The Great Gatsby,F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, is seen as his greatest achievement despite its poor sells when it was originally released. Written in 1925, Fitzgerald was motivated to write this novel in hopes of creating a literary ‘masterpiece’. He got the idea for the book from a party he attended in Long Island, where he got to witness first hand the high society lifestyle of the roaring twenties. Even though Fitzgerald never got to see the popularity of his book rise to level it is today many people believed that he wouldn't of been surprise by the succes. Set in the early 1920’s in West Egg, Long Island, “The Great Gatsby” is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, a young bonds broker who moves to Long Island for a fresh start …show more content…
I love everything about the time period. From the clothes that they wore, to the movements that they stood for, I loved it all. The second and the most important reason why I enjoyed this novel has nothing to do with the literal words on the pages, but what they symbolize. Fitzgerald uses the characters in his story to portray the tendencies of the day and age the story was set in. Nick represented the many men who fought in the war and came back with big and bright ideas of their own. The guest ,who were mostly described as social climber, attending Gatsby's parties represented the ever growing obsession of wealth and social status. Meyer Wolfsheim ,who helped Gatsby become the wealthy man he was, represents the overwhelming presence of mobsters in America. In the 1920’s depicted in the novel, dirty money tainted the original American Dream. All of this is symbolically shown in the story when Gatsby's hopes of being with Daisy are sidelined by his lack of money. In an effort to support her needs, he goes on a quest for wealth by any means necessary. This leads the once pure Gatsby into the world of bootleggers, mobsters, and dirty money, permanently taints his name amount the eyes of the people forever. I enjoy that Fitzgerald was able to combined all of this knowledge and history into a very tragic yet entertaining romance