The Great Gatsby Then And Now English Literature Essay

In the 1920s, after the terminal of World War I, the USA went under drastic alterations where their societal Reconstruction procedure began. With the development of the industrial revolution taking topographic point and the transmutation of American society, this accordingly led to people come ining into an age of philistinism, and the impairment of societal guidelines and moral values began. Thus, America ‘s society was lacerate apart due to the clang between old and new values. Some of these old values consist of Americans seeking to recognize the American dream of success, celebrity and wealth through thrift and difficult work. However, the industrialisation of 1920 ‘s began to gnaw the dream, replacing it with a doctrine of “ acquire rich quick ” ( Warshauer ) . ‘The Great Gatsby ‘ by F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects the American society during this period and clearly portrays the contrast between traditional and corrupted values. This is done through the manifestation of distinguishable character traits, attitudes and wonts of the characters ; their single forms of typical lives and ideas about the others. On the other manus, the period of clip that we presently live in now is non that different from Gatsby ‘s clip. We as a society tend to look at the yesteryear as something that we can larn from. In footings of the life lessons that one can larn from the clip period of “ The Great Gatsby ” , our society has learned perfectly nil. From actions such as purchasing brilliant autos merely to demo it off and trying to demo to people that you are high category. To incidents such as the Tiger Woods issue, where he had a really public falling out with his married woman, taking to non-stop media observation of his life with new associates starting up by the twenty-four hours, each curiously resembling his married woman, Elin Nordegren ( Linder ) . Besides, we can see that in Gatsby ‘s clip, the freedom to show one ‘s gender and promiscuousness can take to the devastation of one ‘s life. This is similar to what people of our clip make every bit good. In “ The Great Gatsby ” , the auto is represented as a symbol of power, money, and in Gatsby ‘s eyes besides represents being high category. On the contrary, the auto is far from being high category.

Many people who are in chase of their ain version of the American dream, are non merely prosecuting it reap the benefits and awards of it. But they are besides making it to demo off the fiscal high quality they have achieved through difficult work and finding. Since people are invariably judging another individual ‘s societal category based on their ownerships and how they present themselves, this leads to many people trying to look upper category through their money. These persons make sure that the objects they purchase catches the oculus of others, in order to demo off their wealth. Cars are to most people in today ‘s society a necessity, but to some a luxury. In the early 1920 ‘s, the clip period in which “ The Great Gatsby ” was set in, the auto were as a luxury point to many because merely affluent people could afford it at that clip. To the wealthy, autos were besides one of the ways that they could mensurate an person ‘s fiscal capablenesss asides from their house. Later on the 1920 ‘s, with the revolution of the automotive industry, companies such as the Ford Motor Company began doing autos available to everyone else and non merely the wealthy. The auto that Ford was best known for was their celebrated Model T Ford. ‘From 1909 to 1927, the Ford Motor Company built more than 15 million Model T autos ‘ ( ModelT ) . Similar to anything else that people buy, autos were a symbol of how rich a individual was, what societal category they are in and what their personality type is. If everyone had to option to, a bulk of the people would take to be high category, but in world this will non go on because of the manner that people portray themselves to the universe. In the novel, “ The Great Gatsby ” , autos were shown as symbols of wealth, societal position, and it besides showed that Gatsby was a portion of the upstart. All of the above three subjects are besides present in our clip and non merely the 1920 ‘s.

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In today ‘s society, autos are known as a mark of position and a individual ‘s position can be represented by their wealth. When people have excessively much money they tend to pass it on excessive merchandises such as mammoth houses and fancy autos, as shown in ‘The Great Gatsby ‘ . In the novel, Gatsby had a big, expensive, brassy auto that scattered visible radiation everyplace, which he was really proud of. Gatsby ‘s auto was described as, ‘a rich pick coloring material, bright with Ni, swollen here and at that place in its monstrous length with exultant chapeau boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a maze of windscreens that mirrored a twelve Sun, ‘ ( Fitzgerald ) . Unlike many of the autos in the howling 20 ‘s, which had a standard black coloring material, Gatsby ‘s auto had a usage xanthous coloring material. Through his auto, one can see that Gatsby is a really mercenary individual, non merely that but it besides shows that he enjoys demoing off his wealth which makes him portion of the upstart. We know that Gatsby was non born and raised in a high category society but alternatively had to gain off his money through difficult work. Gatsby attempts to fall in the upper category but since he was non born in an upper category household, his reading of those that are high category was somewhat flawed. His pride in mercenary objects such as his expensive auto are non the actions that the upper category would transport out, but Gatsby ‘s position of the upper category is that all you need is money and you can be upper category. However, for person who is a portion of the upstart, purchasing dramatic things is non plenty. Gatsby has to be noticed in order to allow others aware that he is rich every bit good, which is the ground for his deficiency of gustatory sensation in the points he buys. In the novel, this illustrates the difference between those of the gustatory sensation of the upstart and those are have ever been a portion of the upper category society.

In our current clip, Gatsby ‘s actions are really similar to that of P. Diddy. P. Diddy says in an interview that, “ I ‘m the one drive about in the Rolls Royce with his chapeau turned, goin ‘ down Fifth Avenue with the system dining in the dorsum. Walkin ‘ into Gucci, closing down the shop, purchasing everything at the mutherfuckin ‘ same clip, driving up to Harlem and givin ‘ out $ 100 measures to homeless people ” ( Eshun ) . He is connoting that his life is really similar to that of Gatsby ‘s, he grew up in a hapless household and worked to derive all of the success he presently has. Much like Gatsby, Diddy is non afraid to demo off his wealth and in fact is proud of it. Harmonizing to Fortune ‘s list of the 40 richest Americans under 40, P. Diddy was ranked 22nd. The lone difference between the two would be that while Gatsby found it finally impossible to get away his low beginnings, Diddy has no such concerns. Far from concealing his roots he does the opposite, take a firm standing upon, and even overstating, his connexion to the streets of New York in order to offer himself as a trade name name for black urban civilization ( Eshun ) . So although, he has no shame in his yesteryear, Diddy is still non considered a portion of the upper category society because he lacks the manners and buys points that those of upper category will ne’er purchase. P. Diddy is the definition of the term upstart in the our clip as was Gatsby in the 1920 ‘s.

In today ‘s society, the definition of upstart is people who have become well wealthy in their ain life-time and their wealth was non carried down from old coevalss. There are 1000s of people in the universe today who have joined this group of the new rich, the upstart. The new rich and the upper category spend their wealth on wholly different things. The new rich think that they can merely buy legion mercenary merchandises and all of a sudden they are upper-class. In “ The Great Gatsby, ” Gatsby believes by buying mercenary merchandises he will go upper-class. It is besides mentioned how epicurean Gatsby ‘s auto is, and the xanthous coloring of his auto symbolizes the money that he has. Even in our clip and age, the difference between the vehicles that the parvenu thrust and the vehicles that the upper category thrust is clearly seeable. Companies such as Ford have many fabrication workss all over the US and the roads are filled with autos that have come off their production line. These autos are normally the 1s that the new rich bargain, but in order to stand out even more, these autos are normally really brassy and catch a batch of attending. Those of the in-between category, and those that are affluent who have adequate money to pass on luxuries tend to pass it on custom-making their vehicles to pull more attending to them. For illustration, a rapper that goes by the name of Xzhibit, has a show on MTV called ‘Pimp My Ride. ‘ On this show, “ Xzhibit joyously oversees the crew at West Cost Customs as they customize cash-strapped immature drivers ‘ drug addict autos ” ( People ) . Other rappers and celebrated famous persons besides take their expensive autos and custom-make them by adding things such as whirling rims, unambiguously coloured pigment occupations and excessive interior designs. This is really similar to what Gatsby did to his auto in order to seek and demo it off. On the other manus, there are still auto makers that have stuck to traditional methods of production. Companies such as Lamborghini, Bentley and Rolls Royce still make their autos by manus, in order to specifically run into the demands of their clients. In comparing to the 1920 ‘s, these high category type of cars is the equivalent to the Equus caballus, which was a symbol of category.

Besides, one can state that Gatsby is portion of the upstart because of where he chose to purchase his tremendous house, in West Egg. In this house, Gatsby throws immense parties where he invites all of the other parvenu people believing that they are upper category. Through these parties, Gatsby thinks that he is upper category because he is able to demo off his magnificent house, but in world those of upper category do non act in such ways. P. Diddy besides portions similar assets with Gatsby. Some of these assets include a house on Park Avenue, a sign of the zodiac in the Hamptons and designated summer and winter Bentleys. He besides has a fancy for ankle-length white pelt coats, diamond jewelry and Cristal bubbly ( Eshun ) . From this description of Diddy ‘s assets, and his fancy for all right bubbly, you can state that he besides enjoys throwing immense parties where he invites other famous persons to demo off. Diddy is known for throwing his one-year Independence Day White Party, which is one of the most talked about parties of the twelvemonth among those of the upstart in our clip. With all this wealth, comes the chance for many dirts to happen in one ‘s life.

In this clip and age, there are many still jobs environing modern relationships as there were in the 1920 ‘s. Our society is based on diverse relationships including concern relationships and human relationships which is determined by who we are as a individual. Many people wish to happen felicity through love and matrimony, and others believe in the doctrine that love comes of course and one does non hold to seek it. Other believe that everybody has a psyche mate and this will take to love at first sight. These are all the defects of modern twenty-four hours relationships, because there is no right manner to come in into a relationship. As people turning up in a society dictated by the media, we tend to non see a individual ‘s true purposes, their prevarications, and dishonesty until we have grounds to back up it. People invariably put up a frontage to conceal who they genuinely are, and while they conceal their true ego, their actions lead to other ‘s being hurt. These people are existing in both human relationships and commercial relationships, and both of these can be seen in “ The Great Gatsby ” and through Tiger Woods. In “ The Great Gatsby, ” we know we know that Nick and Jordanaa‚¬a„?s relationship is predestined to be a failure. Nick and Jordan ‘s outlooks for one another are wholly different, and Jordan has besides been known to rip off, in life and in athleticss. Jordan likes work forces who are stupid because she enjoys being in control of a relationship, and Nick is to the full cognizant of this. therefore this supports the fact why their relationship will non work. In the instance of Tiger Woods, one can see that what was one time the symbol of a household adult male and category on and off the golf class, is now a corrupt image of a adult male who has been unfaithful to this married woman. The media has made his violent brush with his married woman, Elin Nordegren, really public and many rumors begin to stir around the contention. Day after twenty-four hours, Tiger Wood ‘s kept womans continue to come out saying that they have had an matter with him, taking to his autumn from grace ( Judd ) .

In the 1920 ‘s, adult females had a fewer rights than work forces, and adult females that were successful in life such as Jordan, were going more and more independent. Jordan was the exact antonym of what adult females were suppose to be like in that clip period. She was in control of her relationships because work forces were attracted to her and she could utilize that to her advantage. By being the one in control, it proved that Jordan had a batch of freedom in her life. Freedom to day of the month any cat that she wanted because of her expressions and freedom to rip off on person whenever she chooses to. However, these freedoms will take to her devastation, for the ground that Jordan wants to be in a relationship with a adult male that is careful so that they can take attention of her ( Fitzgerald ) . However, Nick is the exact antonym of this because he excessively besides gets into multiple relationships at the same clip. Nick already had a girlfriend at that point but he wanted to be honest to her so he had to interrupt up with his girlfriend in order to get down a new relationship. A adult male that finds it really easy to interrupt up with person is non careful. The lone ground that Nick wanted to get down a relationship with Jordan is because he was physically attracted to her. From other relationships, we know that a physical attractive force will non last and finally person will acquire their bosom broken, in this instance it will be Jordan.

Jordan needs a careful adult male in her life because from the novel, we can see that Jordan is really careless when it comes to driving and she is careless when it comes to relationships. In “ The Great Gatsby ” , there are many grounds that support why Jordan and Nick should non be in a relationship. Some of these grounds would be that Jordan lied about a auto she wrecked by go forthing it exposed to the rain, rip offing in a tourney and taking a life of misrepresentation, “ in order to maintain that cool, insolent smiling turned to the universe and fulfill the demands of her difficult, jaunty organic structure ” ( Fitzgerald ) . Jordan is a dishonorable individual that cares merely about herself. However, Nick feels that aa‚¬A“dishonesty in a adult female is something you ne’er blame deeplyaa‚¬A? ( Fitzgerald ) . This means that Nick has grown up populating a life where he expects dishonesty from adult females and he does non swear adult females any longer, which is besides one of the grounds why he does non desire to get married. The life style in which Jordan leaves is really similar to that of fellow golf player, Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods is a adult male that is used to being surrounded by packages of wealth and power such as his expensive auto whose dorsum window was broken by his married woman exerting a golf nine in the private road of his magnificent place. He was one time looked upon by everyone as a household adult male, a adult male of upper category is now known as the adult male who cheated on his married woman with many other adult females. Similar to Jordan, Tiger Woods is besides dishonest even after rip offing on his married woman, he continues to avoid holding to take any duty for his actions. Alternatively he chooses to give false and deceptive statements sing the state of affairs. In this current phase of his life, Tiger Wood is invariably surrounded by disloyalty and treachery. This played a big portion in doing hurting to many others and destructing his image which was tied so closely with the upper category game of category. As people that grew up without immense amounts of money at our disposal, we question why such jocks who have multi-million dollar contracts and endorsement trades would throw that all off merely to hold personal businesss with other adult females. This happening of athleticss taking to a destroyed matrimony and public unfavorable judgment can besides be tied back to “ The Great Gatsby. ” In the novel, the character of Tom Buchanan is really similar to that of Tiger Woods. Tom enters into a commercial relationship with Myrtle where he excessively uses her for sex, and in return she gets entree to Tom ‘s money. The ground for this commercial relationship was due to the fact that Tom was bored with his relationship with Daisy. So as a adult male of power, category, and wealth he knew that he could hold an unfastened sexual relationship with anyone he wanted to without acquiring caught. Much like Tiger Woods, Tom ‘s huge sum power and wealth led to his ultimate ruin. This besides brings up the inquiry of whether if athleticss are genuinely ‘clean ‘ or non.

In 1919, one of the biggest athleticss dirts in history occurred when Arnold Rothstein fixed the World Series. To sum up the events, “ Rothstein arranged to pay White Sox participants $ 80,000 on the status that they lose. They did, and Rothstein made a important amount wagering against Chicago ” ( American Jewish Historical Society ) . Even though the events of this dirt and the 1s in Tiger Wood ‘s dirt are wholly different they both represent the same thing. The athleticss industry is tainted because the jocks merely care for their ain good being and non that of the athletics itself. Tiger Woods tainted the image of professional golf by allowing himself acquire caught up in unfaithfulness, and the image of professional baseball was ruined for the ground that participants were willing to lose games for payoff. It is of import that those in the athleticss industry do non set their ain selfish demands in front of the athletics. For the ground that many look up to the athleticss universe as their inspiration. What negative consequence will this hold if the athleticss universe continues to degrade due to dirts such as the repair of the World Series or the Tiger Woods dirt. Not merely do athleticss dirts consequence the moral cloth of society but holding excessively much freedom to show one ‘s gender and promiscuousness will consequence it as good.

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