So how exactly does materialism reveal itself as a theme, how can it help us analyze the characters, and what are some common assignments surrounding this theme? Fitzgerald positions the characters of The Great Gatsby as emblems of these social trends. "It makes me sad because I've never seen suchsuch beautiful shirts before." for a group? Gatsby suffers the most from the promise of social mobility inherent to the American Dream. Vol. In this novel, actual mountain climbing is safer than social climbing. Because he creates characters that personify the American Dream, juxtaposes western and eastern American cultures, incorporates examples of law breaking under Prohibition, and depicts the corruption of the wealthy, Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a reflection of Americas culture in the early twentieth century by highlighting the cultures successes and failures. Cars are tools of recklessness, danger, and violence - there are several car accidents in the novel, the most notable of which is when Daisy runs Myrtle over and kills her in. This makes Daisy sound like the princess that the hero gets to marry at the end of a fairy talein other words, she's a high-value prize. The values totally changed instead of striving for equality, people - just wanted to get as rich as they could. Samkanashvili reckons that Scott Fitzgeralds novel has the lesson of the need to subscribe to a firm belief that people must work hard to achieve their goals of becoming rich and prosperous, rather than following short-cut routes that often prompt corruption to take place (73). ." So money here is more than just statusit's a shield against responsibility, which allows Tom and Daisy to behave recklessly while other characters suffer and die in pursuit of their dreams. Jordan is incurably dishonest. Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in the Roaring Twenties, an era largely influenced by gaudiness, independence, and corruptness, which is immediately reflected in the central characters. In the world of The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is synonymous with money and statusnot so much success, career (does anyone but Nick and George even have a real job? . Gatsbyis now seen as both a product of and a record of the 1920s. Upon renouncing his parents, Gatsby is considered a child of a supernatural being (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 98), with the only thing that he believes in being money. In contrast to Tom and Daisy's expensive but not overly gaudy mansion, and the small dinner party Nick attends there in Chapter 1, everything about Gatsby's new wealth is over-the-top and showy, from the crates of oranges brought in and juiced one-by-one by a butler to the full orchestra. Entire Document, Comparison: Great Gatsby and the American Dream, The Great Gatsby and the 'American Dream', The Great Gatsby: The Fall of the American Dream, Contradictions in the culture of the period, Flappers and self-made men as new people of the period, Prohibition of alcohol and Gatsby as a bootlegger, The price for reaching the American Dream, How the novel mirrors the corrupt mindset of the Roaring Twenties. The novel includes Nick's anti-Semitic description of a Jewish character - Meyer Wolfshiem. Check out our articles onGatsbys title, its opening pages and epigraph, and itsfirst chapter. The Great Gatsby is set against the backdrop of 1920s New York City, a period known as the "Roaring Twenties" for the exhilarating pace set by the rapidly evolving culture and technology. Understanding historical context helps you in all sorts of ways: Having a richer interpretation of symbols, motifs, and themes. These comments might seem a bit odd, given that Nick admits to coming from money himself: "My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this middle-western city for three generations" (1.5). 22 Apr. Past and Future. It was a decade of tremendous wealth in the United States following the deprivations of the First World War. Fitzgerald and Bruccoli write, 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 (187-188). The Great Gatsby is regarded as a brilliant piece of social commentary, offering a vivid peek into American life in the 1920s. Looking for other literary guides? The smaller European powers were forced into the war as well, based on whatever alliances they had made in the past. 1. Few characters in literature or indeed life embody an era quite so tenaciously as Jay Gatsby does the Jazz Age. F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Age of Excess. The book is narrated by Nick Carraway, who recounts the events of the summer of . We touched on this a bit with the quotes, but all of the characters can be analyzed from the point of view of their wealth and/or how materialistic they are. Everyone is there for the spectacle alone. He is a self-made man (in all respects) and as such, is admirable. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges. We will write a custom Term Paper on American Culture in the Novel The Great Gatsby specifically for you for only $11.00 $9.35/page. In contrast, the old aristocracy possesses grace, taste, subtlety, and elegance, epitomized by the Buchanans tasteful home and the flowing white dresses of Daisy and Jordan Baker. Gatsby makes his fortune through bootlegging and other criminal activities. On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. Indeed, Tom Buchanan believes that he needs additional power and influence despite being already powerful and blessed with a beautiful daughter and wife. In this sense, better economic fortunes in America, together with the rising mass production in the 1920s normalized the culture of consumption so that products that were consumed by the wealthy members of the society became now affordable to persons in the lower social economic classes. ' The Great Gatsby' follows Nick Carraway, who meets the mysterious multimillionaire Jay Gatsby after moving to New York. A Comprehensive Guide. The Buchanans exemplify this stereotype when, at the end of the novel, they simply move to a new house far away rather than condescend to attend Gatsbys funeral. Scott Fitzgerald has created a social satire of America in the 1920's in which he exposes the American Dream as being inherently flawed and merely an illusion produced by idealism.This American Dream has been traditionally associated with the pursuit of freedom and equality. Cancel culture Truth about the censorship of Roald Dahl The assumption that there is an urgent debate here, is politically useful to both sides. He gets wrapped up in Gatsby's dreams and his cousin's difficult marriage, all while learning about the pitfalls of wealth and the truth of the American dream. We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. | The Great Gatsby was published in 1925. A Comprehensive Guide. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. Some of the rumors swirling around Gatsby point to how fresh the war was in everyone's mind (that he was a German spy during the war, or that he is related to Kaiser Wilhelm, who ruled Germany during the war). $24.99 The 1920s marked a key time of change in the social status of women as so called flappers defied the traditional norms for conduct and dress, and women finally received the right to vote (The Great Gatsby Novels 74). Narrator Nick Carraway is . This provision made them perceive themselves as equal to men. Gatsby is accurately accused of being a bootlegger by those who attend his parties as he displays no signs of difficulty acquiring liquor and breaking the law (Fitzgerald 17). Great Gatsby", the American Dream plays a big role. Myrtle mentions this with regard to her husband, George, whom she mistook for someone of better breeding and hence greater prospects: I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasnt fit to lick my shoe. Similarly, Gatsbys pursuit of Daisy is bound up with class. IvyPanda. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, presents a critical portrait of the American dream through its portrayal of the 1920s New York elite. This is encapsulated in a phone call Nick describes, to a man who used to come to Gatsby's parties: "one gentleman to whom I telephoned implied that he had got what he deserved. Upon noting the degradation of morality among youths in the 1920s, Samkanashvil claims that the American youths were incredibly concerned with nobility (75). This situation created opportunities to satisfy the undying appetite for consumption, opulence, and immorality. Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Theory In this essay I will, by using a Marxist approach, analyze how the events in the novel The Great Gatsby reflect the changing society and the norms and values in America during the 1920s. As Fitzgerald saw it (and as Nick explains in Chapter 9), the American dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. Symbolically, the author denotes aristocrats as old money (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 54). For instance, East Egg depicts places where Buchanans live. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. This began during WWI as more women began to work to make up for the men fighting abroad, and as more professions opened up to them in the men's absence. One of the rumors about Gatsby is that he is involved in a bootlegging pipeline of alcohol from Canada - this is a reference to a real-life scandal about one of the places where illegal alcohol was coming from! What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? Set in the year 1922, the novel occurs during the thriving period of prosperity in America where materialism set the tone of society as reflected by the main characters economic successes. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young" (3.160). Nick laments, I stared at (Wilson) and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before-and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 158). Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. Take the Themes, Motifs, and SymbolsQuick Quiz. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. They are conventionally characterized by corruption. Despite not being as wealthy as Tom and Daisy, his second cousin, they see him as enough of a peer to invite him to their home in Chapter 1. Similarly, modernism writers experimented with form and style rather than sticking with traditional forms of prose and poetry. Print. Here are ways to think about frequently assigned topics on this the theme of money and materialism. Want the complete lowdown on Jay Gatsby's rags-to-riches story? March 4, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. You can view our. This claim suggests that 1920s were marked by the coming out of an impatient society that was led by the adolescents who opposed honorable margins that were constant in the previous age group. But, in 1917, the U.S. was pulled into the fighting, fearing an alliance between Germany and Mexico. (7.106). Get the latest articles and test prep tips! West Egg residents or new money (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 54) are perceived by East Egg counterparts as upstart outsiders. Let's explore. Clearly, having old money sets you far apart from everyone else in the world of the novel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. In fact, during Chapter 8 when we finally get a fuller recap of Daisy and Gatsby's early relationship, Nick notes that "It excited [Gatsby] too that many men had already loved Daisyit increased her value in his eyes" (8.10). 2). Learn more about how The Great Gatsby was received when it first came out, and also read about the life ofits author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. His desire entails acquiring all that is available at disposal. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. Furthermore, she banks on her place as a wealthy woman to avoid any major scrutiny, despite her "incurable dishonesty": "Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever shrewd men and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. In a book magazine, a panel of literary experts was asked . Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. (1.4), "My own house was an eye-sore, but it was a small eye-sore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor's lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionairesall for eighty dollars a month. Leader, Zachary. Myrtle's character reveals how precarious social climbing is, how materialism is not actually a path to happiness/virtue. Print. The ideals of love and marriage are profoundly strained in The Great Gatsby, a book that centers on two loveless marriages: the union between Tom and Daisy Buchanan and between George and Myrtle Wilson. In the era of writing The Great Gatsby (1920s), America had experienced an immense economic growth. The rising immorality also explains the cultures of loosening morals in The Great Gatsby. "American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby"." . However, the act was greatly ignored by Americans who continued to drink on a regular basis as shown in Gatsbys extravagant parties where alcohol is in abundance. Daisy nearly backed out of her marriage to Tom the day before her wedding, and Tom had an affair within a year of the wedding, but the couple is well-suited because of their shared class and desire for fun and material possessions. Luckily, FreeBookSummary offers study guides on over 1000 top books from students curricula! (2022, August 12). Knowing the hot-button issues of the novel's day gives you a good second way to support arguments about the importance of a particular theme, or your reading of the meaning of a symbol. Read More. When Nick tells Gatsby that you can't repeat the past, Gatsby says "Why of course you can!" Nick Caraway, a native of Minnesota and an advocate of Midwestern values, narrates it in the first person. . No one comes due to close personal friendship with Jay. This revelation marks a society that embraces and protects a culture of impunity that is driven by both greed and erosion of social morals in the 1920 American society. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-in-the-novel-the-great-gatsby/, IvyPanda. The Great Gatsby. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. August 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-in-the-novel-the-great-gatsby/. Additionally, places and objects in The Great Gatsby have meaning only because characters instill them with meaning: the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg best exemplify this idea. On the other hand, its horrific death toll and seeming meaninglessness forever dispelled the idea of war as noble and glorious. The Great Gatsby portrays three different social classes: "old money" (Tom and Daisy Buchanan); "new money" (Gatsby); and a class that might be called "no money" (George and Myrtle Wilson). Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(360031, 'f20994d3-fd87-4c1e-988d-22ad8d920c1a', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); This is an interesting prompt, since you have to comb through passages of Nick's narration to find his comments about money, and then consider what they could mean, given that he comes from money himself. Historically speaking, with influential leaders of temperance movements that believed in the dangers of alcohol and its ability to disrupt families, the Volstead Act was put into effect outlawing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors (The Great Gatsby Literature 147). How does Nick Carraway first meet Jay Gatsby? Daisy and Jordan are both old money socialites, while Myrtle is a working class woman married to a mechanic. Why does Tom insist on switching cars with Gatsby when they go to the city? At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. Like his fellow modernists, Fitzgerald was deeply critical of the wealth and capitalist success ushered in by the post-war boom, considering the new obsession with money and status shallow. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% Everyone who comes to the parties is attracted by Gatsby's money and wealth, making the culture of money-worship a society-wide trend in the novel, not just something our main characters fall victim to. American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby". Many of them cannot proactively grasp the concept of working hard to build their material wealth base. Obviously there is physical chemistry driving her affair with Tom, but she seems to get as much (if not more) pleasure from the materials that come with the affairthe apartment, the clothes, the dog, the parties. The post-war boom also had a positive effect on minorities in the U.S. One of the effects was thatJewish Americanswere atthe forefront of promoting such issues as workers rights, civil rights, woman's rights, and other progressive causes. Nick compares the green bulk of America rising from the ocean to the green light at the end of Daisys dock. On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city, between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. jazz music is a fixture of Gatsbys parties, and almost every song that Fitzgerald describes is a real life piece of music. What's the point of striving so hard if only heartbreak and death are waiting at the end of the road? Want 100 or more? In this phrase, Nick talks about Tom and George upon realizing that their wives are cheating on them and that they had a sort of terminal sickness. The work examines the results of the Jazz Age generation's adherence to false material values. This desire of Americans to reach such a high social status and level of attainment was no better displayed through the ability that Gatsby possessed as he faithfully stuck to the conception of himself he desired to be and eventually obtained it. Zeitz remarks, taking advantage of prosperity that was experienced in a decade, youths threw lucrative parties, got excessively drunk in illegal liquor, and used sexually arousing dancing styles in the vast number of established jazz clubs (23). Such symbols reflect social challenges such as corruption that arose from the emergence of materialist and capitalist cultures. Gatsby's comment about Daisy's voice explicitly connects Daisy the character to the promise of wealth, old money, and even the American Dream. Zeitz, Joshua. Gatsby never stands a chance of succeeding with his attempt to win back Daisy, who is a part of that society and of a different status. For this prompt, you can explore earlier examples of Tom's carelessness (breaking Myrtle's nose, his behavior in the hotel scene, letting Daisy and Gatsby drive back to Long Island after the fight in the hotel) as well as Daisy's (throwing a fit just before her wedding but going through with it, kissing Gatsby with her husband in the next room). Romer, Christina. No one has time to read them all, but its important to go over them at least briefly. Woods, Clyde. True to the spirit of the times . No one comes due to close personal friendship with Jay. Anne Marie Hacht. Unsuccessful upon publication, the book is now considered a classic of American fiction and has often been . While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted highershirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue. 12 August. As Nick continues to realize, although the East appears to glitter with fascinating opportunities and excitement, it lacks the strong moral values encompassed in those like himself from the Midwest. ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? Free trial is available to new customers only. He spends his life believing that if he makes enough money and acquires enough possessions, he can transcend his lower-class birth and become equal to Daisy and Tom. Gatsbys house that was located in the seashore was characterized by immense lavishness and luxury. In short, money both drives the plot and explains many of the characters' motivations and limitations. They are highly materialistic in nature. (2022) 'American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby"'. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed . So while Daisy is materialistic and is drawn to Gatsby again due to his newly-acquired wealth, we see Gatsby is drawn to her as well due to the money and status she represents. Print. The average student has to read dozens of books per year. Imagine spending weeks in this hole in the ground. If you are the copyright owner of this paper and no longer wish to have your work published on IvyPanda. What does this mean? Gatsby and his associates such as Wolfsheim engage in illegal dealings (Silver Para. Vol. The epigraph of the novel immediately marks money and materialism as a key theme of the bookthe listener is implored to "wear the gold hat" as a way to impress his lover. High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. ensure the integrity of our platform while keeping your private information safe. Most of the characters reveal themselves to be highly materialistic, their motivations driven by their desire for money and things: Daisy marries and stays with Tom because of the lifestyle he can provide her, Myrtle has her affair with Tom due to the privileged world it grants her access to, and Gatsby even lusts after Daisy as if she is a prize to be won. The idea is straightforward: greater income . Historical context: the giant arm propping up the baby that is your argument. (3.1-3.6). To Nick, the way that Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby line up morally correlates with their geographical choice of lifestyle (The Great Gatsby Novels 73); in other words, Nicks unsophistication and simplicity reflect his admiration for the Midwest just as Toms, Daisys and Gatsbys materialistic and immoral behaviors mirror their affinity for the fast-paced life of New York. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Great Gatsby, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. We will dig into all things money here in this guide. For the first three years, the U.S. remained neutral, instead profiteering from the war by selling supplies toboth sides of the conflict. It took him about two and a half years to write and edit it, in between a failed play production, financial struggles, and a move to France. Please wait while we process your payment. This so called Black Sox Fix proved to be an enormous scandal in the early twentieth century as Rothstein, Wolfsheim in the novel, was able to get away with committing the crime with clever and crooked smarts while obtaining a large sum of money. It would help your argument to talk about the sudden skyrocketing prevalence of cars on the road in the 1920s, connecting them to increased danger, status symbol consumerism, and modern life. Tracing historical development in the US, Scherer and Ross inform that only 16 percent of homes in America had electricity by 1912 (82). Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols sufficiently to give the novel a more vivid description of the American culture. 2022. Since speakeasies were already side-stepping the law, they also became places where people of different races and genders could mix and mingle in a way they hadnt previously while enjoying new music like jazz. In the novel, he later relocates to New York where he gets involved in bond business. Both Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby have military backgrounds. He also threw parties now and then, which were equally characterized by high consumptions. He is guided by a culture of gathering more wealth for individualistic gains than he already has (Zeitz 13). You'll also receive an email with the link. F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, depicts a portion of Nick Carraway's life characterized by the time he is influenced by the mysterious Jay Gatsby and his extensive pursuit of his former flame and Nick's cousin, Daisy Buchanan. Cars also now created a totally new danger, particularly in combination with alcohol consumption. Only the most affluent couple pulls through the events that conclude the book. The second nickname refers to this period'schanging social norms and daring artistic movements. Gatsby's notoriety comes from, first and foremost, his enormous wealth, wealth he has gathered to win over Daisy. Gatsby, in the summer months, was known far and wide for the extravagant parties he threw in which "men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." During the weekend, people flocked to his house for his parties, as well as to use his . Alongside the juxtaposition of the Midwest and the East, Fitzgerald also reflects the culture of the 1920s with descriptions of Prohibition and the law breaking that came as a result. Fitzgerald captured this period of rapid post-war growth and the frenzy surrounding the era with insightful examples of the eleterious effects of superficial behavior. Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike. The Great Gatsby. Read more about those symbols for a fuller understanding of how money affects The Great Gatsby. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? Suddenly with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. At the time when the novel takes place, the U.S. was in the middle of a tremendous economic boom and a soaring stock market that seemed to be on a permanent upward swing. This marked a shift both in how black culture was understood and appreciated by the rest of the country and in how womens rights were progressing, as well discuss in the next sections. Tom's restlessness is likely one motivator for his affairs, while Daisy is weighed down by the knowledge of those affairs. Obsession In The Great Gatsby And Frankenstein . Overall, the cultures in the East and Midwest are represented clearly through the characters actions, decisions, and values throughout the novel as examples of Fitzgeralds way of highlighting social flaws. Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. Get professional help from PrepScholar. As further proof of Nicks morals, he declines Gatsbys reward for reuniting him with Daisy, a risky business deal that would provide Nick with a surplus of money, as he realizes its faults, and he retains his dignity. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Increased availability of products for purchasing in the free market led to the widening of the gaps between people of different social economic classes. ), happiness, or family. . In other words, while he opens the book with his father's advice to remember "all the advantages [he's] had," Nick seems to have a chip on his shoulder about still not being in the highest tier of the wealthy class. The Great Gatsby reflects the emergence of a culture of increased consumerism that is driven by increased economic prosperity. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Purchasing creating and saving your own notes as you read. is also why the novel's symbols of the green light and the valley of ashes are so memorable and charged. Your privacy is extremely important to us. This term paper on American Culture in the Novel The Great Gatsby was written and submitted by your fellow American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby". So she keeps up this affair, despite how morally questionable it is and the risk it opens up for herher materialism, in other words, is her primary motivator.