American Culture And Values In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The American culture and values have changed tremendously throughout the years. The characters in book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, have the same values and goals as the people in the 1920 's. The 1920 's was a switch between women being shy and quiet to women being out partying and smoking and doing things just as men did. The book was written in the 1920 's so the actions of the characters in the book reflect very well and also ties in with the theme of the book. The theme of the book is money cannot buy love. The characters in the book express the theme throughout the book by Gatsby trying to win Daisy 's heart with all his money, Tom buying expensive gifts for Daisy so she will marry him, and Tom buying Myrtle a generous amount of gifts to make her fall in love with him. The 1920 's was a change of the century. Everyone that had money wanted to spend it all. They got bored being as rich as they were. Although Gatsby was a different from all the others, he was a very traditional gentleman. …show more content…
Tom was one of the men that did this, but it was totally outrageous if Daisy would cheat on or divorce Tom. Tom had a affair with a lady named Myrtle. She was poor and lived in the Valley Of Ashes. He would buy her many things without thinking about it. He would just hand over the money. Tom did not think about a relationship with Myrtle because he was already married to a rich and beautiful woman and did not want to mess that up, but yet was not willing to stop his affair. Myrtle died in a tragic car accident. " 'The God Damn coward! ' He whimpered. 'He didn 't even stop his car '"(149). This refers to Daisy not stopping the car after she hits Myrtle. Tom was very upset so obviously he was falling in love with her. Tom already had his trophy wife though and did not want to wreck that. Tom thinks that he can buy love from who ever he wants and in the 1920 's it is