The Great Gatsby Research Paper

Shiny on the surface, but dark and full of problems underneath. In the shining and great roar of the 1920’s, the Great Gatsby shows an era full of excitement, money and the aspects of the American Dream that are hoping to be achieved by many. This period represents grand political parties and citizens with great wealth. Seen from the surface of this time period as amazing, but underlined a class structure full of problems, causing a great divide in society. Every person experienced the great roar in a different way. A social hierarchy slowly forming among the people, representing how money and wealth soon became the force that divides the country. The 1920’s represented a time that consisted of great social and economic changes. This period

It explores the class divisions that came about during this period, along with many unrealistic expectations of success. Wealth and the desire to maintain a high social position becomes a major motive in the novel, revealing the importance of how money affected society during this period. Fitzgerald draws a true representation of his era through the use of classes based on wealth and power. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows a hierarchical structure in society based on how much money a person contributed to the amount of power they possessed. This era reflects the life and time of Fitzgerald during this time and how he lived his life. This novel contributes value to the reader to help understand and analyze the importance of how the lower classes were treated unequally to the upper class and how this event caused a divide among the people in society. Fitzgerald demonstrates the use of wealth and social class in the Great Gatsby by showing how people lived their lives in the West and East Egg of Long Island. When Nick first arrives to live in the West Egg, he automatically sees a clear difference in the way that the West and East Egg are

Fitzgerald uses descriptions and imagery of different coloring and mental pictures to describe the Valley of Ashes. This area is described as very dark and dirty, whereas the eggs are seen to be very bright and full of life. This helped to draw a clear comparison between the areas and to demonstrate to the reader how different these locations were. “But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg” (Fitzgerald 20). The eyes of the “evil” doctor on the billboard sign in the Valley of Ashes shows how the lower classes are constantly judged by society. The eyes were a symbol of how the lower class was constantly looked down upon by those of the upper class in society. The Valley of Ashes seems to always be watched, while the rich live a careless and free life, escaping the judgment of others. “In order to begin unraveling the trope in The Great Gatsby, recent related scholarship must be examined, beginning with several studies on color-symbolism and the complex pattern of contrasting light and dark colors”