"The Great Gatsby", by F. Scott Fitzgerald, outlines many themes found in the 1920s. Most of these themes display few morals and much selfishness. Almost everyone had the same measures of success and were willing to do anything to achieve it. The actions people took in "The Great Gatsby" revolved around dreams, wealth, and possessiveness.
Everyone has dreams. The people in "The Great Gatsby" were no different. It was hard to find a content person throughout the novel. Their dreams usually revolved around money, power, and the opposite sex. Jay Gatsby had an everlasting dream to recapture an old fling with Daisy Buchanan. He tried to buy this dream. Gatsby threw big parties to get Daisy's attention and flaunted his apparent wealth to impress her. It seems as though the characters in The Great Gatsby based their dreams upon what their peers thought of them.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great GatsbyEveryone was trying to get ahead of one another.
Wealth was the biggest dream in the 1920s, which seemed to come hand in hand with power in those days. It corrupted many people's minds and led them to unthinkable actions. It seems as though money and power is what ran the characters in "The Great Gatsby". If they did not have the most money, they were not satisfied. That is probably why the richest people seemed to end up committing adultery. Once they had reached their goal of wealth and power, they needed something else to give them the same sense of achievement. In the 1920s, riches and power made people do some crazy and foolish things.
All of the corrupt goals displayed in The Great Gatsby left the characters with a bad case of possessiveness. They wanted to control as many people and things as they could. Tom showed possessiveness for Daisy throughout the novel, even though he did not love her. When he had encounters with Myrtle and Gatsby involving Daisy, Tom reacted aggressively. He displayed similar actions when Myrtle died. He was having an affair with her, but did not love her in any sense. Tom acted as though he owned Myrtle when she died, like his property was destroyed. The characters also put much emphasis on their possessions. Gatsby thought his newfound wealth would be the thing to intrigue Daisy. Gatsby seemed right when it turned out Daisy married Tom because he had more money.
The qualities and dreams displayed in "The Great Gatsby" seem ludicrous. On the other hand, it does not differ all that much from our generation's lifestyle. A lot of people are only interested in wealth and possessions. Hopefully, most of our dreams revolve around more important things than money and power. As the results in The Great Gatsby showed, not much good comes from selfish dreams.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby