Free Great Gatsby Essays: Reflection of an Era :: Great Gatsby Essays

The Great Gatsby - Reflection of an Era   During the 1920s the States was a country of great ambition, despair and disappointment. The novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of this decade, it illustrates the burning passion one man has toward his "American Dream" and the different aspects of the dream. Fitzgeralds work is a reflection of America during his lifetime. The Great Gatsby shows the ambition of one mans reach for his "American Dream," the disappointment of losing this dream and the despair of his loss. In the 1920s the spirit and ambition of the American people soared. Unthe likes of their European counterparts who were trapped in the social class to which they were born, the American people knew that if they worked hard then they could rise to a higher social class. The flappers and the womens liberation movement were barely two examples of how Americans expressed their newly discovered social freedom. It seemed that nothing was impossible to achieve. James Gatz, shared the spirit and ambition on the American people and fought immense and hard to earn his place in the world. He had dreamed of transforming himself from the poor, young man that he was into the wealthy celebrity that he would soon become. Gatsby, as a child, had a daily schedule that he followed. He knew from childhood that he had to work for his fame. "Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something" (175). Gatsbys ambition lay not only in his future, but as he grew older it would be found in his love. He had an coercion with Daisy Buchanan and tried everything in his power to bring things back to they way they used to be when they first met. He thought he could relive the past. He threw teeming parties to get her attention. He did everything in his power to be near her. " Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay " (79) He earned his wealth so that they could finally be toget her. Like Gatsby, the American people of the 1920s followed their hearts, and their ambition. Through World War One, American men fought to save their country and woman fought to win the decline to vote. Even in fashion women were liberated, as the hemline on an average skirt was raised.