Social Commentary The Great Gatsby

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Recommended: Theme of the great Gatsby and how the author shows it in the book

Regarded as a brilliant piece of social commentary The Great Gatsby offers an insight into the American life in the 1920s. The novel exposes that in the 1920’s the American Dream had entered into a state of moral decay. Joshua Zeitz provided insight on this point in the article F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Age of Excess by claiming,“In reality, the nation’s most prosperous decade had been built on a house of cards.” Joshua’s claim can be applied to the American Dream of the 1920’s and how since it “had been built on a house of cards” it would fail. Throughout the novel F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of the novel, uses analysis and tone to argue that the American Dream is an illusion. The idea behind the American Dream represents the dream …show more content…

The use of short sentences in the start of the passage gives the reader a questionable vibe. Which pulls out the know-it-all tone, suggesting that Nick is lecturing the reader. Giving off a vibe that Nick is trying to be extremely critical of the car. Nick uses a form of personification to heighten the judgment he has of the car. Calling the car “swollen,” helps the reader to understand how massive the car is and paints a picture of the car in the reader's head. The use of the word “labyrinth” to describe the windshields validates how much Nick is judging Gatsby's car and how much he wants the reader to visualize the car with him. By Nick criticizing the car's windshields it explains how critical he is of every apparatus of the car. The critical tone Nick uses pushes an understanding of the American dream. In this/the passage, to Nick, Gatsby’s car is seen as the American Dream, and this is why Nick is so critical of the car. Nick knows the American Dream is an illusion and that is why he is acting so …show more content…

A time where everyone is striving for the American Dream but no one can achieve it because it became corrupted by materialism. Leading everyone down a dark path to failure. Although, Fitzgerald had no way of seeing the future The Great Gatsby illustrates the world heading for failure, which is what exactly what happened from the stock market crash of 1929. With the use of a critical tone by Nick, the novel was effective in depicting the illusion of the American

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