Currents of Time in The Great Gatsby A prominent theme in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the idea that time has the capability to pull an individual forward and backward simultaneously. In the 1920s, especially in the urban areas, mainly focused on in the novel, there was a major pursuit to move forward; the future was just around the corner and those who couldn’t keep up were left behind (Hutchins). “The novel, beautifully spare in its prose style, is famous for capturing the mood of the 1920s, especially the moral vacuity of a postwar society America obsessed with wealth and status” (Cregan). Most of the characters in The Great Gatsby were shown to be stuck in their past while striving to move forward into the future which
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While trying to pursue the American dream of the “self-made man” Nick realizes that the morality of the East does not support his conscious. Nick Carraway was born into a family of “...prominent, well-to-do people in this middle-western city for three generations” (Fitzgerald, 7). While growing up in Chicago, Nick was acquainted with the strong morality that lied in the cities in the Midwest of the United States. Upon moving to Long Island, New York and working in the city, Nick soon realizes that along with the faster lifestyle, the morals of the people in these urbanized cities began to relax. As hard as he tries, Nick Carraway fails to find his place in this modern way of living. He cannot let go of the way he lived in the past; the morals and the way he went about his life in Chicago did not permit him to achieve the American dream and make himself into the stereotypical wealthy man of the East. Carraway finally concludes this after the murder of his closest friend, Jay Gatsby. Following his death, Nick decides to move back west. “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home” (Fitzgerald, 185). Nick Carraway realized that he could not let go of the past. He came to the conclusion that he was not cut out for the relaxed morality and the rapid lifestyle of the East; he was brought up in a western way and could not liberate himself from the values that were taught to him from a young age. In the end, Nick decides to return to Chicago and live his life as he did in the
While trying to pursue the American dream of the “self-made man” Nick realizes that the morality of the East does not support his conscious. Nick Carraway was born into a family of “...prominent, well-to-do people in this middle-western city for three generations” (Fitzgerald, 7). While growing up in Chicago, Nick was acquainted with the strong morality that lied in the cities in the Midwest of the United States. Upon moving to Long Island, New York and working in the city, Nick soon realizes that along with the faster lifestyle, the morals of the people in these urbanized cities began to relax. As hard as he tries, Nick Carraway fails to find his place in this modern way of living. He cannot let go of the way he lived in the past; the morals and the way he went about his life in Chicago did not permit him to achieve the American dream and make himself into the stereotypical wealthy man of the East. Carraway finally concludes this after the murder of his closest friend, Jay Gatsby. Following his death, Nick decides to move back west. “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home” (Fitzgerald, 185). Nick Carraway realized that he could not let go of the past. He came to the conclusion that he was not cut out for the relaxed morality and the rapid lifestyle of the East; he was brought up in a western way and could not liberate himself from the values that were taught to him from a young age. In the end, Nick decides to return to Chicago and live his life as he did in the