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The Great Gatsby Research Paper

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The Lost Generation
Gertrude Stein in the 1920's said “You are a Lost Generation.” During this time period there was a lot of rejection of old ways like “The American Dream” and gender roles. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby and Jordan Baker are two characters he uses to portray the Lost Generation. While both of these characters think they are with the times they are lost in their own perception of how to live their lives. After WW1 there was a shift in values with the younger generations. They didn't value the traditional beliefs of the times. They were often referred to as “a lost generation”.
During the 1920’s “The American Dream” was believed by the lost generation to be a facade and unattainable. Gatsby is one character …show more content…

He represents "The American Dream” that didn't exist “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… . And one fine morning —— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”(Fitzgerald 136). This quote is saying that what people were doing and earning was never enough; they will never be satisfied. Gatsby is the perfect illustration of “The American Dream”. He is rich and successful. He is charismatic and hard to obtain. This demonstrates the mindset of the times. People thought that striving for “The American Dream” was futile because it didn't exist because they will always strive for more. They no longer felt that working hard and never giving up could lead to prosperity. Gatsby portrayed “The American Dream” to show readers the harsh reality that not everything is what it seems to be. Furthermore, Gatsby is …show more content…

According to The United States History Textbook, “The New Woman of the 1920s was more liberated. She wore dresses with shorter hemlines, put on more makeup, danced to the latest crazes, and generally assumed that she had the same political and social rights as any man… The symbol of all these changes was the flapper, young women with short skirts and rouged cheeks who had her hair cropped close in a style known as a bob.” This provides proof that women were no longer accepting the traditional roles of the past. They were outwardly expressing their rebellion. This further supports how the lost generation lost sight and became disillusioned with gender roles. Furthermore, women were blurring gender roles in the 1920’s. This can be seen through a character named Jordan Baker. When Nick first met her he described her as “a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet”(Fitzgerald 11). The author's description leads the reader to infer that Jordan displayed characteristics that gravitated towards the male gender. The evidence continues to support a lost generation's shift in values. Women saw themselves more equal with men. They felt that they should have the same opportunities as them. In order to reject traditional beliefs, changes in women's outer appearances were

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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.

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