The Great Gatsby as a Criticism of American Society In the novel The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes
American society through the eyes of his narrator Nick Caraway, as he watches the …show more content…
This is also displayed in the novel by the vast amount of alcohol use at Gatsby’s parties even though it was illegal during the 1920’s. Gatsby himself was at one time a bootlegger which allowed him to obtain so much money, but the very people that drink his alcohol look down upon him for it showing the hypocrisy of the American high class at the time. Nick Caraway then goes on to compare Gatsby’s party scene to a Greco painting that displays how unglamorous the life of the wealthy really is. “The night-vignette Nick paints of the East as a drunken woman carried on a stretcher is an image symbolic not only of the East but also of the West, for it signifies the plight of all these Middle Western Easterners (or Eastern Middle Westerners): their isolation, their loneliness, their anonymity.” (Bloom 62-63) In the painting nobody seems to care for the woman in the white dress on the stretcher as her lifeless body is dragged out of the party. Fitzgerald goes out of his way to demonstrate to his audience how the high class life which most Americans strive to achieve is a life simply an pretentious show full of fakes and materialism. In The Great Gatsby characters such as Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle, and Wilson demonstrate further Fitzgerald’s criticism of American …show more content…
Gatsby is first introduced to the reader as a mysterious and wealthy man who has ultimately achieved what Americans would consider success due to his vast amount of money and contacts. Fitzgerald on the other hand reveals Gatsby to us slowly throughout the novel and then one comes to see how truly pathetic Gatsby’s life really is. The diary presents Gatsby as a young boy that simply wants to better himself. As Gatsby grew however American societies never ending obsession with the material changed hopes directed him in a downward spiral. Fitzgerald’s life very much mirrors that of Gatsby and Nick which gives great insight into how he obtained his opinion of American Society. His wife Zelda is very much like Daisy because she also was drawn to the materialistic life style. Fitzgerald had to win her heart by making big money from his novels, and when he was
American society through the eyes of his narrator Nick Caraway, as he watches the …show more content…
This is also displayed in the novel by the vast amount of alcohol use at Gatsby’s parties even though it was illegal during the 1920’s. Gatsby himself was at one time a bootlegger which allowed him to obtain so much money, but the very people that drink his alcohol look down upon him for it showing the hypocrisy of the American high class at the time. Nick Caraway then goes on to compare Gatsby’s party scene to a Greco painting that displays how unglamorous the life of the wealthy really is. “The night-vignette Nick paints of the East as a drunken woman carried on a stretcher is an image symbolic not only of the East but also of the West, for it signifies the plight of all these Middle Western Easterners (or Eastern Middle Westerners): their isolation, their loneliness, their anonymity.” (Bloom 62-63) In the painting nobody seems to care for the woman in the white dress on the stretcher as her lifeless body is dragged out of the party. Fitzgerald goes out of his way to demonstrate to his audience how the high class life which most Americans strive to achieve is a life simply an pretentious show full of fakes and materialism. In The Great Gatsby characters such as Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle, and Wilson demonstrate further Fitzgerald’s criticism of American …show more content…
Gatsby is first introduced to the reader as a mysterious and wealthy man who has ultimately achieved what Americans would consider success due to his vast amount of money and contacts. Fitzgerald on the other hand reveals Gatsby to us slowly throughout the novel and then one comes to see how truly pathetic Gatsby’s life really is. The diary presents Gatsby as a young boy that simply wants to better himself. As Gatsby grew however American societies never ending obsession with the material changed hopes directed him in a downward spiral. Fitzgerald’s life very much mirrors that of Gatsby and Nick which gives great insight into how he obtained his opinion of American Society. His wife Zelda is very much like Daisy because she also was drawn to the materialistic life style. Fitzgerald had to win her heart by making big money from his novels, and when he was