Discrimination In The Great Gatsby

The 1920s was a time in America that portrayed extreme diversity between different social classes and an increase in racial division. During this time, many Americans had desires for wealth, superiority, and fame. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his book The Great Gatsby, does a tremendous job in revealing the new American dream, a dream that wants to focus on a person’s materialistic abilities rather than his or her true character. “It is a criticism of American experience—not only of our manners, but of our basic historic attitude toward life. The theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American Dream… The writing is splendid as Fitzgerald manages to create an impression of this society without actually describing it” (Pidgeon, 179-180). Fitzgerald …show more content…
“The 1920s in America was a decade saturated with radical change that, despite the indolence and sustained prosperity, simmered with manic unrest” (Reagan). During this time, people in America primarily believed that a person’s worth is ascribed to his or her wealth and what class he or she comes from. To be accepted during this time, a person needed to be wealthy, because if not, then this person would be seen as someone who is not worth much at all. Though this concept is not morally right, it was accepted and venerated in the new American society during the 1920s. Many were naive to this new way of life and saw it as a positive change, because they were simply blinded by the excess of money and the glamorous aspects of this life. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby, discloses the decadence in the change of the American dream and the scurrilous affect that it is having on society. Maggie Reagan goes on to contend, “It was a period of great accomplishment… It was also a period of great distress.” So many people were being distracted by all of the accomplishments and idealistic things that they were forgetting the morals that truly make a meritorious person. In the 1920s, the upper class was morally corrupt and degraded the true American dream. “There are no spiritual values in a place where money reigns: the traditional ideas of God and Religion are dead here, and the American dream is direly

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