The Great Gatsby: The Isolating Nature Of The Jazz Age

Since the beginning of time, people have chased money. People have been blinded, fooled, controlled, and isolated by money. From the rise of the first empires to the American “gilded-age,” to the height of the pure illusion of money during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the isolating nature of the Jazz Age during which the story was written through the wild nature of the book and concepts of old and new money. One of the ways The Great Gatsby displays the isolating nature of the Jazz Age is through the tension of old and new money seen throughout the book. In the book, Tom and Daisy are constantly portrayed as rude, shallow, and very one-dimensional people. They flaunt their money and only talk to, and associate

One example of this is Gatsby and his crazy parties. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby throws a lot of crazy parties with lavish decor, food, drinks, and rich people. At the beginning of chapter three the narrator or Nick, describes these parties and notes, “ There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whispering and the champagne and the stars… On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight... Every friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York…” (Fitzgerald 39). This is meaningful because it shows the isolation of the Jazz Age by painting a lavish picture even though dark things were happening such as Tom's affair and the eventual murder of Gatsby by George Wilson. This shows that the Jazz Age was similar to a “gilded-age” where everything was golden on top, but not quite so below the surface, as these parties were used as a means to attract Daisy, which will cause future conflicts in the book. Opposers to this argument will say that the wild spirit of the book including Gatsby's parties does not show that isolation of the Jazz Age, because if a lot of people were going to Gatsby’s parties and participating in his events, it must mean that everyone was experiencing the money of the Jazz Age or had a sense of happiness and no worries. But in reality, it was not like that. Elaborating more on the “gilded-age” comparison; even though it looked like all fun and games there was a darker meaning behind everything. This can be seen when Gatsby lied about his origin in chapter four to try and fit in, or the eventual murder of Gatsby directly caused by the illusion that everything was all parties, money, and joy during the Jazz Age. People could not see what was truly