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Great Gatsby Materialism Analysis

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“The Great Gatsby” is indeed a great classic and a remarkable book. Not only did it capture the essence of being in the roaring twenties completely, but amazingly it is also able to maintain its relevance and resonance with its audience from different time and places. The story is based on the roaring twenties. It introduces us to the “lost generation” of Americans, which has “loose moral codes” and is highly materialistic. The story follows the rise and fall of Gatsby’s American dream; which ends with tragically. It captured a cross-section of the American society and depicted its triumph and tragedy. The major reason of the success of “The Great Gatsby” today is that the book itself has a strong resonance with us in our modern time as …show more content…

From the age of roaring twenties till now, many of us are still being influenced by this issue. “PRICH” is what everyone desires. In the book most of the characters are highly materialistic. The women namely, Myrtle, Daisy and Jordan are pure personification of greed for wealth and fame. They love money and will do anything for it. In our current society, many Chinese farmers are now leaving their farmland in the rural areas to the eastern coast of China to pursue a better and easier life which is equivalent to a more materialistic life. They have been enticed by materialism in the city life to abandon their simple life in the rural area. The other example we can keep in mind is the theme of “immorality” in the book. One of the most obvious examples in the book would be Tom’s adultery with Myrtle Wilson. Tom has an love affair with Myrtle which goes against moral codes of the society. This is an issue also reflected in the current society. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who admitted in public that he had a baby with his house-keeper. A good example of low morals in Hong Kong today is the telephone scam and cheating of ignorant and old people. People no longer has moral code in how they earn their

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In “The Great Gatsby: Fitzgerald’s Opulent Synthesis (1925)”, Robert and Helen Roulston express Fitzgerald’s doubts about the novel. At first, Fitzgerald is not happy with the title because he believes it does not accurately reflect the theme of Gatsby as a victim of the American Dream. Many aspects of the novel reflect events and people in Fitzgerald’s life. Robert and Helen Roulston analyze the similarities between the characters and people in Fitzgerald’s past. The authors also examine the artistic elements in the novel and compare Fitzgerald to other authors.

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In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses many differnt retorical devices to add a personal flare to his work. He uses diction, symbolism, and irony to adress many different themes. These themes include Materialism, The American Dream, and includes a sharp and biting ridicule on American society in the 1920’s. The main point of Fitzgerald, arguement is one where he sharply criticizes the Society of the time.

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826 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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Considered an American classic, F. Fitzgerald’s tale of The Great Gatsby can be summarised by the creation, the attainment and the loss of a man’s dream. But it also delves into the roaring twenties and falls into an era that has an almost dreamlike quality. Where the parties are loud, the people fickle and the falls from grace are brutal. The Great Gatsby contains characters that are masked, masks which are all the source or object of the fatal flaws: lust or greed.

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800 Words | 4 Pages

As the embodiment of the American Dream, Gatsby is both present and unreachable. Gatsby, although corrupt for most of the novel, turns out “alright” in the end. In her article, “The Great Gatsby and the Obscene Word”, the author, Barbra Will, focuses on how Gatsby’s characterization and the obscene word on his steps complete the ending to The Great Gatsby. With his past life being full of corruption, the audience, as well as Nick, is forced to forget about Gatsby’s past.

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870 Words | 4 Pages

Even though “The Great Gatsby” was written nearly a century ago, many of the themes it has can still be seen in today’s society. During the time the book was written, the economy was in a condition of prosperity because the war ended which lead to technological advances and large profits for businesses. As a result, the dynamics of society changed also. The main focus of the media were on people with fame and wealth. This shows the interests and values of what most people had in the U.S. back then.

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215 Words | 1 Pages

The story “The Great Gatsby” setting takes place during the early 1900’s in New York City. Within the story its related real world issues with characters. Also giving the reader a form of connection to the story itself. It reflected the ideas, people had during the years1915-1935 along with different glimpses of life from the characters in the story.

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854 Words | 4 Pages

This dream of everyone for the better life, but it was evident that this dream only truly caused corruption and disruption, disruption of human life. This phenomenon of 1920’s that broke fates of many people, people that believed, people that worked hard. The Great Gatsby is a novel that demonstrates what happened to The American Dream in the 1920’s. The desire to have much money and to have love sometimes is not realizable. In the novel of Fitzgerald we see cynical post-war judgments about love and human actions, the novel is a kind of synthesis that graphically demonstrates us the entirely period of time, tragic period of time, period of the loss of human values, period when the human lost himself, frustrating period.

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The Jazz Age was a period of great economic, social, and political change happening in the 1920’s. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, however, portrays the 1920’s as a time of wreckage and urban decimation. The Great Gatsby is modeled towards the death of the American dream during the 1920’s, and based on the happenings of the 1920’s, this model is certainly reasonable. F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby use the motifs of materialism, carelessness, and decay seen in the 1920’s in order to show a destruction of the American Dream.

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I encountered The Great Gatsby from a myriad of lists on GoodReads, more specifically, it always falls on the lists where the themes seem to be “American Classics” and “Classics”. So, I’ve decided to finally give it a try after some heavy persuasion. In my article, I will be discussing on what exactly makes The Great Gatsby an examples of great American Classics, as well as the themes and literary elements used within the novel.

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627 Words | 3 Pages

The negative effects of materialism can destroy mental health and relationships. The psychology of materialism leads people to look for temporary happiness. In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a group of wealthy people deal and struggle with the negative effects of materialism. One decides what they want verses what they need by knowing what is necessary to survive. An imbalance of this can cause a life time of struggling and sadness.

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The story is placed in the 1920s American society, the east side is connected to the decay and social doubt of New York but in the west there is more traditional values and ideals. The Great Gatsby’s author was trying to convey that the people who had not been raised with

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1558 Words | 7 Pages

The American dream states that any individual can achieve success regardless of family history, race, and/or religion simply by working hard. The 1920’s were a time of corruption and demise of moral values in society. The first World War had passed, and people were reveling in the materialism that came at the end of it, such as advanced technology and innovative inventions. The novel The Great Gatsby exploits the theme of the American Dream as it takes place in a corrupt period in history. Although the American Dream seemed more attainable than ever in the 1920’s, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby demonstrates how materialism and the demise of moral values in society leads to the corruption and impossibility of the American Dream.

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121 Words | 1 Pages

Gatsby is a big symbol in American popular culture. Gatsby represents a kind of white-handed person who has a dark past, a mysterious lover; People in life have reached the peak of glory and then lost everything. One sees in Gatsby a sacrifice for the glittering glimmer of the so-called "American Dream. " But at the same time, in Gatsby, there exists a strange hopeful power of never-giving, a heartfelt and noble love; An innocent romance is not muddy. It is these qualities that make up a complex Gatsby - one who is both a victim, a jester, and a hero.

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708 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, social class is a key theme, as seen by every character having their own distinct class. Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and even Nick are old money, Gatsby is new money, and the Wilson 's are no money. In short, the more money you have, the better off you will be. In the epigraph of the novel, there is a poem by Thomas Parke D 'Invilliers, who is a fictional character created by Fitzgerald himself. This poem is about using materialism to win over the affection of someone, which is exactly what Gatsby tries to do.

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