How Did F Scott Fitzgerald Use Ethos In The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald’s National Ethos: The American Dream The 1920s in American history was an incredibly significant era, bringing about a multitude of major changes and societal shifts. As affluence and success became the center focus of American culture, this society following The Great War was one in which Americans had grown to yearn the classic “American Dream”. The work of artists, like F. Scott Fitzgerald to capture such work has been consequential to telling the story of the ever-shifting trajectory of the twentieth century in the United States. Among Fitzgerald’s works, The Beautiful and Damned encapsulates this culture of success and security in the midst of the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald challenges the validity of the traditional American

The novel recounts that: “Wine gave a sort of gallantry to their own failure” (Fitzgerald 83). Alcohol, here, is known to have the power to not only alter reality, but make it more pleasurable. Even while it was outlawed across the United States, alcohol was still a tool used for a sense of peace and escape in this particular era. While typically regarded as a harmful substance with the power to intoxicate, the 1920s reflected a time in which this sort of escape through alcohol consumption was regarded as marvelous and something which ought to be celebrated by those in society. The author even continues, writing that “there was a kindliness about intoxication—there was that indescribable gloss and glamour it gave, like the memories of ephemeral and faded evenings” (Fitzgerald 122). Due to a futile sense of life and a total collapse of morality, these memories of intoxication and a lack of sobriety seemed preferable to the era’s regular patterns in society. For Anthony and Gloria in The Beautiful and Damned, as well as many Americans during this era, alcohol was not only an escape but an extension of someone’s wealth if they could afford to indulge in such risky, drunken party habits. By going about their lives at a consistently intoxicated state, Fitzgerald includes these details to relay back the notion that the two could never fully achieve the American Dream. This obsession over substances prevented the couple from stepping outside of their everyday comforts and from exploring life from a less wealthy social class. By participating in these intoxicated habits rather than dedicating themselves to personal success and accomplishing their goals, Anthony and Gloria were compromised from ever achieving the extent of the American Dream which they had wanted for so