920’s.
With attention to, The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald uses complex characters to enhance and enrich his 1920’s novel. For many one only thinks about the “American Dream,” this including Nick Carraway (the narrator and a main character of the novel). For some, however, striving for and realizing that dream corrupted them, as they acquired wealth only to pursue pleasure. Even though the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby appear to relish the freedom of the 1920s, their lives demonstrate the emptiness that results when wealth and pleasure become ends in themselves. Specifically, the empty lives of three characters from this novel—George Wilson, Jay Gatsby, and Daisy Buchanan—show that chasing hollow dreams results only in misery.
The 1920’s were a time of great social and political revolution. The nation’s wealth more than doubled, and since Americans had more money in their pockets, they were spending it on consumer goods. People from all across the United States were being influenced by the same advertisements; they were buying the same kind of cars, learning the same style dances, and even using the same kind of colloquial jargon. This is called mass culture, a result of a growing consumer society in America, and it is one of the most identifiable characteristics of the 1920’s. However, the seemingly perfect prosperity of the country did not come without consequence. There was an insufferable wealth inequality in America, with the top 1% of Americans owning between 20%-25% of the wealth share in the United States (Saez, Zucman). Because of this wealth inequality, the consumer society of
The acquisition of material wealth is often equated with happiness in this country. This is true today, and it was true during the 1920's, the setting of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. That the majority of Americans believe that wealth and happiness are the same is a result of our market economy that encourages consumption and conditions us to think that we need material possessions to be happy. According to Andrew Bard Schmookler, "Wealth and human fulfillment have become equated in the predominant ideology of liberal society, even though the great spiritual teachers of humanity have all taught otherwise." (17)
The numerous themes and ideas that F. Scott Fitzgerald presents in The Great Gatsby are valued in many ways. He shows that dreams should be important in peoples’ lives, and that everyone should have a goal in life. He also displays the corrupt nature of the American Dream in the 1920’s, and how society’s social classes and racist views will never result to equality in America. This perspective of 20th century life and Fitzgerald’s style are also appreciated and valued.
CONSUMERISM: The 1920s brought a wave of new opportunities throughout the United States. Women were indoctrinated into their voting rights, the United States won the war, and a bloom of economic prosperity. However, racial tensions continued to dichotomize the north from the south, and the blacks from the whites. It is important to note the intensity of this matter was small but limited the opportunities for some.
Hello. My name is Graham Hoyes, a student of the DP1 Higher Level Literature class at St. John’s-Kilmarnock school. This is my individual oral presentation on how F. Scott Fitzgerald approaches the theme of moral shallowness and materialism in his novel, The Great Gatsby.
Happiness is a feeling adults experience when they receive a gift, win something, and various other reasons, but does money buy this happiness everyone experiences? Don Peck and Ross Douthat claim money does buy happiness, but only to a point in their article which originally appeared in the Atlantic Monthly (252). Throughout their article, reasons on why money can sometimes buy happiness are explained. While some of the reasons given are effective, not all are satisfying answers for adults working diligently to make a living. Money is a part of everyone’s life, yet it is not always the cause of happiness.
Most people believe that being wealthy results in being comfortable. But what if becoming materialistic means destroying the person’s character, relationships, and leaving them physically and mentally unhealthy. Is this comfortable? Depending on many perspectives, the purpose of life is happiness, health, and satisfaction. Yet, many believe that with materialism you can achieve a full and purposeful life. In reality, materialism replaces the satisfaction of having life’s necessities with the never-ending desire for things. This can leave people with the feeling of never being fulfilled with their life.
Wealth and fame are not necessities that are needed to be happy with life. Fame and wealth are very sought after, because many people think those things and happiness go hand and hand. People are often mislead by this theory, money can make a person happy but it can also ruin every relationship they have and it can kill any ounce of joy they have. Wealth can be an idol that blinds people to the truly important things in life. When people solely focus on money to make them happy, they become emotionally and physically exhausted.
However, as already seen, the relationship between income and general life satisfaction was mainly explained by whether material aspirations (such as buying luxury goods) could be fulfilled.” In other words, one’s concept of happiness can vary from nation to nation. For example, people living in poor nations and having a low income tend to be satisfied by having just enough to meet their necessities. While, on the other hand, people with higher income tend to be satisfied if they have enough to buy luxury goods. Being wealthy does not lead one to happiness; it can help some people to obtain happiness, but it can also lead others to have unwanted experiences.
In the novel The Great Gatsby, the 1920’s was a “throwaway culture, in which things (and people) are used and then abandoned” (Evans). This is true of the lives of the wealthy elite who ruled the East and West Eggs, causing the domination of materialistic thought. The substitution of money for integrity ultimately provided a way for corruption to take deep roots in the characters. The frivolous lives and relationships described by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby depict the emptiness of the shallow 1920’s era.
..., a person who earns $25,000 is happier than a person who makes $125,000 and an employee who makes $500,000 is only slightly happier than someone who makes $55,000. Lastly, there are more important things in life that and make you happy, for example, friends. They don’t come with a price tag, and if they do, you definitely need new friends. Money won’t make you happy since good times can’t be bought. You don’t need a fancy vacation to have a good time; it’s just a matter of who you spend it with. Over the years, humans have blown the value of money way out of proportion. People make it seem like if you’re not filthy rich, then you won’t live a good life but it’s not true. You can lack money and yet still live a perfect, happy life.
Acquiring things like houses and cars only has a transient effect on happiness. People’s desires for material possessions crank up at the same, or greater rate, than their salaries. Again, this means that despite considerably more luxurious possessions, people end up no happier. There’s even evidence that materialism makes us less happy. People don’t shift to enjoyable activities when they are rich.... ...