The History behind The Great Gatsby
Most of us have more or less positive thoughts about the 1920s. In reality though, this time period was full of depression and disillusionment. In the 20s, people were just getting back from The Great War. After hearing this amazing description of what their life would be like when they got back, everyone returned and were incredibly disappointed. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Only Yesterday by Fredrick Lewis Allen, they both describe these characteristics of the 1920s perfectly by showing examples of post-war disillusionment, the rise of the newly rich, and business replacing God. In the light of post-war disillusionment, it is shown a lot in The Great Gatsby. A reader can tell just by the amount of people at Gatsby’s parties that a lot of people in the 20s were trying to have a “good time” and trying to forget everything. …show more content…
You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow,” (Doc B). Her statement shows how women felt in the 20s. Most women were abused by their husbands and mistreated by random strangers. Daisy later stated that the best thing for a woman to be in “this world” is a fool. She even wanted her daughter to be a fool so she would be happy. Furthermore, people got rich quick in the 1920s... only to have it all thrown away in the Great Depression. Other than that, the newly rich had to “fit in” with the older rich, which basically means they had to learn manners. As stated in Only Yesterday:
“There was an epidemic of outlines of knowledge and books of etiquette for those who had got rich quick,” (Doc C). Going forward with the ‘newly rich’ topic, the higher class would spend their money recklessly. People thought they could just spend money without any consideration of what they were buying or how expensive it was, mostly because “283...Americans...paid taxes on incomes of more than a million dollars a year,” (Doc
Most of us have more or less positive thoughts about the 1920s. In reality though, this time period was full of depression and disillusionment. In the 20s, people were just getting back from The Great War. After hearing this amazing description of what their life would be like when they got back, everyone returned and were incredibly disappointed. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Only Yesterday by Fredrick Lewis Allen, they both describe these characteristics of the 1920s perfectly by showing examples of post-war disillusionment, the rise of the newly rich, and business replacing God. In the light of post-war disillusionment, it is shown a lot in The Great Gatsby. A reader can tell just by the amount of people at Gatsby’s parties that a lot of people in the 20s were trying to have a “good time” and trying to forget everything. …show more content…
You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow,” (Doc B). Her statement shows how women felt in the 20s. Most women were abused by their husbands and mistreated by random strangers. Daisy later stated that the best thing for a woman to be in “this world” is a fool. She even wanted her daughter to be a fool so she would be happy. Furthermore, people got rich quick in the 1920s... only to have it all thrown away in the Great Depression. Other than that, the newly rich had to “fit in” with the older rich, which basically means they had to learn manners. As stated in Only Yesterday:
“There was an epidemic of outlines of knowledge and books of etiquette for those who had got rich quick,” (Doc C). Going forward with the ‘newly rich’ topic, the higher class would spend their money recklessly. People thought they could just spend money without any consideration of what they were buying or how expensive it was, mostly because “283...Americans...paid taxes on incomes of more than a million dollars a year,” (Doc