The Great Gatsby Research Paper

1608 Words7 Pages

Lost in the World
1- Intro: The lost generation is a literary time frame base on all the men returning from WWI lost. After being the first to witness mechanical warfare and the destruction that followed, the soldiers and people effected were searching for the meaning of life which caused them to be “lost”. These men are in their mid-twenties to thirty also known as the WWI generation. This period in the 1920’s was portrayed with a sense of moral loss and aimlessness in literary writings. Literary figures such as Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and Scott Fitzgerald criticized American culture and morals in creative fictional stories. (montgom college?) The themes of the period were self- exile, indulgence, spiritual alienation. During the …show more content…

Fitzgerald give his perception of what the “American Dream” had become. This new era was full of illegal nightclubs, jazz, music, vibrant liberated women, and crime. The American dream had turned into a dark money hungry climb to the top. Gone were the day where a man simply went to his work and provide for his family. This era was very seductive and hard to resist to most people. The main character, Gatsby, is presented to the readers as this wildly successful businessman living the American dream. Gatsby’s love interest in the novel represents a dream or goal that is almost unattainable. Gatsby tries to win her love through his success and material items. Gatsby would do anything for Daisy’s approval even if that meant immoral and criminal activity. Fitzgerald uses the characters to portray the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. The Great Gatsby is considered the great American novel, because Gatsby embodies the innocence of the American dream. Gatsby’s goal of winning the heart of Dasiy can be compared to how the men returning home from war struggled to reach their own personal American dream. It’s clear through his writing that Fitzgerald is appalled with how carless this generation had