The Chaos Of American Society In The

1920′S As Portrayed By F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Essay, Research Paper

The Chaos of American Society in the 1920 s as Portrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Was there really a winner as a result of World War I. The mood in Germany feels that there was not any real winner of the war. Germany and its allies are not the only countries that suffered from the impact of this great war. America became a loser of World War I in their domestic society. The health of American society is diminishing, along with Germany. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles in Paris called for the German government to pay reparations for the physical and mental losses of World War I to all of the allied states. The German government is suffering a great amount of economic loss due to these reparations. Germany is in the midst of an economic depression and the value of the dollar is going down and the unemployment rates are skyrocketing. While America is getting richer and richer, Germany is getting poorer and poorer. But, American society is becoming more and more presumptuous and starting to suffer domestic problems as a result of the morale of their people. There are three main problems within the American society that are starting to emerge as a result of World War I. These problems started emerging in the early 1920 s or the so-called Jazz Age. They include, the demoralization of the country, the death of the American Dream, and the class order is facing some problems. Many new methods of living are being practiced more than they have ever been in the past. These problems are revealed through an American author in one of his many great works. In F. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby, he reveals many social and personal dilemmas developing in the American society in the 1920 s. Through the use of the main character, Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald comes in contact with the death of many traditional aspects of American society starting to take dramatic changes.

The characters in The Great Gatsby are all facing the problem of demoralization through many sinful actions. These characters come to represent the society of America in the East during the 1920 s. One of these demoralizing aspects of society is the sin of adultery. Two cases of adultery are seen throughout the novel, one between a character named Tom Buchanan and the character of Myrtle Wilson (wife of Wilson the mechanic). Then, the affair between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby was also present towards the end of the novel. The sin of adultery is an action seen throughout history and literature, but divorce is something that is not until the arrival of the 1920 s in America. The Great Gatsby portrays divorce as a last option, but it is still thought about in the minds of some of the characters.

You see. cried Catherine triumphantly. She lowered her voice again. It s really his wife that s keeping them apart. She s a Catholic and they don t believe in divorce.

Daisy was not a Catholic and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie, (Fitzgerald, 38).

The moral of fidelity to a person s spouse in the 1920 s in America, is being questioned here by Fitzgerald with the characters making excuses for not leaving their marriage. Divorce is emerging as an option for unfaithfulness, but there is still enough morality of staying married that they don t carry it through. In real life, Fitzgerald experienced this with his own wife, Zelda, who he believed was having extra-marital affairs. Extra-marital affairs during the 1920 s were not the only factors that led to the demoralization of America.

Organized crime made its way into the American scene during the 1920 s with the passing of Prohibition in Congress. Gangsters such as Al Capone made millions of dollars off racketeering, prostitution, and bootlegging. Organized crime in America at this time is able to gain too much power and make others corrupt. That is why a fascist government, such as Germany, must keep this corruption from emerging. Fitzgerald brings organized crime into The Great Gatsby as a warning to Americans that the new money is a threat to morality and keeping order within a country. Jay Gatsby represents this new money making business method in America with his mysterious phone call dealings and the big question as to how he gets his money. Gatsby is thought to be a bootlegger by others because he is running it through his drug stores. Gatsby always was escaping from the social scene with his mysterious calls–linking him to a suspicion of organized crime.

Almost at the moment when Mr. Gatsby identified himself a butler hurried toward him with the information that Chicago was calling him on the wire. He excused himself with a small bow that included each of us in turn, (Fitzgerald, 53).

This is ironic because Al Capone s ring of crime was based in Chicago. Gatsby s method of making money in America at this time was immoral in the sense that he was going against the government s law of prohibition. At the same time allowing people to get intoxicated, when the purpose of prohibition was to make people s morals better. Organized crime can also be linked to murder and Gatsby was also accused of being a murderer. I ll bet he killed a man, (Fitzgerald, 48). Chaos was rapidly becoming a part of the degradation of American health in the 1920 s.

The new privilege of driving automobiles was being abused