Cultural Changes In The Great Gatsby

In this quote Fitzgerald illustrates the crucial contrast between the rich and poor when George Wilson, a resident of the Valley of Ashes, confronts Tom Buchannan about the car he is interested in. In reality does Tom need the car? No; nevertheless he goes out of his way to assert his superiority over the lower social class when he essentially makes George take back his comment. During the roaring twenties there was an enormous dissimilarity between the miserable struggles of the poor and the trouble free rich. It became impossible to reach this unrealistic goal of immense wealth when they couldn’t get out of the poverty stricken town they inhibit. Fitzgerald distinctly highlights this when George and his wife, Myrtle, finally have to opportunity to leave the desolate setting and she is killed. “’I’ve got my wife locked up in there,’ explained Wilson calmly. ‘She’s going to stay there till the day after tomorrow, and then we’re going to move away.’[…] A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting – before he could move from his

The accidental death of Myrtle Wilson has an immense effect on moral decay. Daisy hits Myrtle Wilson while driving Gatsby’s car, and she proceeds to keep driving. Due to the foolish but passionate love Gatsby still has for Daisy; he will take responsibility for Daisy’s action. This leads to Tom describing the incident as “He ran over Myrtle like you’d run over a dog and never even stopped his car.” (Fitzgerald 142-143).

Myrtle, Buchanan’s mistress, would be described as a “thickish figure … [that] carried her surplus flesh sensuously” with “an immediately perceptible vitality about her” (Fitzgerald 25). Her appearance compared to the backdrop of a drab and depressing setting where Tom would rightfully label it as a “’Terrible place’”, Myrtle would appear to him as a raw diamond entrenched in tar in which he would conclude that “‘It does her good to get away.’” (Fitzgerald 27). The author does this to clearly label the Valley of Ashes as a separate entity from the rest of society so that Tom’s attempts to free her from the Valley of Ashes isn’t seen as altruistic, rather it creates the sense that Tom is cherry picking only the best parts of the Valley of Ashes while disregarding the rest. By largely ignoring all other parts of the Valley of Ashes like its “grotesque gardens” and “ashes [that] grow like wheat” it creates a situation where Tom is living a life that is exclusively filled with the positive aspects of society (Fitzgerald 23).

While the cities are full of flashing lights and are extremely beautiful, this valley is dusty, and ashy and its hard to see through. We also see in the same chapter, how Myrtle changes completely once she is with Tom and his friends. “ Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the

Fitzgerald continues to use setting to establish class differences when he writes about the valley of ashes. He describes the valley of ashes as a place “where ashes grow like wheat into ridges...where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys...and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up...and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight” (Fitzgerald 27). The valley of ashes is located in between West Egg and New York. Fitzgerald describes the setting of the valley of ashes to show the immense difference between the rich and the poor. In the valley of ashes, the poor appear to live in their own dirt. It is a place where poor people are forced to live because they do not fit with those of the higher social class.

Fitzgerald made this time period seem like something beautiful and extravagant when in reality it was a time of change and hardships; he made life in the shadow of Gatsby a wondrous adventure, a Long Island beachside mansions, rambunctious parties, and servants to repair the mess from the night before to just do it all over again. In reality the stock market was crashing and the Great Depression was rolling in. During this time, America was enduring dynamic changes. Between 1921 and 1924 the gross national production flew from $69 billion to $93 billion, the United States had gotten involved with World War I as a debtor nation and came out as Europe’s largest creditor. From a standpoint America was a rich nation, when a banking family in Philadelphia changed all of their fixtures in the bathroom

In any great novel, an understanding of the era in which the story is set can lead to a deeper appreciation of the author’s themes and characters. For example, the themes that preoccupied F. Scott Fitzgerald, issues of social class, the dynamics of prohibition, and the culture of excessive consumption, would be difficult to convey on their own. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the social, political, and moral environment of America in the 1920s sheds greater light on the otherwise complex forces that drive the characters in The Great Gatsby.

George's inclination to lie about his income highlights Fitzgerald's portrayal of the condescending attitude towards the lower class. Myrtle is an exact depiction of a being who is blinded by money and its fallacies, as she is not aware that George is the only person who is willing to kill for her: “‘ I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally ‘I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe’” (34). Through her condescending rhetoric in the lines above it is understood that she thinks that George is inferior. This mentality may be because, she notices the gaudy relationship between Tom and Daisy, but she cannot grasp the complexity of the two’s false affection.

Being Tom's mistress, as her husband, George, owns a run down garage in the valley of ashes. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Myrtle herself possesses a fierce attitude and is always looking to improve her own situation. Unfortunately this foolish character chooses Tom, who sees her as his property instead of someone he truly desires. “I told that boy about the ice.” Myrtle raises her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the low orders.

When Tom and Gatsby are having a conversation Tom accuses Gatsby of being a bootlegger, “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” (Gatsby 133). Gatsby was a bootlegger, someone who had to create alcohol illegally in the "comfort" of their own home.

The 1920s was a time when people aspired to attain power, wealth, and status, and they were willing to do anything to get it. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald exposes the corruption of this time period and reveals the flaws of society. After reading The Great Gatsby, people realize how unethical those living in the 1920s really were. Fitzgerald uses his novel to get people to understand what those people did was wrong and hope that they do not make the same mistakes as people did in the

Fitzgerald clearly showed class difference throughout his settings. The valley of ashes is a place to be driven through on the way by the characters from both West and East Egg. It’s here that Myrtle is “run down like a dog” (pg 167) by Daisy.

Why is affluence so significant? It was not always this way. For hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies, personal properties were insignificant or even disadvantageous unless it was food. For the sake of development and standards of life, this had to change. As wealth gained in value, people also lived better, longer lives, but at a certain point, it began to manipulate the society around it. Some may argue that this occurred around the 1920’s in America. The changes of this time were monumental. People were moving to cities in large numbers, the party lifestyle was adopted by men and women alike due to dramatic social change, and the economy was booming, they were not called “the roaring 20’s” for nothing. The large economy enabled people to gain more wealth than ever. A multitude of people, primarily in older generations, did not encourage this lifestyle, finding it fake, licentious, flashy, and unchristian. This disapproval of change is apparent in The Great Gatsby due to Nick’s distaste for the frivolous and gaudy lifestyles of the East and West Eggers and Gatsby in particular. This distaste, also conveyed heavily by the author, is most significantly formed around the iniquitous value of money and adultery. Ergo, In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that Modern America has become irrationally focused upon immorality and wealth rather than the true American values of hard work and faith, which is demonstrated through the motif of the colour

“The Great Gatsby” is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in 1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922. The novel takes place following the First World War. American society enjoyed prosperity during the “roaring” as the economy soared. At the same time, prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers. After its republishing in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership and is today widely

We look back in history in order to learn from our mistakes and to help society progress in the present and in the future. “The Great Gatsby” was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. Fitzgerald wrote this piece during the 1920s after WWI and it perfectly replicates the time period. The narrative captures the essence of the Jazz Age by depicting characters, showing power struggles and by defining the societal conflicts of the time. The novel tells us about different influences on the 20’s such as the Prohibition Act, the success of Wall Street, and aspects of the American Dream. “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald possesses the social constructs and ideas of the Roaring Twenties.