In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes American society in the 1920?s for its tendencies to waste, advertise, form superficial relationships, and obsess over appearances. The work has been praised for both its brutal realism and its keen depiction of the age that The New York Times referred to as the era when, 'gin was the national drink and sex was the national obsession'(Fitzgerald vii). ' . . . indifference is presented as a moral failure - a failure of society, particularly the society of the American east to recognize the imperatives of truth and honesty and justice? (Gallo 35).
F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the wasteful tendencies of American society. He uses the valley of ashes to refer to this ugly aspect of American society. The valley of ashes is a bleak area situated between the West Egg and New York City, 'where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air'(Fitzgerald 23). This unpleasant wasteland is located right along the roadway and train route between the eggs, home of the lofty aristocrats, and New York City, the exciting and fashionable metropolis where many of the nations wealthiest people live, work, and entertain themselves. 'There is no essential difference between the moneyed wastelands of New York City and Long Island and the valley of ashes,' (Gallo 49) Referring to an eye doctor's billboard in the valley of ashes, Nick, our narrator comments:
Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away. But ...
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... Moment: The Novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1970.
Whitley, John S. F. Scott Fitzgerald: "The Great Gatsby." London: Edward Arnold, 1976.
Outline
Thesis statement: In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes American society in the 1920?s for its tendency to waste, advertise, form superficial relationships, and obsess over appearances.
I. Introduction
A. Literary Classic
B. Societal Criticism
1. wasteful tendency
2. advertising obsession
3. superficial relationships
4. appearances fixation
II. Wasteful Tendency
A. Valley of Ashes
B. Gatsby
C. Tom and Daisy
III. Advertising Obsession
A. Billboard
B. McKees
C. Tom
D. Daisy
E. Gatsby
III. Appearances Fixation
A. Myrtle
B. Catherine
C. Gatsby
IV. Superficial Relationships
A. Billboard
B. Myrtle?s Party
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In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald criticises the increase of consumerism in the 1920s and the abandonment of the original American Dream , highlighting that the increased focus on wealth and the social class associated with it has negative effects on relationships and the poorest sections of society. The concept of wealth being used as a measure of success and worth is also explored by Plath in ‘The Bell Jar’. Similarly, she draws attention to the superficial nature of this material American Dream which has extended into the 1960s, but highlights that gender determines people’s worth in society as well as class. Fitzgerald uses setting to criticise society’s loss of morality and the growth of consumerism after the Great War. The rise of the stock market in the 1920s enabled business to prosper in America.
Criticism of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates an artificial world where money is the object of everyone's desire. The characters, the setting, and the plot are very deeply submerged in a Capitalism that ends up destroying many of them. Fitzgerald's criticism of Capitalism can be seen as a move to subtly promote Socialism, an ideology in which value is placed on the inherent value of an object rather than its market value. In a late collection of notes, Fitzgerald himself proclaims that he is "essentially Marxist. " Marxism is a specific branch of Socialist theory.
Bewley, Marius. "Scott Fitzgerald's Criticism of America." Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Great Gatsby. Ed. Ernest Lockridge. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. 37-53.
The Roaring Twenties is considered a time of mass corruption and excessive absurdity. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his novel, The Great Gatsby, to criticize the American society and its values in this era. This criticism is best shown in the behaviour of the people who go to Gatsby's parties; they are careless, rude and only looking out for themselves. It is also shown in the corruption of the police, who are easily paid to look the other way. It is finally apparent in the corruption of friendship and love, the truth being that there is none. This society and its values are self-centered and materialistic, caring very little for consequences and others. Fitzgerald's message is delivered magnificently and causes one to be appalled by the behaviour of the people during this time in history.
The main contemporary forms of psychodynamic treatment are psychoanalysis, which is intensive and long term and psychodynamic psychotherapy, which relies on the same principles but is more conversational. Researchers have found that all psychotherapies are relatively effective, although some treatments are superior for some disorders. According to Renner, Morrissey, Mae, Feldman and Majors (2011), there are four major approaches to therapy for psychological disorders. Psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic approaches each have their own characteristics in relation to therapy. Psychodynamic therapists share the belief that a patient’s psychological disorder is the result of the person’s unconscious.
The purpose of this report is to investigate the different views and opinions on the safeness and cost effectiveness of nuclear power compared to other forms of energy. This report will explain the issues and background of the debate, the importance of the issue, and the parties who are involved in this debate with their thoughts.
There are many developing countries also looking into nuclear energy because of all the benefits nuclear power has to offer. As of right now between sixteen and thirty nuclear power plants are being made in developing countries like China and India. Both of these countries are moving towards nuclear energy for many reasons like its reliability and amount of energy it producing. It is very beneficial because it only takes up a small amount of space to make one of these nuclear plants and the amount of energy they produce is substantial. Both of these countries are looking into h...
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The 1920’s were a time of social and technological change. After World War II, the Victorian values were disregarded, there was an increase in alcohol consumption, and the Modernist Era was brought about. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a perfect presentation of the decaying morals of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald uses the characters in the novel--specifically the Buchanans, Jordan Baker, and Gatsby’s partygoers--to represent the theme of the moral decay of society.
He criticizes the worsening of family structure by choosing characters that have little or no value of the bond accepted during marriage. He questions the power that accompanies wealth, and reveals the shallow values of the era. Finally, Fitzgerald denounces the pursuing of an American Dream, suggesting that it is unattainable, and merely a fantasy fuelled by the urge to fulfill it. However, he acknowledges its importance to American society. The Great Gatsby is not considered the great American novel solely because it criticizes the lifestyles of the 1920’s, instead, it can be considered a success because it reveals the true meaning of pursuing an American Dream. It presents the idea that an American Dream is not a dream of prosperity, but a dream of perseverance, because the dream will always “beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (172)
Along with a change in gender role for women over the past century there has been a change in the idea of gender and sexuality. The acceptance of sexual orientations besides heterosexuality has led to a major change in marriages and family. A factor in this acceptance has been the media. There have been quite a few shows with homosexual and transgender characters. The media has influenced many people to fight for certain legal rights for homosexual people. This has led to same-sex marriages being legalized in some states. Now there are many marriages in the U.S. comprised of homosexual people. Alon...
F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most compelling twentieth century writers, (Curnutt, 2004). The year 1925 marks the year of the publication of Fitzgerald’s most credited novel, The Great Gatsby (Bruccoli, 1985). With its critiques of materialism, love and the American Dream (Berman, 1996), this dramatic idyllic novel, (Harvey, 1957), although poorly received at first, is now highly regarded as Fitzgerald’s finest work (Rohrkemper, 1985) and is his publisher, Scribner 's most popular title, (Donahue, 2013). The novel achieved it’s status as one of the most influential novels in American history around the nineteen fifties and sixties, over ten years after Fitzgerald 's passing, (Ibid, 1985)
According to the paper presented, I believe that power is the most essential element for the human progress, since it’s about changing intentions to actions. In organization it’s about sharing information, about working together and running the company in the best interest of everyone. According to my learning, I believed that it changes nothing, no one can predict the result of a decision and we spend more time living with the consequence of our decision than making them. In turn we should focus on getting things done rather than thinking of the consequence.