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American society in the 1920s
Life in 1920s/1930 america
Life in 1920s/1930 america
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During the roaring 20’s, achieving financial success and finding true love were two key elements in achieving the American Dream. For many people, their mission in life was to reach the American Dream which they believed would assure them happiness. A dream for many americans during this time period was to become rich and fortunate. Money made a difference in social class and social status, so becoming rich and fortunate would show others your position in the socio economic ladder. People were becoming so obsessed with trying to upgrade their social status and achieve the American Dream that they would force themselves to do whatever it takes to gain prosperity and find love. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the theme of social …show more content…
For example, the Valley of Ashes in its state of decay. Also, the East and West Eggs in New York City. Driving through the Valley of Ashes on the way to New York City was a reminder of the separation between those on each side with new and old money. The Valley of Ashes was the wasteland left behind by the wealthy. The people who lived there lived in extreme poverty. The place where you lived contributed a lot to your social status. In New York City there is a clear distinction between the two towns, East Egg and West Egg. East Egg was where the people with “old money” lived, which meant that the people living there were born into a long legacy of money. The Buchanan’s lived there in the novel. The West Egg was where the people referred to as “new money” lived. Gatsby’s mansion was located in the West Egg because he was considered “new money”. Nick says, “I lived at West Egg, the-well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre” (Fitzgerald 5). Nick was Gatsby’s neighbor and treated Gatsby as a good friend of his, unlike most people who knew him. People treated Gatsby differently because he made all of his money on his own, which is the reason why he was considered “new money”. “Regardless of Gatsby’s financial success, he is still considered
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald relates to the current event video in a few ways. It applies to the reading of Great Gatsby because of the idea of affluenza; which is a way of saying that somebody was raised wealthy and with privilege, and had no consequences for bad behavior, so they do not know how to act or make the best decisions in the real world. Daisy specifically relates to this because she was raised very wealthy and even married wealthy to keep living her luxurious and privilege filled life. “For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras…” (151). She even got away with killing Myrtle because her and Tom were wealthy enough to just disappear, and
Chapter 1: Chapter one introduces the reader to the narrator Nick Halloway and most of the other other characters of the story. Including his cousin daisy, her husband tom and their friend jordan - the golfer. Nick comes from a wealthy family; however, doesn’t believe in inheriting their wealth. Instead he wishes to earn his own wealth by selling bonds in the stock market. Chapter one also talks about the separation of the rich. Where the east egg represents the inherently rich whereas west egg represents the newly rich. The people in the east also seem to lack social connections and aristocratic pedigree. Whereas the people in west egg possess all those qualities usually lacked by people in the east.With nick living
“The Great Gatsby” was a extremely sophisticated novel; it expressed love, money, and social class. The novel is told by Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor. Nick had just moved to West Egg, Longs Island to pursue his dream as a bond salesman. Nick goes across the bay to visit his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan in East Egg. Nick goes home later that day where he saw Gatsby standing on his dock with his arms out reaching toward the green light. Tom invites Nick to go with him to visit his mistress Mrs. Myrtle Wilson, a mid class woman from New York. When Nick returned from his adventure of meeting Myrtle he chooses to turn his attention to his mysterious neighbor, Gatsby. Gatsby is a very wealthy man that host weekly parties for the
During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives. In the novel entitled the great Gatsby, the ideals of the so called American dream became skewed, as a result of the greediness and desires of the main characters to become rich and wealthy. These character placed throughout the novel emphasize the true value money has on a persons place in society making wealth a state of mind.
Social classes have been around since the beginning of time. Most people are lead to believe that rich people live in beautiful and extravagant homes, throw luxurious parties and do not give a damn about keeping it a secret. The poor people are happy to have a roof over their heads and have food on the table and will work their asses off to make a penny. The higher the class that someone is in, the better that person’s life is perceived to be and vice-versa. There is old money versus new money, which determines which side of town one lives on. Everyone knows the difference in social classes and is able to see where most people fit in. In the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, the reader is exposed to many things that show a difference in social class that sadly, still exist in today. Most people have a dream of being in a certain class; whether they ever get to experience it or not, the dream is there. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, shows how social class plays a theme in the story.
Who builds his own wealth and therefore builds his superiority. With a lack of family wealth and self-earned fortune, he represents the opposite from Tom and Daisy Buchanan. While the Buchanans seem to live without goals or ambition, Gatsby has a one track mind – to become wealthy to win back Daisy. Fitzgerald shows Gatsby’s ambitions with the schedule of his daily activities written in his childhood novel (Fitzgerald 164). Gatsby’s father say to Nick “It just shows you…[He] was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this” (Fitzgerald 164). This quote is what separates the East eggers (old money) from the West eggers (new money). Gatsby has earned his social superiority through his drive and ambition. The house symbolizes Gatsby 's upbringing from a poor farm boy to a rich, wealthy New Yorker. His flashy and superficial personality comes from the importance he puts on material items. “[an] imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side,…a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (Fitzgerald 11), all suggest Gatsby 's desire to be perceived as
Since its publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has indisputably been one of the most influential and insightful pieces on the corruption and idealism of the American Dream. The American Dream, defined as ‘The belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone,’ was a dominant ideal in American society, stemming from an opportunist pioneer mentality. In his book ‘The American Tradition in Literature’, Bradley Sculley praised The Great Gatsby for being ‘perhaps the most striking fictional analysis of the age of gang barons and the social conditions that produced them.’ Over the years, greed and selfishness changed the basic essence of the American Dream, forming firmly integrated social classes and the uncontainable thirst for money and status. The ‘Roaring Twenties’ was a time of ‘sustained increase in national wealth’ , which consequently led to an increase in materialism and a decrease in morality. Moreover, the
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.
Since the beginning of mankind, there is no doubt that society was broken down into millions of groups, otherwise known as social breakdown. Segregation, not only by skin color, and religion, but wealth as well, plays a vast part in the socially broken down society of the past and present. Likewise, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the environment as a whole is socially broken down economically. First and foremost, the two neighborhoods of East and West Egg play a central role in this division of wealth throughout the story, especially in comparison to Nick, the main character, and Mr. Gatsby, who lives next door to Nick. Also, the criticisms Nick faced of his small fortune are expressed several times throughout the story such as
Over the past year, the class has spent a lot of time reading books that give the reader the chance to experience different time periods and societies. Every single book the class has read followed a common theme of characters trying to break out from the societal norms. Something that writer Robert Louis Stevenson fully supports as shown in his quote, “To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive”. The quote itself most closely means something to the effect of, “To know what you believe instead of lowly saying it is so to everything that you are told to believe, is to have kept your consciousness alive”. Meaning that he believes you must always question
This essay discusses the role of social mobility in The Great Gatsby. It argues that not all people can reach the highest social class, this is a class you must belong to from the beginning of life or marry in to. However, the characters are living the American dream which makes social mobility to the other social classes available. The essay addresses the American Dream, the difference in social class between the main characters and how some social mobility is unreachable.
Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, there is a constant theme present: social class. Fitzgerald makes a connection between the theme of social class, and the settings in the novel for example The Valley of Ashes which is described as a “desolate area of land” (p.21) and a “solemn dumping ground” (p.21) which is where the poor people live. The Valley of Ashes is situated between West Egg and New York, West Egg being the place where the aspiring classes are situated, which is the “less fashionable of the two” (p.8), this is where Gatsby lives. West Egg is the place of ‘new money’, Fitzgerald shows this by the idea of the main character Jay Gatsby, rumoured to be selling illegal alcohol (prohibition) which means he is quickly making vast amounts of money.” Who is this Gatsby anyhow? Some big bootlegger?”(p.86) Gatsby shows off the amount of wealth he has by his fabulous parties and oversized mansion. “There was music from my neighbour's house through those summer nights. In his enchanted gardens, men and girls came and went like moths, among the whispering and the champagne and the stars.”(p.33) Fitzgerald uses the word ‘enchanted’ to paint a visual picture of what the house and the scene looks like, a magical and enchanted castle, with elegant furniture. This is in comparison to East Egg where Tom and Daisy Buchanan live, in a house where “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside” (p.10). East Egg being the place of ‘old money’ which is made from the inheritance of their past generations, the people who live it East Egg are mainly well educated, historically wealthy and live quite elegantly, but they are also quite ‘snobbish’. Gatsby’s background does not fit into the social standards of East Egg...
The whole point of the American dream was basically life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the 1920 's the whole idea of the American dream crumbled. Instead of searching for happiness, people were searching for money, and didn 't matter if they were happy as long as they were rich, it didn 't matter. So there was no American dream in the 1920 's. It shouldn 't matter how much money you have, all that should matter is that you are happy, and your family is happy. What is the point of life if you just run after money your whole life then die. You probably will have no relationships and everyone will hate you. There are two different sides to "The Great Gatsby". The first side is that it is a love story. there is romance, unrequited love! But the other side is the disintegration of America. "The Great Gatsby" itself is a symbol of 1920 's America, yes people were rich and had a lot of material things but emotionally, everything was falling
The theme of society and class was evident throughout The Great Gatsby. The novel goes into great depth about the theme of society and class and the divisions of rich and poor. It is apparent that the author, Scott F. Fitzgerald, believes that the “American Dream” has been corrupted into a yearning for money and materialistic items. With that said, Fitzgerald uses the theme of society and class to show society that the idea of the “American Dream” is unattainable.
The "American Dream" supposedly allows everyone to climb the "social/economic ladder," if they wish to do so. Anyone that works hard is supposed to be able to move to a higher class. However, society often prevents social mobility. Social classes dictate who moves to a higher class and who does not. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this issue was especially prevalent. The rigidity of classes was often an underlying theme in many novels during this time period. For example, The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby both feature the exclusive nature of social classes as a motif. In both The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby, the rigidity of social classes and the desire for social mobility leads to the downfall of several