The Great Gatsby Research Paper

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald examines core American values and addresses the hypocrisies and contradictions which are fundamental to the American Dream. Fitzgerald is credited with writing the quintessential American novel, one which has not been surpassed to this day. Gatsby, through its use of symbols and subtle, engaging scenes manages to communicate a excellent commentary on the state of the American Dream during the quickly changing times of the 1920s. With the constant changes and improvements in technology, and the ever growing power of corporations, people’s lives were simultaneously improving and regressing. Mass entertainment, mass communication, and mass transit revolutionized the way people interacted with others and labor saving

During the 1920s, technology was changing at a rapid pace, with new tendencies such as mass consumption, mass entertainment, and mass communication developing. In a way these things were intimately related. Mass entertainment was a form of mass communication, as it allowed for people all across the country to be shown the same information and advertisements. These advertisements also led to mass consumption. Mass consumption was made possible through the increases in efficiency from developments such as the assembly line, which brought mass production to an all time high. These assembly lines and the factories which they were in were often filled with immigrant workers, which made up much of the American lower class. The citizens of the United States began consuming more than they needed, with luxury and excess being the trend. Through advertisements, consumers, particularly lower and middle class consumers, were convinced to buy many of the new technological luxuries which had come available. Those lower class individuals, who normally might not have been able to afford all those luxuries, were encouraged to go into debt in order to maintain these levels of luxury. This was institutionalized with the implementation of installment buying plans, credit, and

Unbeknownst to him, this light is at the end of the dock owned by Tom Buchanan, where Daisy resides. Despite all those parties Gatsby throws, he is unable to achieve happiness. According to Fitzgerald, “the natural state of the sentient adult is a qualified unhappiness,” so it is no surprise that due to contention and hopeless pining, all of the characters within his masterpiece fail achieve happiness (Fitzgerald). All these items of excess serve as symbols which reflect upon the state of the mass consumption of the time. Consumers were encouraged to buy all these items which they did not necessarily need, but rather than make them happy, these items only served to worsen their economic state. This self-destructive tendency was only perpetuated by corporations, who sought to exploit consumers in order to increase profits. This is similar to how Tom exploits both Myrtle and George Wilson in order to benefit himself. Just as Tom gets away with his actions unpunished, the corporations were also able to take advantage of the consumers with little to no backlash. This was because it was the consumer’s own greed which allowed them to be exploited. This trend of materialism led to them ignoring many of the signs which were visible in favor of increased luxury and quality of