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The great gatsby and american culture
Sociological Analysis Of The Great Gatsby
The great gatsby american culture
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Life as an American in the 1920s was glamorous as economic growth and mass-productions of new technologies induced the country into a consumer society. With the conclusion of World War I, Americans found themselves with more leisure time. They spent this time burning through money, shamelessly. Expensive purchases such as European-made shirts or flashy automobiles reflected a person’s wealth, determining their popularity in society. A high social status in the 1920s was a luxurious lifestyle, hence fierce competition for the top of the societal hierarchy. As a result, a new era of materialism boomed. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys a dislike of wealth, as it leads to a wealth-obsessed lifestyle that shallows and corrupts the …show more content…
The lovely and pure Daisy appears like an angel in a world of cheats and liars but Daisy is just as tainted. Her ideal lifestyle is full of riches and popularity. This is evident when Jordan revealed that Daisy abandoned her love for Jay Gatsby to marry the richer Tom Buchanan, his wedding gift to her—“a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars”(Fitzgerald 80). This abundance of wealth dulled Daisy's morals. She turns a blind eye to Tom's infidelity because she cannot live without the benefits of money and power. Her own affair with the transformed Gatsby did not spark internal conflict until she had to choose between wealth or love once again—and once again Daisy rejects Gatsby for the stability of Tom's …show more content…
The money Tom inherited is old money guaranteeing him and Daisy a position in a certain social class. They are a different breed of people compared to the lower class in the valley of ashes. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy,” they lived by separate rules, without restraint or responsibility (187). For instance, secure in his victory of winning over Daisy from Gatsby, Tom sends her home with Gatsby to prove that Gatsby cannot hurt him. Tom’s carelessness spirals the story into a series of unfortunate events. Driving back home, Tom along with Nick and Jordan come across a dead Myrtle Wilson and a disturbed George Wilson. Nick realized that the yellow car that hit Myrtle was Daisy and Gatsby. Wilson demands retribution and tracks down the owner of the car with the belief that the owner had been Myrtle's lover. Wilson goes to Gatsby's house and shoots him before committing suicide. In the end, Daisy never admits to the murder of Myrtle and life is back to normal with Tom. Later, Tom admits to Nick that he told Wilson that Gatsby owned the car. Tom believed that Gatsby deserved to die. Nick, the voice of Fitzgerald concludes that Tom and Daisy are uncaring people, "—they 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,” (187-188). Tom and Daisy's beauty and luxury was
When he first meets Daisy, Gatsby becomes infatuated with his idea of her, or rather, the false persona that she creates of herself. In fact, Gatsby reveals that “she was the first ‘nice’ girl he had ever known” (155). Gatsby was so impressed with Daisy mainly because of her wealth and her status; it is what he wants. However, Daisy chooses Tom Buchanan over Gatsby, solely because of his social status. As a result, Gatsby revolves his whole life around her: he becomes wealthy, creates a new image of himself, and buys a house across the bay from Daisy. For instance, he fabricates lies about how “ [he is] the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west” (69) and how “ [he] was brought up in America but educated at Oxford” (69) in order to impress her. These lies end up altering others’ perspectives of him - not necessarily in a positive way - and impacting his life as a whole. Daisy unwittingly transforms Gatsby into a picture-perfect image of the 1920s: lavish parties, showy cars, and a false illusion of the attainment of the American Dream. Despite Gatsby’s newfound wealth and success, he never fully accomplishes his dream: to get Daisy. Gatsby’s final act for the sake of Daisy has no impact on her feelings towards him. When Gatsby claims that he crashed into Myrtle and killed her, Daisy carelessly lets him do so, which ultimately results in his death. To make
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses his narrator, Nick Carraway as a vital tool to comprehend the purposefulness of this story. Imagine having the story in some other characters point of view, a cynical and more sardonic point of view. Daisy Buchanan's point of view would simply all relate to her. If it does not it has no need to be conversed about or it has to change to something about her. Daisy's conflict is her love for Jay Gatsby is hindered because she is married to her also unfaithful husband Tom Buchanan.
The dawn of the 20th century was met with an unprecedented catastrophe: an international technological war. Such a horrible conflict perhaps threatened the roots of the American Dream! Yet, most do not realize how pivotal the following years were. Post war prosperity caused a fabulous age for America: the “roaring twenties”. But it also was an era where materialism took the nation by storm, rooting itself into daily life. Wealth became a measure of success and a facade for social status. This “Marxist materialism” threatened the traditional American Dream of self-reliance and individuality far even more than the war a decade before. As it morphed into materialistic visions (owning a beautiful house and car), victims of the change blindly chased the new aspiration; one such victim was Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. As his self-earned luxury and riches clashed with love, crippling consequences and disasters occur. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby delves into an era of materialism, exploring how capitalism can become the face of social life and ultimately cloud the American Dream.
The Wealthy during the 1920s are shown to be egotistical people who only care about their own pleasure. New found independence, new technology, and a ban that only make alcohol more tempting certainly makes this prosperous time a moral dystopia. For the first time for many people, they can do almost anything with money; sometimes at the expense of others. The others were forced to live in poverty, endured careless rich people, and get blamed for their mess. Unfortunately for the rich, the Great Depression slap them back into reality and they have to work hard to get back what they lost. Both history and The Great Gatsby shows that money can be a double-edged sword and that there some things money can’t buy, like love and happiness for example.
Daisy marries Tom due to the fact that he is rich. At the time of Tom and Daisy’s marriage, Daisy wants to be with Gatsby the one she really loves, she receives a letter from him and she begins “to cry” she “cries and cries” while Jordan and her mother’s maid give her a bath but “she wouldn’t let go of the letter. She [takes] it into the tub with her and [squeezes] it into a wet ball” (76). Once Jordan and the maid leave “the pearls [are] around her neck and the incident [is] over” (76). Gatsby gives Daisy a heartfelt letter while Tom gives her a necklace with a high price tag. The gifts allow Daisy to realize that Tom is richer than Gatsby. Causing Daisy to do what she is expected and born to do which is to marry the rich guy. At the time Daisy chooses to shape her life “immediately and the decision must be made by some force of money, of unquestionable practicality [...] That force [takes] the shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan” (151). The pearl necklace, the one that Tom gives to Daisy is a symbol that portrays her being trapped under Tom’s control which is why she stays with him. Towards the end of the novel, he goes “into the jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace” (179). Tom is buying another necklace to show that their past is repeating as if they were in a cycle. Now at the end, their relationship is starting all over again. Overall, “Tom and Daisy smashed up things and
Through the eyes of the men around her, Daisy Buchanan is always seen in several different perspectives based on the way the man around her wants her to be seen. Nick paints a mask of Daisy as his charming “old yellowy hair” cousin, yet her “absolute smirk” makes him feel insecure about the things she tells him (106, 31). Gatsby’s mask for Daisy is created from being in love with the idea of Daisy and the way she was when they were young and in love, which is just what he needs to fulfill his dream. Tom’s mask for Daisy is her as his trophy wife he’s obligated to have and can just throw to the side while he has his affairs. Not only do these men place their own masks they’ve created for Daisy on her, but also dehumanize and victimize her in
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys how Jay Gatsby’s ambition is the root of his success and death. When Gatsby, a man of humble beginnings, meets Daisy, her wealth and high status allures him. They fall in love, but due to Gatsby’s low financial and social position, Daisy feels insecure and leaves him. Gatsby’s optimism and obsession to win Daisy prompts the ambition that ultimately drives him to his noble yet tragic ending.
“The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored. Such is exemplified by Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson and Tom Buchanan. Their ambitions distinctly represent their class in which Fitzgerald implies strongly about.
People will always be attached to something or someone from their past. The saying of “time will heal” is true, however; there will always be a certain reminder haunting your present. In the novel of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author focuses mainly on the effects that the relationship between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby caused on the rest of the characters. The main idea is how Gatsby is attached or obsessed with his past and does not learn how to let go. Moreover, the past can affect both negatively and positively- we can learn from our mistakes and Jay Gatsby is an example.
Although it may seem as if F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is portraying a romantic relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, a woman he meets and falls in love with in Louisville while training to be an officer, the novel portrays the wealth and materialistic culture in the 1920’s. The more luxury and the more things a person can show off, the more accomplished and successful the person felt. In the roaring twenties, having a family, cars, and luxury was what people would pursue in life but for others, that was not enough.
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.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a fictional story of a man, Gatsby, whose idealism personified the American dream. Yet, Gatsby’s world transformed when he lost his god-like power and indifference towards the world to fall in love with Daisy. Gatsby’s poverty and Daisy’s beauty, class, and affluence contrasted their mutual affectionate feelings for one another. As Gatsby had not achieved the American dream of wealth and fame yet, he blended into the crowd and had to lie to his love to earn her affections. This divide was caused by the gap in their class structures. Daisy grew up accustomed to marrying for wealth, status, power, and increased affluence, while Gatsby developed under poverty and only knew love as an intense emotional
Tom and Daisy Buchanan, the rich couple, seem to have everything they could possibly want. Though their lives are full of anything you could imagine, they are unhappy and seek to change, Tom drifts on "forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game"(pg. 10) and reads "deep books with long words in them"(pg. 17) just so he has something to talk about. Even though Tom is married to Daisy he has an affair with Myrtle Wilson and has apartment with her in New York.. Daisy is an empty character, someone with hardly any convictions or desires. Even before her relationships with Tom or, Gatsby are seen, Daisy does nothing but sit around all day and wonder what to do with herself and her friend Jordan. She knows that Tom is having an affair, yet she doesn't leave him even when she hears about Gatsby loving her. Daisy lets Gatsby know that she too is in love with him but cant bring herself to tell Tom goodbye except when Gatsby forces her too. Even then, once Tom begs her to stay, even then Daisy forever leaves Gatsby for her old life of comfort. Daisy and Tom are perfect examples of wealth and prosperity, and the American Dream. Yet their lives are empty, and without purpose.
Daisy comes from a family of great wealth and "old money". She is a member of an elite society of rich, snobbish people. Although she did not love her husband, she values the status and protection he provided for her. If she left Tom for Gatsby, she would lose this status and protection. Gatsby, although he is rich, is not "old rich". Because of this, he is looked down upon by members of Daisy’s class. Consequently, she would not leave her status for someone who she cared for. She thought her social obligations more important than Gatsby’s "true love". The arrogance of her class comes across as Tom talks to Gatsby, who is probably more rich than he is, but not of the older aristocratic class: " ‘She’s not leaving me.
In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy struggles between her desire to be with someone she truly loves and her rational to be with someone who will give her social and financial stability. Ultimately, Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby as he is the safer option once Gatsby is revealed to be untruthful, showing that she is predominately interested in a steady life.