Preview

The Obsession with Money and the New Consumer Culture of the 1920's

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
581 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Obsession with Money and the New Consumer Culture of the 1920's
Below is a free essay on "What Do You Think of the View That Obsession with Money and the New Consumer Culture of the 1920’s Dominates Human Thinking and Behaviour in the Great Gatsby?" from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples.

The idea that consumer culture and money drove human behaviour and thinking in the 1920s can be put to great contrast. One of the most obvious points being Gatsby’s lavish spending and taste for the exotic, and expensive, yet if you dig deeper you realise all this spending was for him to get Daisy, so really it’s not the money driving him, but love. It can be seen that money and consumer culture dominated behaviour and thinking in The Great Gatsby. I think that this is the case because of Daisy's strong draw towards money, Toms flaunting, Gatsby’s need to please and better himself and Jordan Baker being named after two cars and Nick falling for her, so in effect, falling for the money.
One of the most important themes in The Great Gatsby is its focus on money as the foundation of American society. At the turn of the twentieth century, immigrants were flocking to the United States by the millions because they believed in the American Dream of abandoning a past of poverty and embracing the possibility of rolling in money in the land of freedom and liberty. They fled the economic and political oppression of their own countries because they believed that in the United States, they could do anything that they put their minds to. Gatsby believes in that same dream and believed that he could win anything, even love, with money. With social mobility apparently possible for everyone during the 1920's, many Americans did try to involve themselves in "get-rich-quick" schemes that sometimes included illegal activities such as gambling and bootlegging, as the preferred scheme by Gatsby himself.

Daisy is the perfect example of obsession with money and consumerism when she is shown round Gatsby's

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, pictures the wasted American Dream as it depicts the 1920s in America. The novel paints a vivid picture of the ‘roaring’ twenties, a time when values of the old generation were being rejected. Skirts became shorter and women cut their hair into bobbed styles; a lifestyle with little moral or religious restraint began to appear. It was a time of extravagance and high living. On the other hand, the 1920s was also a time of extreme loneliness and non-identity as people longed for life as it used to be. The war had promised so much and for many the results were disappointing. The number of cars on the road during this decade went from 9 million up to 26 million and this allowed young people to ‘escape’ from the supervision of their parents, which contributed to a more carefree set of morals. From a modern reader’s perspective, this novel demonstrates the superficiality of the lives of the wealthy, such…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    World War one had just ended and people began reveling in the materialism that came with the end of it. The ending period began new mass produced commodities such as motor cars and radios. Cars were becoming a social symbol, as in the book Gatsby had five cars. That had showed the dream as ugliness and the ruin of moral values because of the desire of wealthy status. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays people obsessed with self-image, wealth, and of loveless relationships. Referring back to Daisy and Gatsby they are once again perfect example of people obsessed with self-image, wealth, and relationships. Daisy loves money and she will basically do anything for it and because of that she marries Tom for his money. Daisy just wanted have all the things she ever desire. Due to that action she ends up falling back in love with Gatsby, causing more conflict. Daisy only fell back in love with Gatsby because Gatsby was “new money” and he always had parties and such. Daisy loved that fact about Gatsby because Tom never did stuff like that and it had showed that Gatsby was rich and Daisy liked that. Gatsby in the other hand worked hard for his money and tried to use it to gain happiness by buying many clothes and items. He built a house to impress Daisy with his so-called wealth, trying to win the love through money and…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1920’s was a decade full of careless spending, lavish lifestyles and the American dream. Anyone from anywhere could make it in life if they just worked hard enough. The 1920s proved to be a prosperous time for many, in fact so many people thrived in this decade that almost everyone thought that they would eventually grow to be very rich themselves. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the sumptuous lives of the wealthy and the economic boom in America shaped the characters, plot, and setting of the novel. The effortless spending of the time influenced the lives of the characters as well as the background of the story.…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ridge Scholarship Essay

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages

    On the surface, The Great Gatsby reads as a story of thwarted love between a man and a woman. The real theme of the novel, however, encompasses a highly symbolic meditation on 1920’s America as a whole, and, in particular, the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920’s as an era of decaying social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby himself hosts every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He is a bootlegger during the time of prohibition in the United States, and uses illegal methods to obtain his wealth. Although Gatsby is in fact a “rags to riches” story, he uses these short cuts to achieve his riches. Like Gatsby, taking shortcuts to achieving one's goals and aspirations is second nature to many American workers in today’s society. The significance of the American Dream and its core values have been lost: “Since the industrial revolution, however, Americans have dreamed about finding shortcuts to extravagant wealth… The emphasis on good fortune rather than the industriousness and perseverance is eroding the work ethic that once made the American dream a respectable goal” (Warshauer 1). Similar to The Great Gatsby, the focus toward working today has shifted from the traditional work ethic of the American Dream, and is now focused on the best way to make money and the quickest way of making it. Whether it be through lawsuits, the lottery, or simply cheating other people for their money, businesses and people take advantage of one and another to accumulate wealth. The respect and work ethic of the corporate world had diminished significantly over the years. In both situations, Gatsby and the people of today, principals to the original American Dream has been lost. The core belief of working with what one already has to accumulate wealth is…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I have learned a great deal from this class in a short amount of time, but one of the most interesting things studied would have to be the 1920’s. Not only did the United States become the wealthiest nation in the world during this era, but some major social changes took place during this time. Consumerism grew during the 1920’s due to products being made more obtainable. Henry Ford’s assembly line contributed greatly to this. Each worker was given a specific task to do on the assembly line, and that along with the model T only being made in the color black, allowed for a greater number of model T cars to be produced each day. Ford also realized that he needed his workers to become customers, so he paid workers $5 a day instead of the $1.50 a day salary that was the normal. Eventually other business owners saw that Ford’s idea was a smart business decision and followed his lead, making more workers…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby, written in the 1920s, is a book symbolizing the corruption of the American Dream. The American Dream was a dream of immigrants coming to the americas in pursuit of a better life. Immigrants thought that living in the land of the free would be a lot better than it turned out to be and most of them ended up working in conditions worse than from which they came. The 1920s was nicknamed the Gilded Age because from the outside, life looked glamorous and expensive, but that isn't the way it actually was. Beneath the gold exterior of the American Dream was a harsh way of living: people were extremely poor, they had physically demanding jobs with long work hours, and there was nothing they could do to change it. The glamorous life…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It's the 1920’s age of the partying, flappers, prohibition and affairs. Such is the life in The Great Gatsby, The Great Gatsby is a classic novel in which money is the center of many characters' lives; however, that money could not buy happiness. Gatsby being one of thoes main characters tries to use his money and status to gain back his love that he once lost. Although the nightlife was all glitter and glamor at West Egg, when the lights went out, money could not buy Jay Gatsby happiness.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    great gatsby

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The 1920s was the time of the Jazz Age when money was abundant. Most people were trying to impress others rather than living their own life. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the theme was “love of money leads to corruption.”…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’, there is a distinct gap between the old money crowd and the new money crowd. Gatsby’s version of the American dream was never fulfilled despite having a seemingly unlimited supply of money. It was Daisy that Gatsby desired. Daisy on the other hand,…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    american dream

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The 1920s were new times for Americans. Wealth, leisure, and social events replaced the frugality and hard work that had defined America for decades before. A country built on the backbone of ingenuity and a “work before play” philosophy was transformed into a wasteful, carefree time. Gatsby fulfils the typical embodiment of the 1920s American dream; a man squandering his fortune on lavish parties, expensive clothes, and the best entertainment to ensure his popularity in the social rankings. Although he seemed fulfilled and pleased with his life, his soul was hollow and empty. No amount of money could fill the place where his one true love, Daisy, was meant to be. Many other Americans were like Gatsby in the 1920s, building a façade of happiness with money, lust, and social statuses, only to be shallow and hurt because of lack of morals, loss of true love, and a greed for more wealth. Though not all Americans were like this in the 1920s, we can see examples of these types of characters in the Great Gatsby through Daisy, Tom, and Jordan. Harshly, the 1920s compared to the 1930s can be associated with these characters; at first they are overwhelmed with prosperity, continually seeking the utmost means of wealth, which they believe will buy them love and true happiness. After the shine of success becomes dull, they are left with no morals, fabricated love, and no sense of true belonging. Parallel to the 1930s, victims of this time of greed are sent into a downward spiral of moral poverty.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyone has an American dream, but not everyone is satisfied when it comes true. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby aspires to be a wealthy man. He wants to show the world that he is on top of society. If there is one way to prove that, he thinks it is money. Lots and lots of money.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the 1920’s many people left their countries to come to America seeking for the American dream. The American Dream meant being successful and happy. Many people started to learn that they couldn’t find that happiness without the money. In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the characters based their lives off of wealth and materialism, forgetting what the real idea of the American dream was. Throughout the story, Daisy, Gatsby and Myrtle illustrated disillusionment of the American dream.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Great Gatsby

    • 1734 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald writes about the dominant theme of the corruption of the American Dream by materialism. The rise of materialism in the Roaring Twenties shows how people would involve themselves in illegal activities just to achieve their vision of the American Dream. Most of the time people’s view of the American Dream was a fantasy and never truly obtainable.…

    • 1734 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the 1920s, the richest Americans were the ones willing to do anything for money like breaking the law. They no longer cared for what was moral but instead cared about money. The people who did make an honest living were not as rich if they were not born rich. Gatsby is used to represent only a part of the American identity during the 1920s formed by the economics of the time. However, he portrays an important part, the corruption of the people.…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays