Essay on the Stranger and the Great Gatsby
Personal history as well as the backdrop of events surrounding that personal history are both significant to many works of prose other than fiction. In at least two works you have studied, discuss the use made of the interplay between personal history and the background within which that personal history occurred. In the texts The Great Gatsby by F. S. Fitzgerald and The Outsider by Albert Camus, the backdrop of events during the writing of the novels as well as the personal histories of the authors have noticeable effects. The themes and characters the texts are based on personal events of the author’s lives.
The setting of the novel in the 1920’s directly influences the theme of the corruption of the American Dream, the theme of increased hedonism and moral degradation and the theme of social class and standing. World War 1 has just ended before the decade, and it was one of the bloodiest and most violent episodes in this nation's history. Young people had sacrificed their lives for a war that had taken place on an entirely separate continent, and with many families losing fathers, sons, and husbands in the war, the entire society was submerged in disillusionment, skepticism, cultural experimentation, and hedonism, only seeking their own pleasure. During the 1920's, the country also experienced an unprecedented economic boom that allowed the values of materialism and ambition to take over the American mindset. With social mobility apparently possible for everyone during the 1920's, many Americans did try to involve themselves in "get-rich-quick" schemes that sometimes included illegal activities such as gambling and bootlegging. This influenced the themes of the novel by providing Fitzgerald with the inspiration to comment and critique these themes, in a form of a social commentary provided by the novel. The deaths of all the characters involved in achieving the American Dream, Gatsby, Wilson and Myrtle, represent the inherent corruption of the dream itself due
The setting of the novel in the 1920’s directly influences the theme of the corruption of the American Dream, the theme of increased hedonism and moral degradation and the theme of social class and standing. World War 1 has just ended before the decade, and it was one of the bloodiest and most violent episodes in this nation's history. Young people had sacrificed their lives for a war that had taken place on an entirely separate continent, and with many families losing fathers, sons, and husbands in the war, the entire society was submerged in disillusionment, skepticism, cultural experimentation, and hedonism, only seeking their own pleasure. During the 1920's, the country also experienced an unprecedented economic boom that allowed the values of materialism and ambition to take over the American mindset. With social mobility apparently possible for everyone during the 1920's, many Americans did try to involve themselves in "get-rich-quick" schemes that sometimes included illegal activities such as gambling and bootlegging. This influenced the themes of the novel by providing Fitzgerald with the inspiration to comment and critique these themes, in a form of a social commentary provided by the novel. The deaths of all the characters involved in achieving the American Dream, Gatsby, Wilson and Myrtle, represent the inherent corruption of the dream itself due