Wealth, parties, and connections, were three things that were important to anyone looking to be a part of the exclusive high society of East New York in the Roaring 20’s. F. Scott Fitzgerald captured all three with his literary voice. He made impressions everywhere with the supreme achievement of his third novel, The Great Gatsby. This novel is a tale of people’s sensational lives in the 1920’s. Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby to exemplify the American identity during the early twentieth century. Fitzgerald uses symbolism and other narrative techniques to illustrate the materialistic chase of the American dream by upper-class society in the 20’s.
Before one can fully analyze the way in which Fitzgerald wrote, it is important to understand the time in which he came from. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived and wrote in the time of the Roaring 20’s and the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald’s most prominent piece, The Great Gatsby, took place during this time. In the 1920’s life was extravagant, it was a time of partying, money, and drinking. Prohibition, the ban on the sale, production, and transportation of alcohol, went into effect in 1920 and lasted until 1933. Ironically, during this time drinking was at an all-time high and played a big role in making parties larger and wilder. People were not only spending money on alcohol, but also new automobiles. The automobile industry was blooming in the 1920’s, also making the era known as “The Age of the Automobile” (Kemp). While alcohol and cars were big fads of this time, there were also significant historical events taking place in the United States. The growing U.S. was also improving with innovations such as women gaining the right to vote. In 1920 women won the long battle of suffrage in the states…
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…aper because it gave me new insight on the details of this classic and how the symbolism and other narrative techniques are so relevant in everyone’s life. This is what makes this book so important to people every age and everywhere.
Works CitedFitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.
Harper, Jay. Fitzgerald: Man of All Ages. Cincinnati: 2002: eLibrary, Dec. 2002. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
Kemp, Bill. “Jazz Age.” Pantagraph (Bloomington) 17 Aug. 2008: eLibrary. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.King, Taylor. “F. Scott Fitzgerald.” American Cultural Leaders 2001: eLibrary. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.Schneider, Daniel J. Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby. Ed. Martin Steinmann, Jr. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970. Print.Thomas, Devin. “Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Critical Review.” MacMillan General Reference (1963): eLibrary. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
