Summary Essay on the Great Gatsby - Jazz Age through the eyes of Fitzgerald
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Course
English 30-1
Institution
12th Grade
This essay thoroughly explains how Fitzgerald reflected on the Jazz Age in his novel, the Great Gatsby. There are many instances in which Fitzgerald reflects his own views of this unique time period and even uses Nick to relay his feelings to the reader. This full-length essay provides multiple exa...
The Jazz Age, often referred to as the Roaring Twenties, was a time between the 1920s
and 1930s when the economy was booming and cultural changes were taking place. During this
time, jazz music was becoming more popular, the poor were becoming rich, and alcohol was
being banned. F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, had his own views on the Jazz
Age and he shared these throughout the novel. Fitzgerald relays his thoughts on the Jazz Age
through the eyes of the narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway. Nick’s actions and speech
provide the reader with a view of Fitzgerald’s own thoughts and feelings on the many aspects of
the Jazz Age, shown in the novel. The thoughts of Nick often differ from the other characters,
showing that Fitzgerald’s point of view was different from his contemporaries. Fitzgerald’s
interpretation of the Jazz Age is shown through his candid remarks on criminal activities, wealth,
and racism during the 1920s.
Criminal activities, such as selling alcohol during prohibition, are shown throughout the
novel, but nothing good is ever associated with them. Whenever alcohol is present, things go
wrong and Nick always wants to leave these types of situations. Nick also starts to doubt and
dislike Gatsby whenever his name is connected to any sort of criminal activity. This was
Fitzgerald’s way of showing that businesses like speakeasies, were wrong and that he
disapproved of them. When Tom tells everyone that Gatsby and Wolfsheim “brought up a lot of
side-street drug-stores here and there in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter,” Nick
gets really upset with Gatsby (Fitzgerald, 141-142). As someone who overly praises Gatsby, it’s
unusual for Nick to be mad at him. Nick doesn’t like the idea of earning money by illegally selling
alcohol, and he’s disappointed with Gatsby for having chosen to do so. Fitzgerald repeatedly
linked accidents and violence with parties that had alcohol present to show his disapproval of
criminal activities. Speakeasies and gangster-related activities were everywhere during the
1920s, and in Fitzgerald’s eyes, they were something that shouldn’t be praised. Just like how
Fitzgerald disliked criminal activities in the 1920s, he also disliked the way that the wealthy
acted in the 1920s.
During the 1920s, many people were gaining masses of wealth but little behaved
properly with the money they had. People with money took pride in their possessions and their
negative qualities were always shown. The wealthy were wasteful with their money, and thought
that they could do whatever they pleased because of their wealthy status. These people were
shown to be of a lower class in terms of morality, compared to those with less money. The Jazz
Age was full of wealthy people who acted this way and Fitzgerald included the characters of
Tom and Daisy to represent them. Nick says that “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -
they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money… and let other
people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald, 190). Nick, showing Fitzgerald’s own
point of view, points at the carelessness of wealthy people, and how they simply didn’t care
about others. If they did something wrong then they would hide behind their wealth, and pretend
as if nothing happened. The wealthy didn’t have to pay for the consequences of their actions,
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