Great Gatsby Essay- Social, Critical, Gender Lens

Society as Seen Through the Novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald “Well-lit streets discourage sin, but don 't overdo it.”-William Kennedy. The 1920’s were days of carefree living, American dreaming, and wishful thinking. Society differed from just ten years before hand, and society was moving forward with the new changes. However the day to day living of this American dream was nothing but a sin in the making, and the crash resulted with immoral thoughts, harsh gender roles, and the split between the wealthy and poor. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that goes underneath all the party, carefree living, and brings out the deeper meaning of society at the time. The author provides the reader with a writing piece that exemplifies the greed and ignorance of the upper class people, the power of the male sex over the female, with the exception of love, and the moral thoughts that stuck to people in the 1920’s. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing brought out the deeper meaning of the difference between the wealthy and the poor and how ignorant, greedy, and carefree the upper classes really were during the 1920’s. Their actions and behaviour during the parties that Gatsby had thrown were a glimpse of the ignorance, greed, and carefree living. “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited- the [just] went there” (Fitzgerald 41). Nick comes out saying that he feels as if he were the only one who was actually invited to the party, unlike the other hundreds of people. Being the most honest person within the novel, the reader realizes how greedy and ignorant the people of the 1920’s may be. These people come to the party to have a good time for themselves and not to have a good time with the person throwing it either. Their carefree attitude is revealed when they break the stuff within the house at the party and make themselves at home as if

Cited: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.