The thoughtless delight …show more content…
Fitzgerald arranges the characters of The Great Gatsby as representations of these societal tendencies. Moreover, Gatsby and Nick, both of whom served in World War I, present the new skepticism and cosmopolitanism that ensues from the conflict. The miscellaneous status seekers and enterprising speculators who are guests at Gatsby’s parties exhibit a gluttonous clamber for riches. The dispute amidst the established gentry and the self-made men is presented in the work’s figurative geography: East Egg typifies the prominent elite, West Egg the self-made entrepreneur. Meyer Wolfshiem and Gatsby’s affluence exemplify the growth of the underworld and bootlegging in 1920s American culture.
As Fitzgerald understood it, the American dream was in the beginning concerned with invention, the pursuit of happiness, and individualism. In the way the novel depicts the Roaring Twenties, however, effortless money and nonchalant social values have corrupted this ambition, particularly on the East Coast. The storyline indicates this analysis, as Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is shattered by the in their divergent social standings, his descending to immoral means of remuneration in order to impress her, and the vehement materialism that portrays her