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How Did Gatsby Survive The 1930s

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During the 1920s, men and women strived to live the “bigger, better, faster” mentality by purchasing unneeded materialistic items. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, main character, Jay Gatsby goes from “rags to riches” and uses his money to build his enormous mansion displaying our first tension, wants over needs. We see the constant issue of prioritizing wants over needs throughout the 1920s. Transforming into the 1930s, the tension dramatically shifts to needs over wants. To survive the 1930s, parents needed to take money from their own children to get to work and fight for any type of income. Most people didn’t see the downfall of the 1930s coming, but throughout the book, The Great Gatsby, hints of this economic failure were shown. A start …show more content…

Gatsby’s plan entailed him using his house to win back Daisy, but the plan obviously didn’t work. Daisy still chose Tom over Gatsby, making his house an “incoherent failure” (179). Clearly, the three years he spent saving money to buy it, resulted in nothing. Although he put forth so much effort to show Daisy that he has the money to take care of her and has a beautiful house to live in, he never had a chance with her. The reason being Daisy is an Old Money upper class women that was not willing to go down in her socioeconomic status. Gatsby is New Money and he never had a chance to have Daisy as his wife, which resulted in only an affair. Another interpretation of the “incoherent failure” of a house can be that it is hinting towards the downfall in the 1930’s. During the 1930’s, many people were left on the streets and without a home, due to The Great Depression. This depression caused people to sell their homes in order to have any source of money available during this horrible time. Due to the loss of homes, the popular shantytown structures called, “Hoovervilles” were built by the unemployed and impoverished people. Gatsby’s house is the opposite of a “Hooverville.” A house made of marble steps and a 40 acre garden that servants tend to every weekend after the ostentatious parties thrown. Fitzgerald focuses the reader’s attention on having an extravagant house and still failing, which

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Gatsby purchased that house in that location in order to be closer to Daisy and easily show her he finally has the money she was looking for. Having that mansion also allows Gatsby to show off his fortune to Daisy by throwing parties. We are informed of this implication made by Jordan when she implies “I think he half have expected her to wander into one of his parties, some nights, but she never did” (79). Gatsby throwing all his ‘lavish parties’ is another example of him going to endless lengths to earn Daisy’s love. His enormous wealth is a symbol for the amount of work he has dedicated to impress

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