Jazz Age In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby published in 1925 written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic American novel that defines 1920's America very well or as Fitzgerald calls it in the Great Gatsby the Jazz Age. He wanted to show that the Jazz Age was a time of loose social and moral values, as well as to show the reckless life styles people lived. The book is set right after WWI which was a time of prosperity in America. During the war everyone had double the income and less expenses because the men were getting paid for fighting in the war and the women had to get jobs to keep the country running, which caused an excess of funds in most families. The Prohibition was also occurring at this time which gave people the opportunity to get rich quick through bootlegging.
When he wrote the book he wanted to divide up the classes of people and show that each class of people faced problems of their own. He also wanted it to represent the American dream which at the time was social mobility, which is the idea of moving up the social ladder or the poor becoming rich, and the want for material things. Many of the characters in the book aspire to move up on the social ladder which at this time was almost impossible. They all had different motives for wanting to achieve success, such as Gatsby’s love for Daisy, or Myrtles desire for the finer things in life.
When writing the book Fitzgerald also wanted to show the difference between new money and old money. How the people with old money disliked everyone with new money. Which he used East Egg, home to the old money, and West Egg, home to the newly rich, to represent. The two groups of people disliked each other even though they both had money. The people with new money tended to look down on the peop...

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...e had great plans for his future and he was not going to let anything stand in his way. “He was a son of God” (Fitzgerald page 104). He work on a boat for Dan Cody as steward, mate, skipper, secretary, and even jailor. (Fitzgerald page 106). Cody taught him many things like how to act like a gentlemen. When Cody died he left Gatsby twenty-five thousand dollars, but Gatsby never got it. All he was left with was the knowledge that Cody had bestowed on him. He was also in the military, which is how he met Daisy. He met Daisy while stationed at a military camp in the south, and he fell in love with her, from that point on everything her did was all to win Daisy back. Gatsby moved to West egg, right across from Daisy, where he purchased a few drug stores.
The two groups had very bad opinions of each other even though they were both rich and liked flashy things.