Influence of Money in America (The Great Gatsby)
The Influence of Money in America
James Schultz
Honors English 10, Block 2
5/16/15
Tobias
The idea of money influences the social structure of America, contributing to the success and misfortune of this country throughout the course of history to the modern day. One of the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, predicts and shows how money operates in the American society as he states, “
Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.” This quote stays true as it applies to life in all era’s and throughout all of history.
Through his novel
The Great Gatsby, F.
Scott Fitzgerald outlines these ever so inconspicuous “roles” in America as he deciphers how class and money began to tear the ideals of this country apart during the 1920s. Fitzgerald unveils a discrete message among the society of this era as he contributes to the idea of lost values in the American Dream and how money and class change the previous set ideals.
Fortunately, these values have made a reappearance in the modern day, where the American
Dream returns back to it’s original goals of liberty, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness.
While the 1920’s are perceived to be this era of success, being defined as
The Jazz Age and
The Roaring Twenties, the reality shown by F. Scott Fitzgerald exhibits of ideas that this era in fact was not a “decade long party.” In the novel
The Great Gatsby
, Fitzgerald exposes how society was not respected as an “individual unit” where everyone was considered equal but was instead split by money and social class. It starts with the “low class.” Those who were considered
poor and perhaps living in poverty. Fitzgerald represents this through his character George
Wilson and the setting he develops called “The Valley of Ashes.” He describes it as grotesque place where the smoke overclouded the city covering the beauty of New York.
James Schultz
Honors English 10, Block 2
5/16/15
Tobias
The idea of money influences the social structure of America, contributing to the success and misfortune of this country throughout the course of history to the modern day. One of the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, predicts and shows how money operates in the American society as he states, “
Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.” This quote stays true as it applies to life in all era’s and throughout all of history.
Through his novel
The Great Gatsby, F.
Scott Fitzgerald outlines these ever so inconspicuous “roles” in America as he deciphers how class and money began to tear the ideals of this country apart during the 1920s. Fitzgerald unveils a discrete message among the society of this era as he contributes to the idea of lost values in the American Dream and how money and class change the previous set ideals.
Fortunately, these values have made a reappearance in the modern day, where the American
Dream returns back to it’s original goals of liberty, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness.
While the 1920’s are perceived to be this era of success, being defined as
The Jazz Age and
The Roaring Twenties, the reality shown by F. Scott Fitzgerald exhibits of ideas that this era in fact was not a “decade long party.” In the novel
The Great Gatsby
, Fitzgerald exposes how society was not respected as an “individual unit” where everyone was considered equal but was instead split by money and social class. It starts with the “low class.” Those who were considered
poor and perhaps living in poverty. Fitzgerald represents this through his character George
Wilson and the setting he develops called “The Valley of Ashes.” He describes it as grotesque place where the smoke overclouded the city covering the beauty of New York.