Sarah Masterson

Expository Writing 110

Mrs. Johnson

April 27 2017

A Satire or a Love Story?

The 1920s were a time of change. Manufacturing and selling alcohol was illegal, women

got the right to vote, and Mickey Mouse had his first appearance on film. The Roaring Twenties

were full of inspiration, especially to author F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1925, The Great Gatsby was

released. The story was a satire for the 1920s, commenting and exaggerating the luxurious

decade. Because the book follows character Jay Gatsby and his journey trying to get the attention

of Daisy Buchanan, whether the book is a satire or a love story is a controversial topic. Many

believe that it is simply a love story. Based on aspects other than Gatsby and Daisy, this cannot

be true. The love story of Gatsby and Daisy is only there to benefit the satire. The Great Gatsby

by Scott F Fitzgerald is a satire of the 1920s because it exaggerates attitudes and behaviors,

wealth, and the American Dream.

The Great Gatsby exaggerates the attitudes of people in the 1920s. Throughout this time

period Americans attitudes towards those with a different skin color were still negative. Racism

was common and Americans attitudes seemed to be immovable. In The Great Gatsby, Tom

mentions a book he had read called The Rise of the Colored Empires. He says, Well its a fine

book, and everyone ought to read it. The idea is if we dont look out the white race will be- will
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be utterly submerged. (Fitzgerald 13). Tom is convinced that white supremacy is what is best.

What people might not know is that Toms book is based on a real book written in the 1920s

called The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy. This book says that the white

race will fall because of the growing population of non-white races. Scott F Fitzgerald used Tom

and his opinion of the book to show that people during that time werent hiding what they

thought of the other race. The Great Gatsby used a real book in order to exaggerate people's

attitudes in the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby mocks how people behaved in the 1920s. During this time peoples

morals were looser which lead to many affairs and divorces. In The Great Gatsby, both Tom and

Daisy have an affair. Were getting off, he insisted. I want you to meet my girl. (Fitzgerald

24). As he left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby and pulled his face down,

kissing him on the mouth. You know I love you, She murmured. (Fitzgerald 116). Fitzgerald

used this to exaggerate behaviors because Tom seems to be showing off Myrtle and Daisy is

telling Gatsby she loves while Tom is just in the other room. This is a comment on the 1920s

society because as many abandoned the idea that marriage was life's ultimate goal, marriages

took place later and divorce rates increased (Tomyn). People didnt care about marriages as

much as they used to. When people stopped viewing marriage as the most important thing, the

significance of staying in a loyal relationship seemed to decrease. Life's ultimate goal had

changed. People's morals in The Great Gatsby were an exaggeration of behaviors in the 1920s.

In the 1920s, popularity of any members of the society were determined by the amount of

money one had to spend on alcohol and fancy clothes (1920s: The Era of Materialism and

Consumption). The nations total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929 (The
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Roaring Twenties). In The Great Gatsby, Tom and Daisy used their money to get themselves out

of bad situations, such as when both Gatsby and Myrtle die. Nick says, I called up Daisy half an

hour after we found him, called her instinctively and without hesitation. But she and Tom had

gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them. (Fitzgerald 164). Fitzgerald used

Daisy and Tom as an exaggeration of how people valued and relied on their wealth. The wealthy

also prioritized material things. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby has a huge castle like house that he

throws parties in every weekend, but none of those things really matter to him. Nick says He

hadnt once ceased looking at Daisy and I think he revalued everything in his house according to

the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. (Fitzgerald 91). Because Gatsby can

change his values so quickly, we can see that they had no real value to him in the first place. He

merely bought them to impress Daisy. He had all this money but all he did was buy unnecessary

things. This is an exaggeration of what was really happening in the twenties. During the 1920s,

many Americans had extra money to spend, and they spent it on consumer goods such as

ready-to-wear clothes and home appliances like electric refrigerators (The Roaring Twenties).

Fitzgerald used Gatsby to show that people wanted expensive materials rather than meaningful

ones. The characters in The Great Gatsby valued material things much like the Americans

during the 1920s.

The American Dream can be defined as an American social ideal that stresses

egalitarianism and especially material prosperity (The American Dream). The American Dream

made people believe that no matter what social class they were a part of, they could have a life

full of riches. James Gatz, a little farm boy who considered himself better than his parents,

created the persona of James Gatsby dependant on the American Dream. Nick says, So he
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invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent,

(Fitzgerald 98). Gatsby left his family to become better, just like many people in the twenties.

Because of growing industrialization and job opportunities, many people moved to the city. By

1930, 56% of Americans lived in urban areas (Where to Live in the 1920s). Jay Gatz is an

exaggeration of Americans in the 1920s because both depend on the american dream to prosper.

Even something so great as the American Dream had to come to an end. In The Great Gatsby,

Myrtle and her husband lived in the valley of ashes which was right outside of New York City.

Myrtle is a very materialistic woman, just like many of the people in the 1920s. However, when

she married Mr. Wilson her dream of a wealthy life died. Myrtle could have married someone

who had a lot of things but instead she married Mr. Wilson. With him, she had no chance of

living the life she wanted. Fitzgerald used Myrtle to show how people would take what they had

for granted and then lose the chance to get their dream. While the 1920s was full of music and

wealth, the 1930s was the beginning of the the Great Depression. The Great Depression was an

economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world that

began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever

experienced by the industrialized Western world (About the Great Depression). The American

Dream was over. The Great Gatsby mocked the both the rise and the fall of the American

Dream.

The Great Gatsby was written to ridicule the 1920s, more specifically attitudes and

behaviors, wealth, and the American Dream. People were racist and they had low morals

pertaining to their relationships. As America's wealth increased, so did people's values for

materials. The Great Gatsby has many exaggerations of this throughout the book such as Toms
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book, Tom and Daisy moving after Gatsbys death, and the valley of ashes. Fitzgerald used The

Great Gatsby to show people in the 1920s what they were really acting like and what would

happen if they continued. The 1920s were a time of change and F. Scott Fitzgerald knew that

when he wrote the satire The Great Gatsby.

WORKS CITED

The Roaring Twenties. History. A+E Networks, 2010, 14 Apr. 2017.

1920s: The era of Materialism and Consumption. Shrewsbury International School. Reading

The

World, 11 Jul. 2013, 14 Apr. 2017.

Roaring Twenties. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Mar. 2017, 14 Apr. 2017

The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy. Wikipedia. Wikimedia

Foundation, 2

Apr. 2017. 14 Apr. 2017.

Where to Live in the 1920s?. Teaching the American 20s. Educator Programs, 14 Apr. 2017.

Tomyn, Rosanne. Dating in the Roaring Twenties. Classroom. Leaf Group Ltd, 14 Apr. 2017.

About the Great Depression. Modern American Poetry. 14 Apr. 2017.

Fitzgerald, F Scott. The Great Gatsby. Charles Scribners Sons, 1925.

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Definition of the American Dream. Merriam Webster. Merriam Webster Incorporated, 14 Apr.

2017.