The Great Gatsby - Essay Example

Therefore, the story symbolizes the 1920s America with more focus on the collapse of the American dream in an era of extraordinary prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920s as a period of decayed social as well as moral values supported by the empty pursuit of pleasure, overarching cynicism in addition to greed. For instance, “Tom was evidently perturbed…Saturday night. He came to Gatsby party”, “…it stands out in my memory from Gatsby’s other parties that summer (Fitzgerald 67).

The parties actually resulted in the corruption of the American dream. This is because the uncontrolled desire for pleasure and money exceeded more righteous goals. Jordan in the story admits loving big parties, “Anyhow he gives large parties”, “And I like large parties” (Fitzgerald 45). Gatsby never bothered sacrificing his life and reputation in order to secure wealth thereby being in a position to marry Daisy. The ladies while moving close to Gastby’s house assert that he is a bootlegger, “He’s a bootlegger” (Fitzgerald 53).

Moreover, Buchanan’s passion for wealth, pleasure, and money drove her into marrying Tom. For instance, in the book, the author asserts, “she wanted her life shaped now, immediately – and the decision must be made by force – of love, of money …with arrival of Tom” (Fitzgerald 96). After the end of the World War I in 1918, the generation of the youthful Americans who had participated in the war became intensely disenchanted and hopeless. The atrocious carnage they had experienced had eroded the Victorian social morality of the early twentieth century since America appeared stuffy and full of empty hypocrisy.

The shaky rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the World War resulted in a sudden and sustained rise in the national wealth coupled with newfound materialism. This is because individuals began to use and consume at exceptional levels. For instance,