The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, WWI had previously ended a few years earlier in 1918, Nick was among the generation of Americans coming home from a brutal carnage that would make early twentieth century American seem like an empty hyprocracy. Gatsby's dream of loving Daisy was ruined by the respective social statuses, and ends up resorting to crime in order to make enough money to impress her. The differences in opinion between the East and West Eggers are disillusions as new money challenges old money. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920's as an era of disillusionment, evidenced in its overcharging cynicism, greed, empty pursuit of pleasure, and its decayed social and moral values As Nick, and the rest of his generation came home, they were in the midst of a dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war, which led to a sudden sustained increase in the national wealth and a newfound materialism as people began to spend and consume at unprecedented levels. In the first chapter, Nick comments on Tom's incredible wealth by saying; "For instance he had brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forrest. It was hard to realize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that"
'I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before'" (116). Not only was his dream crushed, but his life was ended as Daisy was corrupted through living in the 1920s. Whereas Nick, on the other hand, sells bonds only to make a minimal wag, lives in a small hole in the wall, and attempts to live his life to the fullest emotionally, not with the presence of material items. What the old money has in taste, however, it seems to lack in heart, as the East Eggers prove themselves inconsiderate bullies who are so used to money's ability to ease their minds that they never worry about hurting others: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (187). In the middle of chapter six, Nick questions Gatsby's attempt to recreate a vanished past, "'I wouldn't ask too much of her, you cant repeat the past,' 'Can't repeat the past?' He cried incredulously. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" shows just how disillusioned the 1920s, and America, had become. Unfortunately, to attain his goal Gatsby took on a life in crime as he needed money to impress Daisy and feed the rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle. The deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Wilson could all be traced back to the selfish couple's lack of morals. In the novel, West Egg represents the newly rich, and East Egg, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the historically rich families. Gatsby, and the newly rich lack in taste, and are seen as gaudy. 'Do you like it?' 'I love it, but I don't see how you live there all alone'" (96). As Fitzgerald saw it, the American dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. Together, Tom and Daisy managed to ruin the lives of many people as they lived in undeserving wealth. Ever sense their first kiss, Gatsby's life has totally revolved around Daisy, and would do so for an eternity.
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Acceptance Essays
