Tuesday, March 22, 2011

It's Not all Glamor and Gold...

       Fitzgerald sewed much of the cultural and economic features of the 1920s into his writing. In fact, Fitzgerald used his writing as a means to express to Americans that the changing economy was doing more harm to Americans than good. He expresses that through these economic and cultural changes, people were becoming more materialistic and individual- tainting the original meaning and values of the country. These messages implied in many of his works. One example of this is in The Great Gatsby. 
    In this famous text, Fitzgerald depicts the lifestyle of the elite during the 1920s, and how the country was growing as a materialistic society. Most characters in the book are wealthy and have an extreme obsession with their material possessions. The main character, Jay Gatsby, is slightly different. He starts off poor, but at some point becomes apart enters the high social class.  While once poor and non-materialistic, Gatsby soon falls under the illusion that all of his new money and possessions will be able to buy him love and happiness. Writer, William Fahey said that this illusion of Gatsby’s “is a naïve dream based on the fallacious assumption that material possessions are synonymous with happiness, harmony, and beauty”[1] Gatsby soon falls in love with a woman named Daisy and thinks that he can win his heart through economic means. But he soon grows in disgust with belonging to elite as he realizes that his money and possessions cannot buy him love or happiness. Daisy ultimately rejects him, and he opens his eyes to see how materialistic the people in his society are, and how this ultimately leads to nothing. He saw that his original desire, to live out the American dream of attaining economic success and achievement had been corrupted by this excessive amount of wealth and materials he had accumulated. This revolution very well reflected Fitzgerald’s attitude toward the culture of the period. While he appreciated the 20s for many reasons, including features of the jazz scene, Fitzgerald protested against the growing materialistic culture, and used his writing in The Great Gatsby to convey to readers how that America was moving away from its traditional values and identity as being a nation, and moving towards having a more materialistic and selfish identity. The Great Gatsby was certainly a way in which Fitzgerald could depict what the 20s looked like, but also a way for him to show the growing materialist attitude, which he believed suppressed the American Dream that once defined the country. [1] America was no longer defined by the American Dream, of success and achieving one’s goals, but on individualism, wealth, materials and selfishness.

            He shows just how corrupt this kind of society is, when at the end of The Great Gatsby, Gatsby kills himself. This served as a warning to Americans that their materialism and money-driven mindsets could only lead them down a dark path, and not an everlasting life of happiness and prosperity. Gatsby’s death showed readers that all of his material gains only led him to corruption, and ultimately death, and not the happiness that so many people of the time thought they were living in.  Fitzgerald wanted to show his readers that this materialistic and consumption-centered focus draws from the original foundations on which the country was laid, as part of the American Dream, and that these new values were not socially healthy for the advancement of the country. These ideas are also illustrated in some of Fitzgerald's other works, including The Beautiful and Damned and Tender is the Night, in which he also attacks the growing materialistic culture in America.
            While his name was beginning to spread because of his works, Fitzgerald was not an affluent man. Many of his publications were actually not purchased, and even when they were, Fitzgerald still encountered several financial struggles that prevented him from living among the top elites of this time. From his own social standing, Fitzgerald saw that America was becoming “obsessively materialist.” [2] Fitzgerald also showed that this way of living also had an effect on the lower class. He recognized that not everyone could participate in his culture that is most identified wit the 20s. Consumption could only be enjoyed by the privileged, while the poor continued to struggle. As he said in The Great Gatsby, "The rich get richer and the poor get-- children." [3] We can see how Fitzgerald used his writings to convey these points and give a deeper insight to the 1920s.

[1] Fahey, William A. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream. New York: Crowell, 1973. Page 70. 

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