Preview

The Great Gatsby Impact On Society

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
525 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Great Gatsby Impact On Society
One of the very first defining traits of humans can be seen in their ability to connect. Humans have been gifted with speech and the power to write. Their literature is predicted to have begun from the time of Ancient Egypt and the oldest scriptures that still exist today, date back to 2000 BC. Many litterateurs and scholars constantly study these old texts and one may truly wonder why. The answer lies in the impact that literature leaves behind. By studying these texts, a great deal of information can be found on the lifestyle and society of the era that the text was written, and much could be learned from it. This concept also exists with more recent texts that have had great longevity. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that …show more content…
With the boom of the twenties the belief that anyone could become successful and wealthy became very popular and the yearning and quest for wealth increased. The people soon became very materialistic and sought the leisures of life. This attitude in the Great Gatsby can be seen with numerous characters and various scenes. Although Jay Gatsby’s end dream was gaining back Daisy, he had to do so by first achieving the American Dream of wealth to meet her expectations. Gatsby worked tirelessly and ended up accumulating the large fortune he wanted, yet he still didn’t achieve his final goal. Other characters such as Nick and George Wilson also chased the dream, as Nick’s initial purpose for coming to New York was to make money from the bond business and Wilson only wished for the rich life. The materialistic yearning of the era was seen in the guests that attended Gatsby’s parties. Many of the guests were wealthy people who were not only not invited, but also only desired the booze and entertainment, not caring about the host. This American Dream turned out to be corrupted, resulting in a gloomy end for those who chased it. Fitzgerald’s famous quote at the end of the novel, "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (Fitzgerald 180) describes how dreamchasers work very hard against the barriers in front of them, but it is “ceaseless”, meaning never ending, thus the dream fails them. This failure was one of the most important points of the novel as Gatsby dies at the
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Literary Analysis Of The Great Gatsby
    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Literary Analysis Of The Great Gatsby

    In The Great Gatsby, an American classic depicting what has become known as “the roaring 20’s,” F. Scott Fitzgerald uses several literary elements and plot details to show the depreciation of the American Dream through the narrator’s opinion of the state of the American dream, the lives of those who pursue it, and the result of their pursuit. Fitzgerald defines the state of the American dream through comparisons of what it had been to what he currently sees it to be in the high class society of New York and where the characters grew up in the West. The lives of these people, namely the narrator Nick Carraway, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, and Gatsby, are described both as they pursue the new American Dream only to show their lives as unfulfilled…

    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Society In The Great Gatsby
    • 1481 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Society In The Great Gatsby

    As a mysterious novel based on the Roaring Twenties, The Great Gatsby’s intriguing view on society helps people come to terms over how society has or has not changed throughout the decades. During this era, people in the upper class were split into “old money”, people who were part of a rich family, and “new money”, people who have self-made riches. In the novel, Jay Gatsby symbolized “new money” while Tom and Daisy Buchanan symbolized “old money”. This would be a crucial factor in the outcome of the book. Believing that their “old money” will save them from their repetitive mistakes and infidelities, Daisy and Tom Buchanan’s constant carelessness may lead to people despising them symbolizing how society in the 1920s was not as glamorous as…

    • 1481 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Role Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby
    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Role Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

    The 1920’s could be described as “a great time to be rich” in America. It was a time where the rich got richer, and the poor worked to better their lives. It was a time of hope; when people strived to achieve the American dream of money, family, and happiness. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, attempts to uncover the truth of the American Dream. It follows the experience of Nick Carraway and his meeting with the one and only Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is perceived as one trying to live out the American Dream - a man with great ideals determined to achieve the unachievable. It is through his pursuit of Daisy that Fitzgerald is able to show that the Dream itself is truly indeed unrealistic and corrupted by materialism.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Great Gatsby Essay
    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Great Gatsby Essay

    The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays a society of high social standings, immense wealth, and love. This can be classified as the American Dream. If an individual is determined, that individual has a reasonable chance and holds the hope for acquiring wealth, and the happiness and freedoms that go with it. In essence, the American Dream gives the chance to gain personal fulfillment, materially and spiritually. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the American Dream as an unachievable illusion, one which is ultimately detrimental to the novel’s central character, Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby tries to attain happiness, Daisy’s love, which is all he wants, but ends up failing. Evidently, Gatsby may have achieved the definition of the American Dream, but at a personal standpoint, he failed to accomplish what he was truly aiming for.…

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    An Analysis of The Great Gatsby
    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages

    An Analysis of The Great Gatsby

    As Nick travels East his views on his surroundings contrast considerably to those he observed as he was travelling through the west, where he lives. As he enters the East his initial description uses words such as ‘Fashionable’ and ‘Cheerful’ which is a deep juxtaposition to the words used to describe the West i.e. ‘superficial’ or ‘bizarre’. His optimism in travelling East is expressed as he describes the ‘East Egg glittered along the water’ this shows how he sees it across the water as a place of wonder and amazement and that all the lights and colour attract him to it and pull him which is why he is initially so optimistic about going there. America in the 1920’s was described as part of the ‘Jazz age ‘and even though they separated themselves from Europe to avoid a class system there is a very definite divide between the West and East egg. As Nick lives in the West egg which is seen as the ‘less fashionable’ of the two, which runs on new money, with lots of ‘colossal’ mansions ‘squeezed’ together, Nick is, as predicted excited about entering the East egg which is considerably richer and better established.…

    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Great Gatsby
    • 1636 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Great Gatsby

    Gatsby’s dream can be said to be a naïve dream based on the mistaken belief that material possessions are identical with happiness, harmony, and beauty. His American dream has become rather corrupted by the background of wealth that surrounds him in his everyday life. His romantic view of wealth has not prepared him for the self-interested, snobbish, corrupt group of people that also surround him. He throws lavish parties for countless people, yet he has no real friends. Gatsby buys expensive things and entertains large groups of society because of his inexpressible desire for something greater. Nick Carraway realizes that although Gatsby is involved in underhanded business dealings, he is a good man at heart. The last time Nick sees Gatsby alive, he tells him, “They’re a rotten crowd.... You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together” (Fitzgerald 162).…

    • 1636 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Historical Factors That Shaped the Great Gatsby
    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Historical Factors That Shaped the Great Gatsby

    The Great Gatsby is a great book filled with historical factors and references to in the 1920s. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald does a tremendous job shaping how the 1920s would have been in this book. Conversations on WWI, experiences with flappers, prohibitions and bootleggers give us an understanding of how the roaring 1920s was like.…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Great Gatsby
    • 2582 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Great Gatsby

    The Great Gatsby: The Corruption of the American Dream through Materialism The American dream is an ideal that has been present since American literature’s onset. Typically, the dreamer aspires to rise from rags to riches, while accumulating such things as love, high status, wealth, and power on his way to the top. The dream has had variations throughout different time periods, although it is generally based on ideas of freedom, self-reliance, and a desire for something greater. The early settlers’ dream of traveling out West to find land and start a family has gradually transformed into a materialistic vision of having a big house, a nice car, and a life of ease. In the past century, the American dream has increasingly focused on material items as an indication of attaining success. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a self-made man who started out with no money—only a plan for achieving his dream. He is so blinded by his luxurious possessions that he does not see that money cannot buy love or happiness. Fitzgerald demonstrates how a dream can become corrupted by one’s focus on acquiring wealth, power, and expensive things. Gatsby’s dream “is a naïve dream based on the fallacious assumption that material possessions are synonymous with happiness, harmony, and beauty” (Fahey 70). His American dream has become corrupted by the culture of wealth and opulence that surrounds him.…

    • 2582 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby and the Unattainable American Dream
    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Great Gatsby and the Unattainable American Dream

    The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of misguided love between a man and a woman. Fitzgerald takes his reader through the turbulence and trials of Jay Gatsby’s life and of his pining for the girl he met five years prior. The main theme of the novel, however, is not solely about the love shared between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. The main purpose is to show the decline and decay of the American Dream in the 1920’s. The American Dream is the goal or idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all have the potential to live happy, successful lives. While on the surface, Gatsby looks like he lives a happy, successful life, he truly doesn’t. He spends his life working hard to make money to impress the beautiful and practically unattainable, Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life. He spends his money to throw ostentatious parties in his lavish house and to buy unnecessary materialistic goods. The Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s way of criticizing the decade and its lack of depth.…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Symbolism in "The Great Gatsby" by F Scott Fitzgerald and "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams
    • 1740 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Symbolism in "The Great Gatsby" by F Scott Fitzgerald and "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams

    F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" is a text that is reflective of the Period in which it was written, the 'roaring' twenties. It was written in America during the mid-1920s, a time of moral decadence and feelings of complacency following the conclusion of the Great War. On the surface, the text appears to be about love, wealth and power, yet this first impression does not do justice to the text's many complexities and hidden depths. The text also explores corruption, idealism, faith and the illusions of dreams through the use of a variety of images and symbols. Primarily, "The Great Gatsby" deals with the corruption of the great American Dream, personified by Jay Gatsby, a dreamer intent on procuring the attentions of his long-time love Daisy Buchanan at any cost. The American dream offers faith in the possibility of a better life. The main theory behind the dreams is the belief that material wealth alone can bring that dream to fruition, and to this concept, Gatsby was "faithful to the end".…

    • 1740 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby: View from Biographical Lens
    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby: View from Biographical Lens

    -Born in 1896, lived through WW1, the jazz age, and the great depression; has a large sense of different perceptions of the American dream across economically diverse periods of time.…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Great Gatsby Dbq Analysis
    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Great Gatsby Dbq Analysis

    Fitzgerald essentially argued against the definition of the American dream stating that it should really revolve around the idea of self-realization, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. He portrayed the the corruption of money and in materialistic values in the pursuit of the so-called “American dream.” This materialistic values emerged as a result of consumer culture as seen in Document 17.2 and Document 17.3, which displays the advertisement of a bicycle and an automobile being massly produced and widely sold at relatively cheaper prices, attracting new acquisitive and greedy consumers. Furthermore, in Document 17.5, Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, reinforces the mass growth of greed and materialism in America, uttering the iconic phrase, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter--to-morrrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…” This key element in the novel presents the same idea, stating that people pursuing the American Dream will work harder, expand their ambitions, and reach out for the green light or their dreams just as Jay Gatsby did, but similarly they will never achieve their true desires and dreams. This idea correlates with Document 17.1,…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did The Great Gatsby Influence The 1920s
    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How Did The Great Gatsby Influence The 1920s

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby Influence On Society
    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Great Gatsby Influence On Society

    In the 1920’s, the main goal for society was to reach its ideal version of the American Dream. One would think that achieving the American Dream meant conquering all odds and prospering in life, but instead was considered an ambition for society in order to assemble money and wealth. The main character, Gatsby, was portrayed as an outsider in his own society because of the methods he acquired to reach prominence. As a result of his advancement, Gatsby’s social class placement was modified making him a member of the higher class in society. He felt that the only way for him to be accepted in the upper-class was to throw massive parties proving to the other members of the upper-class that he is worthy in being in their presence. In a way, Gatsby…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did The Great Gatsby Change Social Class
    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Did The Great Gatsby Change Social Class

    Today people show how much money they have in different ways that don't include just plain saying that they have money. They hang out with certain people and go to certain places. Some people want to change their social class. For example a poor farmer’s daughter may want to associate with the upper class rather than the lower class where she came from but to do this she would have to change “social class.” This is what Gatsby did. He was born poor and worked his way to money. He wanted this change in social class and he went for it. Some people think this is no big deal to change social class because you surround yourself with who you want to be like. I think that it is stupid to change social class. There is no point. Everyone should accept everyone no matter the social class. If they don't do this and accept you as you then why would you want to associate with them?…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics