Marriage In The Great Gatsby

Marriage. This word carries a large amount of weight behind it. For better or worse, for sick or poor, and until death do we part. That’s a lot pressure for one word. Mankind was created imperfect. Humans aim to be flawless, but in reality we are flawed beyond compare. As humans we lie, have impulses, act on those impulses, and we are entitled to a few mistakes. The meaning of marriage has changed over the centuries, but the vows people make to each other have managed to stay the same. Throughout the different novels we have read in class, dysfunctional and destructive relationships have been played a large role in the novels themselves. Most of the relationships in the novels have failed to flourish due to the meaning of marriage in the different time periods. Marriages were based upon social status, a families’ reputation, security, and compensation. For example, The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are the wealthy couple everyone aims to be on the outside. On the inside, they struggle within their marriage, only to discover they both are having affairs with other people. Another example, The Awakening by Kate Chopin also reflects on the reasons some marriages fall apart. Edna Pontellier and her husband Leonce Pontellier, are in a
As the roaring 20s came around, people were more focused on seeking wealth along with prosperity rather than focusing on religion. Christianity as well as other religious practices were still practiced, those who did partake in the old way of believing still shammed those who committed adultery and divorce. As the 1900s continued to change, so did women and marriage. Women began wearing shorter, more revealing clothing to seek men’s attention as well as the idea of feminism becoming more common. Divorces also began to become more socially accepted as the world continued to