The Great Gatsby: Themes and Symbolism

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Michael Acosta R. Robbins Adv. American Lit. December 2007 The Great Gatsby: Themes and Symbolism The Great Gatsby was written by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, and published in 1925. He was born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota and named after his ancestor (who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner). Fitzgerald was also known for other literary works such as This Side of Paradise and Tender is the Night. Due to his famous and practical works based on what he called “The Jazz Era”, F. Scott Fitzgerald became “the most famous chronicler of 1920’s America.” (Sparknotes) It was from this background and the time period, largely including Prohibition, that he was able to incorporate the expansive themes and symbols in The Great Gatsby. The focuses of the novel include the American Dream, the constant presence of mass marketing, the contrast between the wealthy and the poor, the significance of the geography, and Gatsby’s rise and fall indicated by light and trembling. Before analyzing the various themes and symbols of The Great Gatsby it is important to realize how the historical background had affected them. The story takes place during the 1920’s, an era of “unprecedented prosperity and material success.” (Sparknotes) This era directly followed the end of World War I. After the war, Americans became “extremely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century seem like stuffy, empty hypocrisy.” (Sparknotes) This also created a society of corrupted morals, ripe with “decadence and reckless jubilee”. (Sparknotes) Also contributing to this was the institution of Prohibition, the banning of the manufacture and sale of alcohol. This allowed illegal, underground organizations to arise, profiting from the sale of bootlegged liquor and the people’s desire for alcohol. The people’s newfound abhorrence

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