The 1890s marked the end of the frontier movement which in turn led to many people feeling disillusionment as they had lost their sense of purpose. During the 1920s, people had become obsessed with the past because they thought it would help them progress in life. During the 1930s people became obsessed with the past because they believed that the values that had been held in the past should continue in importance during their present day. Through the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald argues that people are preoccupied with the past due to the rapid changes in culture leading many people to want to remain in the past. Through the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck argues that people have a preoccupation with the past because they do not have much of a future to look forward to. Fitzgerlad does this …show more content…
It was clear to see by the 1920s that there were many changes in society that happened all within a few years that people had to get used to very quickly and because of this people had a fixation upon the past as an ideal world that didn’t need changing. Indeed Robert Oberstein argues that “In the Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald adumbrated the coming tragedy of a nation grown decadent without achieving maturity”. This essentially means that America had been built upon a society that associates itself with freedom, but never had the wisdom to see that through for a prolonged period of time. The idea was one that could be seen as liberating, but with all the changes that occurred in their own society and the world, it would have been hard to keep the same ideals in place. In the Great Gatsby, the character that associates themselves with the past the most is Gatsby. He is so focused on getting Daisy back from Tom but fails to see that she has moved on with her life and perhaps he should too. When Nick points out to him, “You can't repeat the past." Can't repeat the