Examples Of Modernism In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows many examples of modernism. Fitzgerald shows many modernism techniques like loss of control, alienation, corruption of the American Dream, breaking society’s rules and feeling restless. Fitzgerald also shows modernism through the fragmented writing.

She may be the his ultimate goal between but it is also the lifestyle he wants to be accepted to that he was denied. Gatsby will never be with Daisy if he still has the title of destitute veteran so he alters his vision about himself. However Gatsby's goals cannot be achieved if he does not enter the illegal world of Wolfsheim. "I raised him out of nothing, right out of the gutter [...] I knew I could use him good" ( Fitzgerald, 9). Even when Gatsby was seen as a useless part of society Wolfsheim knew he can use his charm and make him useful for the bootlegging business. The old money class like Tom Buchanan can sense new money and have this natural disgust towards people like Gatsby. Even though through Gatsby's perspective his actions were justified out of his love for Daisy; however, once Daisy's ignorance is ripped away she wants nothing to do with Gatsby. "defending his name against accusations [...] with every word she was drawing further into herself" (Fitzgerald, 7). The lies Gatsby commits ultimately distorts Daisy's perception about him as well. Through all the moments Gatsby thought he finally reached his green light with Daisy but she was never going to leave Tom and her reputation with society. The green light was only a tease at Gatsby making him think he can actually obtain his goals but he died with a false

As we know words have power ro move readers, make them sad, angry, ashamed, and disgusted. Writers write with the craving to stimulate readers’ emotions, and readers read to experience an affective charge. Yet, it seems emotion remains a subject that may often receive little attention within literature. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantically charged novel The great Gatsby is a good example of romantic literature. Fitzgerald novel linked America’s literary past and the romance of a nation struggling to re define itself in one character, Jay Gatsby. In an era of post-war disillusionment, severe gap in social classes and visionary idealism warped into materialism. Jay Gatsby as a romantic protagonist is a bold testimony to the Romanticism in American

Dreams of progress would doubtlessly be dashed and old values persisted. Secondly, Gatsby's ruin can be attributed to his blindness to the defective moral values and the emptiness of the promise of a better life for all during the Jazz Age. In the novel, many characters are morally flawed, exchanges between men and women being generally insincere and flippant. Several of them engaged in clandestine affairs. Gatsby threw wide, opulent parties frequently, living indulgently. Daisy is also dominated by materialism. Her worship of stability and money made it impossible to leave her husband and become committed to Gatsby. Gatsby was involved in shady business dealings with crooks. In his funeral, few of his party guests were present; he was quickly forgotten. Plus, between wealthy the the magnificent East Egg and West Egg, there was the desolate Land of Waste, where adultery abounded. Apparently Gatsby failed to perceive the moral flaws beyond the surface glamour. Finally, Gatsby was ruined, partially, by his lust and love for Daisy. All of his endeavour, including unlawful transactions, served the sole purpose of winning back his lost love. His lust eventually overpowered and controlled him. Lust, if

Tom is the wealthiest man mentioned in the novel and he relates to the world completely through his money and views all people and things as commodities. Fitzgerald writes, “"They were careless people, Tom & Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” (146). Tom believes he is above everyone else and causes conflict in his relationship with Daisy by having an affair with another woman. He leads Daisy to believe that he does not love her due to the fact that he attempts to buy her love and happiness by surrounding her by material wealth. Jay Gatsby spent a lot of his life working to regain Daisy’s attention. When he realized that he could not be with Daisy due to the poor background of his family, he participated in criminal activity such as stealing and corruption, causing problems in society, just so he could acquire some type of wealth in order to stand a chance against Tom. Gatsby’s famous parties were thrown for the sole purpose of attracting Daisy. George and Myrtle Wilson represent the lower class and were more concerned with putting food on the table than throwing glamorous parties every night. Tom’s behavior towards the couple reflects the attitude present toward the

Modernism brought a new era to fiction as a whole. With World War One raging distress and fear to people worldwide, the modernists as a whole were very angry. They were angry with the propaganda of the time telling them that war was good; those who’d seen the battlefield knew better. They despised their didactic Victorian predecessors, who taught clear divisions between right and wrong. Modernists instead believed that authority figures were corrupt and that morality is often unclear. This comes to light especially within the poems of Eliot and Yeats, and especially in the modernist manifesto Blast.

Through Modernism writing people can see how it was like to live during the time period. F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of those Modernist writers who wrote stories that comprises the conflicts that society went through. People such as Simon can agree that “politicians aren't like the rest of us. Vanity, obsession and above all, the will to power have been honed to a fine point" (Simon 73). Politicians are people who have more power than an ordinary man does in the world. All politicians must be aware of their power and status therefore looking down on others who do not have a status or power as great as theirs. Along with the politicians are other aristocratic and elite people such as business owners. Regular citizens look up to these high class

Modernism is a very broad term that is often misconstrued. “Modern” art is used to describe art that has been created recently. The word people mean to use is “contemporary”. Modern art is a tough adjective to define. Modern art has many definitions including 1920s through 1940s, Dadaist, and streaming consciousness. However, conspicuous consumption is the term that should always be thought of when someone mentions modernism and that art associated with it. Modernism can be defined using Thorstein Veblen’s conspicuous consumption.

The Modernist movement imposed a great deal of change on society. It is easy to see F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby as a classical piece of literature, however, it holds more evidence of Modernist ideas when being closely analyzed. The most prominent Modernist approach in this book is concerned with the theories of psychology. This field of study questions how individuals live having certain intentions in mind. Experts in this area take those intentions and translate them in order to provide reasons for their actions.

Literary Modernism started in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Modernism revolved around breaking the normality of past literary styles. This break from normality quickly became the main energizer for writers to continue to make experiment and create literary Modernism works. Writers also used this break from literary normality to experience with many different writing styles some of which failed horribly and others that went on to become a prominent form of writing. Some now famous writers that rose from this writing style were Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner.

During the early 20th century the art and literature world shifted to a period known as Modernism. This new period of the Modern world focused on a complete change from the ways of the pre-modern world.The pre-Modern world implemented ideas of faith, clear sense of identity, and meaningfulness. While the Modern world focused on loss of faith, confused sense of identity, and futility. F. Scott Fitzgerald embodied the Modernistic style of writing implementing multiple if not all aspects of Modernism in order to convey messages to his readers.Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby draws on aspects of Modernism in order to warn against discontentment that may ensue.

Right after the First World War, in the world, and particularly in the USA, the values, lifestyles, norms and culture on the whole, started to undergo a dramatic change. The new trends gave birth to some new aspects of life and shattered the existing classical values in turn. They expressed a sharp break from the past and its rigid conventions. Admittedly, this remarkable change was an unspoken declaration ushering the beginning of the modern era and the time for dominance of “Modernism.”

What is Modernism? This term was usually referred to as the literature era of the 1920’s. During the “Roaring Twenties”, as most would say, was the time of flappers, gangsters, and the beginning of some of the most renowned literature known to the United States. One of the famous books written in this time was The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925.

Astonished by the worthless, heavy commitment from Gatsby for the grasping of Daisy’s eyes, Nick says to his acquaintance, Jordan Baker, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (78). Gatsby’s burning passion to run into Daisy again is strong, thus presenting the reason he buys his costly home across the bay from her. He attains his money through one thing only, bootlegging; this was all for a woman that stayed with a man after receiving a high value string of pearls. Thus exhibits the poor character traits of Daisy, and the worthless pursuit of Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, he displays Gatsby’s dream to be an unreachable fantasy and that he is blindly head over heals for Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby is oblivious to the reality of Daisy’s unethical morals. He goes through years of mischievous, illegal trouble to regain the love from 5 years previous that is now nonexistent, which eventually leads to defeat. This proves that humans willingly put themselves in deceitful and corrupt situations and act on transgression behavior, if necessary, to lead them to their desires and dreams, even if the dreams are not beneficial for them.

The literary criticism “Gatsby and the pursuit of happiness” by the author, Voegeli, is used to compare The Great Gatsby to the basis of America. He uses the school of sociological criticism to analyze how the historical context at the time impacted Fitzgerald’s piece.