Contrary To Popular Belief
People perceive historical events in their own unique way. Many consider the roaring 20’s as a lively time in the U.S, however Fitzgerald views the people in this time period as not possessing morality, not showing concern for the poor and not achieving happiness. In his book, The Great Gatsby, Nick’s comment to Gatsby “they’re a rotten crowd” appears to sum up Fitzgerald's perspective and feel of the 20’s.
Firstly, Fitzgerald evidently viewed the 20’s as a “rotten crowd” because he saw a lack of morality in that era. From the novel, we see that both husbands and wives do not respect their marriage vows but instead have open affairs or have frequent divorces. For instance, Tom who is wealthy and has a beautiful. apparently honest, charming wife, still runs off and proceeds to have multiple affairs. Additionally, in the novel there is an excess of partying and illegal drinking. After one such party, a wrong turn leads to an almost fatal car accident for Owl Eyes and other individuals, whom most have no concern about the safety of the others. Furthermore, crime and murder are common in the story as people generally think that Gatsby has “killed a man” (49) as well as details of Wolfsheim revealing him to be a dishonest man and a man with significant
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In the valley of ashes George Wilson, a persistent hard-working man, has his wife stolen by a rich man in east egg. This man, Tom Buchanan, later manipulates the poverty-stricken George to do his dirty work for him by murdering Jay Gatsby. Moreover, Jay Gatsby, before gaining enormous wealth, is cheated off of his deserving inheritance of $25,000 by Ella Kaye who uses “the legal device” (100) against him and attains Gatsby’s inheritance and millions of dollars. The rich being “rotten” and deceitful toward the underprivileged display Fitzgerald’s feelings toward the people in the