... heightened sense of individual liberty after World War I as the "New Era " . When World War I ended in 1918 several young Americans who had fought in the war returned to America with a heightened disillusion of reality, as the horrors of the war made everyday life and social morality of the ... early 1900's seem trivial. Following the recession of 1921-1922, the nations economy grew spectacularly, which led a new age of consumerism and materialism ... as one newspaper announced, "The first responsibility of an American to his country is no longer that of a citizen, but of a consumer. "...

• Word Count: 1603
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... up to find all gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in man shaken", what's more, he depicted the postwar unprecedented boom of material revelry and at the same time presented the disappointment of the postwar generation for America, the concern for the loss of conventional values and ideals, and ... From the understanding and annotation of the whole age, he saw the fall of American values: American Dream. 1. The symbolic meanings of objects in this fiction are overt.Fitzgerald put richer special connotations to objects on the base of their natural symbolic meanings. As we know, books ar...

• Word Count: 1437
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... . Within the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby to illustrate the corruption and eventual downward spiral of the American Dream to the vulgar pursuit of wealth and materialism in the 1920s. The transformation from James Gatz, the ambitious janitor from North Dakota, to Jay Gatsby, the epitome of the self made man, exemplifies Gatsby's lifelong pursuit of his aristocratic ... eventual downfall and that her fervor for only the finest aspects have life, have corrupted his destiny of reclaiming his aristocratic roots. Gatsby's life is much like the American Dream, i...

• Word Count: 1786
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... that generally is good and bring them down alongside the fall of that society. The web of materialism and power can entrap the innocent ones falling on the corrupt people. In the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals a tone of contempt toward materialism, while emphasizing the importance of strong character. Fitzgerald's tone of contempt surrounds Daisy Buchanan targeting ... aspects of her personality require her to have material things before anything else, showing society's influence on how she lives her life based on the capitalist economy that controls America...

• Word Count: 1232
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of the American dream to greed and materialism during this time period. And with the distinct divisions between West Egg and East Egg, Fitzgerald shows the social divisions in American society, even at the upper class, a fact still relevant to today's America. New York itself symbolizes immigrant America, where immigrants used to and still do flood into America's shores in hopes of a better life. Nick himself ... cede into the temptations of corruption, they still hold dear to themselves their capacity to dream. And it is through these dreamers, like Gatsby, that America keeps its dream...

• Word Count: 1599
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate