Tracing historical development in the US, Scherer and Ross inform that only 16 percent of homes in America had electricity by 1912 (82). Mining the text for a character's attitude toward money can be a very helpful way to understand their motivations in the world of 1920s New York. If you analyze a character through this theme, make sure to explain: #2: How money/materialism drives their choices in the novel. He is a self-made man (in all respects) and as such, is admirable. The Great Gatsby is a very accurate portrayal of the cultural and social changes during the 1920's. 1929, the 19th Amendment has been passed, era of the flapper was strong, Jazz was popularized, prohibition started, greed was more apparent, and morals were lost. In The Great Gatsby, money is a huge motivator in the characters' relationships, motivations, and outcomes. Gatsby is accurately accused of being a bootlegger by those who attend his parties as he displays no signs of difficulty acquiring liquor and breaking the law (Fitzgerald 17). Jordan temporarily flouts expectations by ""[running] around the country," (1.134) playing golf, and not being in a hurry to marrya freedom that she is allowed because of her money, not in spite of it. A reinterpreted version of the story about Jay Gatsby's endeavor to become rich, achieve status in the high-society of 1922's Long Island, New York, and get back together with the love of his life - Daisy Buchanan. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young" (3.160). So all three women push the boundaries of their expected societal rolesDaisy's affair with Gatsby, Jordan's independent lifestyle, and Myrtle's affair with Tombut ultimately either fall in line (Daisy, Jordan) or are killed for reaching too far (Myrtle). After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, Austro-Hungary and its ally Germany declared waragainst Russia. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. Being dishonest makes her (Jordan) incredibly uncomfortable with life. Daisy representing money also suggests money is as alluring and desirableor even more sothan Daisy herself. IvyPanda. On the one hand, it elevatedthe U.S. into a world super power and ushered in a decade-long economic boom. Thus, possession of material wealth was important for the placement of people in a given social class and status. This began during WWI as more women began to work to make up for the men fighting abroad, and as more professions opened up to them in the men's absence. Tragically, Myrtle is hit and killed that evening by Daisy. to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. This term described women who would wear much less restricting clothing and go out drinking and dancing, which at the time was a huge violation of typical social norms. Myrtle feels trapped in her marriage, which pushes her into her affair with Tom Buchanan, an affair which grants her access to a worldNew York City, wealth, partiesshe might not otherwise have access to. (Of course, the primary support for these arguments should come from the text itself!) She was incurably dishonest. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike. $24.99 Like his fellow modernists, Fitzgerald was deeply critical of the wealth and capitalist success ushered in by the post-war boom, considering the new obsession with money and status shallow. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925. Ironically enough, Nick resides in West Egg while Tom and Daisy reside in East Egg, this being analogous to where they find their moral values and happiness. Flappers emerged in 1920s. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? One of the rumors about Gatsby is that he is involved in a bootlegging pipeline of alcohol from Canada - this is a reference to a real-life scandal about one of the places where illegal alcohol was coming from! Similar to other characters in The Great Gatsby, she has an intense greed for money (Leader 13). While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted highershirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue. Ask below and we'll reply! Although she is a famous player of golf, she can do anything on the loose to have her right always. . On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. Similarly, modernism writers experimented with form and style rather than sticking with traditional forms of prose and poetry. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. In other words, wealth is presented as the key to lovesuch an important key that the word "gold" is repeated twice. The main plotline of the novel reflects this assessment, as Gatsbys dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their respective social statuses, his resorting to crime to make enough money to impress her, and the rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle. She fails to comprehend why East Eggs people live materially well while she, together with her husband, still remain engulfed in the valley of ashes (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 76). Check out our guide to Jay Gatsby for the complete story. In this context, The Great Gatsby, which is a novel about the 1920s lifestyles, portrays the American culture as one that eroded the traditional morals and social norms such as denouncing the moral responsibility to remain faithful in marriage. The Great Gatsby. Similar to Wolfsheims unethical lifestyle, the character of Tom Buchanan also proves to reflect the judgmental attitudes of several biased and racist people in the novels era with his claims that civilization is going to pieces and if we dont look out, the white race will be. Historical Context Essay: The Great Gatsby and the Jazz Age, Literary Context Essay: Modernism & Realism in The Great Gatsby. All these developments illustrated increased consumer spending as noted by Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. Tom and Daisy's movements are also supported by their money. Purchasing (9.146). Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance. Since speakeasies were already side-stepping the law, they also became places where people of different races and genders could mix and mingle in a way they hadnt previously while enjoying new music like jazz. Because he creates characters that personify the American Dream, juxtaposes western and eastern American cultures, incorporates examples of law breaking under Prohibition, and depicts the corruption of the wealthy, Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a reflection of Americas culture in the early twentieth century by highlighting the cultures successes and failures. As further proof of Nicks morals, he declines Gatsbys reward for reuniting him with Daisy, a risky business deal that would provide Nick with a surplus of money, as he realizes its faults, and he retains his dignity. The dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained increase in the national wealth and a newfound materialism, as people began to spend and consume at unprecedented levels. (5.117-118). A close look at these two distinct societies gives an image of a future fictional American society culture, which is free from corruption and largely not driven by individualism. Characters such as George and Toms wives exemplify the rebellion that is characterized by dwindling moral standards. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. . Daisy's decision illustrates how few choices many women had during that timespecifically, that marrying and having children was seen as the main role any woman, but especially a wealthy woman, should fulfill. The Great Gatsby, Third novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925. "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. The 19th Amendment, passed in 1919, officially gave women the right to vote in the United States. Fitzgerald conveys a message warning against the perils of materialism during the course of the novel. F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, depicts a portion of Nick Carraways life characterized by the time he is influenced by the mysterious Jay Gatsby and his extensive pursuit of his former flame and Nicks cousin, Daisy Buchanan. Scherer, Frederick, and David Ross. We get our best look at Myrtle in Chapter 2, when Tom takes Nick to see her in Queens and they end up going to the New York City apartment Tom keeps for Myrtle and hosting a small gathering (after Tom and Myrtle hook up, with Nick in the next room!). Meanwhile, Tom's mistress Myrtle, a car mechanic's wife, puts on airs and tries to pass as rich through her affair with Tom, but her involvement with the Buchanans gets her killed. Of course, this did little to actually stem the desire for alcoholic beverages, so a vast underground criminal empire was born to supply this demand. August 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-in-the-novel-the-great-gatsby/. Gatsby's business partner Meyer Wolfshiem is a gangster who is affiliated with organized crime and is based on the real-life crime boss Arnold Rothstein, who was indeed responsible for fixing the World Series in 1919. Writers are products of their time, so knowing what they would have assumed to be true makes reading their work richer. Don't leave your college application to chance. Fitzgerald and Bruccoli write, 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 (187-188). What trench warfare looked like. In the contemporary phenomenon of "Gatsby parties"festivities intended to capture the air of the titular Jay Gatsby's famously lavish, bacchanalian partiesjazz is de rigueur to evoke the 1920s. "American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby"." What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? Ask questions; get answers. It was all very careless and confused. The post-war boom also had a positive effect on minorities in the U.S. One of the effects was thatJewish Americanswere atthe forefront of promoting such issues as workers rights, civil rights, woman's rights, and other progressive causes. This so called Black Sox Fix proved to be an enormous scandal in the early twentieth century as Rothstein, Wolfsheim in the novel, was able to get away with committing the crime with clever and crooked smarts while obtaining a large sum of money. American Culture in the Novel "The Great Gatsby". was a self-made man, Gatsby acquired a vast amount of wealth and fortune with perseverance and a fixed purpose in mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Daisy and Jordan are both old money socialites, while Myrtle is a working class woman married to a mechanic. Myrtle mentions this with regard to her husband, George, whom she mistook for someone of better breeding and hence greater prospects: I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasnt fit to lick my shoe. Similarly, Gatsbys pursuit of Daisy is bound up with class. This paper discusses these aspects as essential constituents of 1920s American culture as revealed in The Great Gatsby. She even breaks down in tears after Gatsby shows off his ridiculously expensive set of colored shirts, crying that she's "never seen such beautiful shirts" before (5.118). Myrtleboth working class and a womanis thus trapped between a rock (her gender) and a hard place (her lack of money), and perhaps for this reason receives the cruelest treatment of all. It was a decade of tremendous wealth in the United States following the deprivations of the First World War. Let's explore. Nick compares the green bulk of America rising from the ocean to the green light at the end of Daisys dock. Anyone can read what you share. Fitzgerald captured this period of rapid post-war growth and the frenzy surrounding the era with insightful examples of the eleterious effects of superficial behavior. Myrtles affair with Tom is her approach of taking advantage of him to reach an extravagant lifestyle, Daisy allows Gatsby to take the blame for Myrtles death without regret, and Gatsby changes his whole name and way of life in order to feel personally accomplished; all eventually realize that the happiness they expected to receive in the end resulted in misery, especially with the deaths of Myrtle and Gatsby. . In a book magazine, a panel of literary experts was asked . Past and Future. How does Nick Carraway first meet Jay Gatsby? Suppose you wanted to analyze the importance of cars in The Great Gatsby. Women were granted the right to participate in voting. Romer, Christina. Gatsby admits this fact (Fitzgerald and Bruccoli 127). Want 100 or more? . Fitzgeralds characters that each selfishly overcome different hardships with corrupt solutions represent the immoral mindset of success-hungry people in the 1920s proving that the culture of Fitzgeralds time was accurately mirrored in his novel. True to the spirit of the times . According to Zeitz, 1920s marked an era in which Americans began to reap from the benefits of increased consumerism (21). In 1920s, this figure rose to more than 75 percent. A person from any social background could, potentially, make a fortune, but the American aristocracyfamilies with old wealthscorned the newly rich industrialists and speculators. Daisy herself is explicitly connected with money here, which allows the reader to see Gatsby's desire for her as desire for wealth, money, and status more generally. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz musicepitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday nightresulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals. The American Dream refers to a shared set of ideals that guide the spirit of the United States. You can thus compare three very different women's experiences to explore how moneyor a lack thereofseems to change the possibilities in a woman's life in early 1920s America. To get a really good sense of why characters in the novel do what they do, it's useful to know the specific historical circumstances they are dealing with. How does Tom find out about the affair between Gatsby and Daisy? These practices gave rise to a culture of immorality, which opposed the traditional moral and social norms of the past generations. You can also compare Tom and Daisy's actions and outcomes to other characters to help make your pointMyrtle and Gatsby both contribute to the conflict by participating in affairs with Tom and Daisy, but obviously, Myrtle and Gatsby don't get to "retreat into their money," they both end up dead. Leader, Zachary. The aftermath of this desire was the American dream that entailed the search for riches, equal opportunity, independence, and devotion.