Part be selfish as they try to fulfill

When Gatsby died, almost no one came to his funeral. Nick made an effort to call as many people as he could, then realized that Gatsby was a private person and Nick seemed to be his only friend. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s funeral was attended by only twenty to thirty people, including his only daughter. The 1920’s were also considered the “Roaring Twenties” or the “Jazz Age”, as people lived carelessly. It was the end of World War I, and with the end of war came a new, modern way of living. Women gained freedom, like the right to vote, and African Americans were becoming famous for their taste of jazz music. There was a mass production in the automobile industry as well as an increase in job availability.

Soldiers came home, hopeful to forget the war. In order to forget, the men often turned to alcohol. Unfortunately, alcohol was prohibited upon their return. As a result of people’s drinking problems, the government forbid it. The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution declared the production, transport, and sale of alcohol illegal. Although it was illegal, people continued to drink.

Tom Buchanan is of the old aristocracy, but displays the worst characteristics of it. He is arrogant, self-centered, and petty. He avoids all responsibility for his actions. But he tries to hold his honor and reputation. He holds too much pride.

Those of Old Money are held to a higher standard of behavior. Tom plays a stereotypical wealthy man that grew up spoiled. With wealth comes privilege, and Tom takes advantage of his privileges with his secret affairs and business deals. He avoids all consequences and turns away from them, leaving them to burden others. Those who categorize as Old Money usually have integrity, do not try and find the easy way out of a situation and put others before themselves.

Everyone wants to live the lavish life of parties and to live in the spotlight. His money is earned the wrong way, but everyone still wants to be like him because of his wealth. He can have anything he wants with his wealth but he is still unhappy. He cannot have the one thing that he actually wants because she is married. Gatsby uses his wealth to impress Daisy and win over her love.

He does not care to be wealthy. Gatsby’s longing for the love of Daisy is his American Dream. He wants nothing more than to relive his past when he was soldier and she was the careless young loose cannon she used to be before she met and married Tom Buchanan. He stares at the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock across the water hoping that someday she would come back to him and love him just as he still loves and longs for her. ‘Part of Gatsby’s ‘greatness’ in fact lies precisely in his failure to recognize his dream as always already lost’ (Green 53).

When Daisy chose to be with Tom and Gatsby had lost to her to him, he had nothing left to live for. All of his parties and his wealth, were dedicated to Daisy. Now that she was with Tom, his death was meant to happen. Anything he did would go to waste, as he devoted his life to Daisy.

When Daisy was gone, so was Gatsby’s purpose of life.Part FourThere were many different arguments that I found while completing my research. I was surprised by the authors who argued that the “Roaring Twenties” was not all fun and that people struggled to work. Some used Nick as an example of a working man because he was trying to pursue the American Dream. He was neither old money, nor new money. There were many different articles regarding wealth inequality and how there was a great amount of people still in poverty.

Scribner, 2004.Fälth, Sebastian. Social Class and Status in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

2013, pp. 1–25, Social Class and Status in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, www.diva-portal.

“The Great Gatsby And Old Money Versus New.” Ivy-Style.com, 13 May 2013, www.ivy-style.com/the-great-gatsby-and-old-money-versus-new.html.