The Great Gatsby: Life In The 1920's

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Julia Bonadonna Ms. Malecki English 3 Research Paper The Not-So Roaring 20’s Life during the 1920s was blissful. People spent all of their time and effort figuring how to get the latest fashions. The invention of the car allowed Americans to go places they had never been before and the newly created radio gave politicians a new way of gaining voters. On the surface, everything seemed to be going great but in reality, it was not. The Great Gatsby depicts largely realistic, sometimes "larger than life" characters to portray a morally bankrupt society populated by wealthy Americans. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby portrays the 1920’s as an era filled with economic prosperity, tension between social classes, and the American Dream, depicted…show more content…
However, his influx of friends and money leads him to a detrimental outcome by the end of the novel. Gatsby went from a poor family and childhood to a self-made millionaire with the goal of living the high life, which is exactly what the American Dream was. In order to make money he was apart of crimes including distributing illegal alcohol due to the prohibition and trading stolen securities, which was his attempt at bridging the economic rift in his own life. Gatsby longed for wealth; he dropped out of college after only two weeks because he could not bear the janitorial job with which he was paying his tuition. Nick says that’s what Gatsby really cares about are “some idea of himself that has gone into loving Daisy” (Fitzgerald 6.) This idea redeems the enterprise of upward mobility. Gatsby’s love of Daisy is partly based on the glamor he associates with her money, and he pursues her by becoming wealthy himself (Gross.) Gatsby’s temper can be found in the “conflict of spirituality caught fast in the web of our commercial life,” a combination of boisterousness and tragedy that animates the novel with “whimsical magic and simple pathos that is realized with economy and restraint.” (Hutner.) Hunter also claims that Fitzgerald thought that this single-minded pursuit of wealth could lead to disaster, both psychological and material. Jay Gatsby’s social peek, triggered by his love for Daisy, was draining due to the countless parties. However, these parties did not permanently fill the void in Gatsby’s heart. When Gatsby and Daisy hit Myrtle with their car, a love-stuck Gatsby chooses to take the blame for an act committed by Daisy. His love for Daisy cost him his life. In an attempt to get revenge, Myrtle’s husband George Wilson goes to Jay Gatsby’s house and shoots him, killing him instantly. The irony of Gatsby’s situation is that through criminal means, he is able to reach
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