How Did Myrtle Decline In The Great Gatsby

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Huy Pham Period 06 Mrs. Carrasco Behind the glamorous 1920s The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, took place during the “Roaring Twenties”, which was an important milestone in the American history, for it marked the significant changes in the economy, art, culture, and society; nonetheless, there was a decline in social morality. The major characters in The Great Gatsby enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle, in which they led wealthy and opulence lives; however, only a small percentage of Americans at that time were given those privileges. Needless to say that the 1920s was not only a prosperous time, but it was also a difficult transitional period for the majority of Americans. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to…show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald named “The Jazz Age”, was a booming time of America with consumerism, the idea of flapper, the inventions of the radio and telephone, and a developing automobile industry; sadly, came along with these enormous booms was a decline in social morality. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy and her husband, Tom, were reckless and irresponsible people. For example, in the accident that caused Myrtle’s death, Daisy let Gatsby take the blame, while she was the one who struck Myrtle. Moreover when the news of Gatsby’s death spread out in town, Tom and Daisy hastily packed and left the town because they were afraid of having to be responsible for the mess that they had created. Nick, the narrator, said that Tom and Daisy “. . . smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their . . . vast carelessness . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made . . ." Likewise an illustration of a decline in social morality was the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Taking advantage of the fear of communism and anti-immigrants attitudes, the Ku Klux Klan used them as excuses to oppose people of other races and religions by attacking and lynching people that were not white, including the Roman Catholics, Jews, African American, and foreign-born people. Surprisingly, by 1924 the organization memberships, mostly white male persons and native-born gentile citizens, reached a huge number of 4.5 million. Fortunately, KKK’s criminal activities later led to a decrease of its power in

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