The 1920s were affected by WWII in several ways, which are shown in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The 1920s was a time period of a great change in people’s behavior and social class. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel The Great Gatsby reflects on the 1920s can help summarize the 1920s into three main characteristics, Disillusionment, the Rise in New Money, and Business Replacing Religion.
Disillusionment, which is the loss of faith in one’s values and ideals, is a main characteristic of the 1920s because, during and after WWII many of the American citizens beliefs and ideals were being undermined by horrible acts committed during the war. With disillusionment came the thought that everything that many people had learned throughout life such as how life should be lived, how human beings should be treated by one and other, and even proper manners were being thought of so that they were meaningless, “Someday, perhaps , the ten years which followed the war may aptly be known as the Decade of Bad Manners”, (Doc A, Allen). Something else that gives an example of how disillusionment affected how people acted was that when soldiers came back from the war, normal civilian life couldn’t compare to life in the war where every second was filled with adrenaline. So when soldiers came back to lead civilian lives some became dysfunctional alcoholics, and some went to parties every chance they got so that the need for excitement could be somewhat satisfied,”A whole generation had
Active Reading Journal: Quest for Enlightenment Wood’s idea that “Dunstan Ramsay is a perfect case of plight in the imagination of a chilly Canadian culture” (Wood 24) is true. Dunstan’s journey begins with the unfortunate incident with the snowball hitting Mary Dempster. His life is forever changed by this situation that, arguably, is caused by the “chilly Canadian” snow. There are several other aspects of Fifth Business that mirror Canadian culture. The school Dunstan teaches at models Upper Canada College (Wood 24), showcasing a Canadian school.
In The Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald writes about the life of a man whose depression leads him to self-absorption and isolation. Humans also tend to continuously question the meaning of existence due to their curiosity. Unlike Fitzgerald’s character who has a pessimistic outlook on life, several authors emphasize the importance of taking advantage of a short-lived life. Authors of different eras have written literary works as a way to present their views on life. Fitzgerald’s notion on the meaninglessness of life can be contradicted by the view of authors who have a more positive attitude.
Fitzgerald Hamilton Letters Response Question 1: Based on all of these letters, what do you make of Fitzgerald’s relationship with Maxwell Perkins? How does F.’s confidence in Max challenge/reinforce what we think of the author? Based on the letters I think that Fitzgerald and Maxwell had a close relationship, Fitzgerald relied on Maxwell many times throughout his journey of writing The Great Gatsby for guidance and direction of how to write his chapters.
Throughout the novels Night by Elie Wiesel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee and Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, there are clear themes of rebellion, revolution or both. A rebellion is defined as an effort by many people to change the government or leader of a country by use of protest or violence. It may also be defined as open opposition towards a person or group in authority or the refusal to obey rules or accept the normal standards of behavior. A revolution is defined as a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system. It may also be defined as a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure; it is usually sudden and accompanied by violence.
Anger is a common disease possessed by many humans. How people deal with anger is what makes them different. Some, the second they are confronted, act out violently. Some hold it in until they cannot possibly take anymore, then explode. Some, let other people act out for them.
Between World War I and the Great Depression, the 1920’s were unique and special years in American history. The best way to represent that time would be by historian Frederick Lewis Allen providing the historical account of America in the 20’s in Only Yesterday and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel, The Great Gatsby. Both of them reflect America in the Twenties by showing lifestyles and behaviors of people who lived in that time. We can follow their beliefs, actions, and morality through the works. While Allen was seeking to capture a decade, F. Scott Fitzgerald did a good job by pointing to the main issues during that time.
The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.
The 1920s carried much change in society. Some of these changes were more rights for women, jazz music, and prohibition. The people of the 1920s were disillusioned by society lacking in idealism and vision, sense of personal alienation, and Americans were obsessed with materialism and outmoded moral values (The Roaring Twenties).Cultural changes were strongly influenced by the destruction of World War I ending 1918. America needed to recover and with it youth rebelled against the norms of the older generations.
Happiness, is defined by a person’s well-being or positive state of mind. For many the pursuit of happiness leads to fulfillment in life. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the three main characters, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Nick Carraway all pursue happiness in different ways. For Gatsby, true joy can only be achieved by dwelling in his youthful past. Daisy, however, finds no enjoyment in past experiences but attempts to grow and learn.
After the unsettling times of World War I, people lost most of their faith in the government and society. Shortly afterward, the Modernist era emerged and took over literature as a response to how our country was greatly changed. By cause of this loss of faith, modernist literature displayed many variations of disillusionment. When one is disillusioned, one must recognize that their previous belief is now untrue, contrary to what many people may believe. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the theme of disillusionment is represented through the use of narrator Nick Carraway who shows the disillusions of “the American Dream”, the upper class and their marriages become apparent to the reader.
The characters in the novel pretend that they have their lives all figured out, but through their successes their downfalls and emptiness can be seen, to prove that money cannot buy happiness. Jay Gatsby is the newest and upcoming star in New York during the 1920’s. Through his business and inheritance he is one of the richest men of his time. One may think that his abundance of wealth would lead him to be eternally happy, but he is the opposite. Gatsby longs for his love of Daisy, which is his personal American Dream.
Characters throughout The Great Gatsby present themselves with mysterious and questionable morals. Affairs, dishonest morals, criminal professions, weak boundaries and hypocritical views are all examples of immorality portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, lies and mischief fill the lives of many and significantly damage numerous relationships. First, Jay Gatsby's whole life is consumed into a massive lie. His personality traits set him apart from others and the attention he accumulates motivates him to falsely portray his life.
The Disillusionment of the American Dream is evident in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The main characters that exhibit this through their lives are; Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson and Mr. Jay Gatsby. All of these characters hold on to their dream, but all of these characters are somehow let down. The first character, Daisy Buchanan, has the dream of love. She grew up in a very wealthy home.
Gatsby’s Tragedy: Falling for a Minx The Great Gatsby, like the Great Houdini, is an illusionist. Similar to the Great Houdini, the Great Gatsby has a tremendous rise to fame and an outrageous reputation. Jay Gatsby's tragic flaw does not seem horrendous at first when compared to Willy Loman, Macbeth, and other tragic characters in literature, but his love for Daisy shows that the power of love outranks all other flaws. During Gatsby's youth, he met a girl named Daisy, who he immediately fell for.
The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic 20th century story -that period was also known as the “roaring twenties”- which critiques the vision of the American Dream people in general have. At that time, the idea of a free market, and industrial revolution provided the opportunity for many to seize the market and people were starting to see that they could become rich without having any type of restriction. New York city was the centre of this wealth-creating society. After the war, this movement generated new opportunities and ambitions for people wanting to start a wealthy upper class life. That period of time was all about alcohol, partying, gambling, fashion, and money.