Abortive Sorrows In The Great Gatsby

In Nick’s quick introduction of Gatsby in the first chapter, he describes Gatsby to be a man that had a certain quality that he could not find in any other person that we will ever meet. He then goes on to say that Gatsby turned out alright in the end, except it was the things that surrounded him and his dreams that caused Nick to become disinterested in the “abortive sorrows and short-winded elations” (2) of men. This phrase is significant because it is essentially the epitome of what the Roaring Twenties were about - a time of luxury. Because of the excessive amount of wealth that many people possessed, and it being a time after a Great War had recently occurred, people directed their attention to indulging in their pleasures. “Abortive sorrows”