In what ways does 'The Great Gatsby' present the reader with a critical vision of America as a socially divided and morally chaotic society?

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In what ways does 'The Great Gatsby' present the reader with a critical vision of America as a socially divided and morally chaotic society?

For the Pilgrim Fathers the passage to America was to a new Eden. They were striving to achieve a democratic society in which all men could succeed. The poem 'Bermudas' by Andrew Marvell depicts the ideals of the original dream, describing the migration across the ocean to a new world, free from the corruption of Europe. They 'row'd along' through the water working in accordance with Providence to move history forwards. However, the pursuit of material success has created social disorder. The 10s has been described as the Jazz Age, the era of 'flaming youth', when young people danced to syncopated 'African' rhythms, careened about the countryside in cars in search of pleasure and forgetfulness, and made gods of movie starts and professional athletes. Through 'The Great Gatsby', Fitzgerald examines the fate of the American ideals during a time when the aspirations of the Declaration of Independence 1776 were under threat from the pressures of modern life.

A huge class differential has crept into America and allowed people like Tom Buchanan to gain enormous power and wealth. Fitzgerald uses a physical description of Tom to depict the character's essence. Tom is described as having a 'supercilious manner' and 'two shining arrogant eyes' that dominate his face. Tom's authoritative personality and class superiority are immediately established. The European 'riding clothes' that are described indicate that he is moving in the wrong direction, back to the inequities of Europe. Nick notes the 'great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat', almost like the heavily muscled body of an animal under its skin. Metaphorically, Tom's coat is acting as a thin veneer of civilisation over the ferocious social power that his 'cruel body' yields. One aspect of Fitzgerald's style is to use a particular symbol to metaphorically represent the larger society. Tom 'represents the brutality and moral carelessness of the established rich' .

Tom is a member of the ruling class, like Daisy and Jordan. They should be the guiding people in society, the ones steering the ship. However, these people are morally confused wanderers who emerge unscathed from everything because of their money and power. When Nick is having dinner with Daisy, Tom and Jordan, Daisy asks 'What do people plan?'. This comment is echoed later in the novel before going to the Plaza Hotel 'What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?' cried Daisy, 'and the day after that, and the next thirty years?'. These are supposed to be the people who are running the country but they are completely superfluous. 'The Buchanans have drifted from Santa Barbara to Cannes to Deauville to Chicago in a way that is symbolic of the moral rootlessness of the very rich.'

Daisy and Tom show how people can use their position to look down on others and live their life carelessly. As Nick says about Daisy, 'in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership on a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged'. It is this superior mindset that allows Tom to cheat on his wife and allows he and Daisy to run away from the death of Myrtle. They need not worry about such things because they are too good for it. Nick sees it as a kind of carelessness and refers to Jordan, Tom and Daisy as careless in one form or another. 'They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness…' These people live the decadent life of the roaring twenties that many writers of this era were criticising. Fitzgerald uses these characters to expose the mindless, indulgent, irresponsible lifestyle of the rich, where consequence is just an afterthought. These people do not worry about paying for their actions so they do as they please.

Jordan and Daisy are both bad drivers. This is emphasised in the novel as the car is used by Fitzgerald as a metaphor for American society. In the novel, car crashes function as a symbol to reveal the carelessness and lack of direction exhibited by the supposed drivers of society. Nick is shocked when Jordan passes 'so close to some workmen that our fender flicked a button on one man's coat'. Nick calls her a careless driver but Jordan says she does not worry because the other people on the road are not as careless as her and that she makes sure she surrounds herself with people who will not 'crash' into her. It can be seen that Jordan has no concept of accountability. Daisy's careless driving causes the death of Myrtle and she escapes retribution because of her money. Both Daisy and Jordan were born with money and have been spoiled by it. They are 'insulated by their wealth from the reality of others' lives' . As a result, they have learned to think only of themselves without regard for the people that it may hurt.

Another example of bad driving is the man at Gatsby's party. When emerging from the wreck, the man inquires calmly, 'Did we run outa gas?'. He paws 'tentatively at the ground with a large uncertain dancing shoe', unable to put his foot on the ground. The suggestion here is that all the rich do is dance. This man, like the rest of the rich, is not in touch with the real world. They are protected by their money and can therefore exercise this lack of responsibility. The car is a metaphor for everything being out of joint; if the wheel is off you cannot go anywhere, like American society. Fitzgerald uses the car as a symbol for a society that is going off the rails. The car is 'the new emblem of consumer power, as well as of destructiveness and violence in modern society' . Only the rich people have cars at this time and these rich people are representatives of America in the 10s. These are the powerful people who are driving this society into the ditch. They are careless. Reckless driving represents their recklessness in life.

People are drawn to Gatsby's exciting and decadent parties 'like moths to light'. Fitzgerald's use of colour when describing the party portrays high society. The colours blue and yellow are used to describe objects at Gatsby's party 'blue gardens', 'yellow bug', and 'yellow cocktail music'. These colours evoke a world of sophistication since they were fashionable at the time. However, Fitzgerald's use of synaesthesia alerts the reader; the people at the party are always looking round to find someone else to talk to. This is very typical of the 10s; everything changing very fast and momentarily. 'The groups change more swiftly' under 'the constantly changing light'. Everything here is for the moment. The people 'glide on through the sea-change'. Fitzgerald then extends this idea of light shifting as he describes the girls as wearing 'opal'. Everything is in flux, like the sea. All you get is a 'sharp, joyous moment', like Gatsby does with Daisy. Life is very brief, like a moth's.

People are now rich but nobody knows how to behave or why they are there. One example of this is the abundance of 'wayward men,' their sobbing wives, and the young girls in yellow dresses being pushed 'backward in eternal graceless circles' by the 'old men'. Guests perform 'baby-acts' in costume, a perverse image. Fitzgerald uses these small events as symbols revealing the moral chaos of the period. The description of the guests clearly defines the purposeless nature of Gatsby's parties; '…introductions are forgotten on the spot'. Most of the guests have not been invited and accept his hospitality without even meeting him. The party is a metaphor for America in the 10s; its splendid appearance 'is merely an illusion created by money' . The suggestions of sexual decadence and lack of social cohesion depict a society that is lacking morals.

Situated in between the introduction of the Buchanans and Gatsby's party in the novel is the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is a moral wasteland, a place of uninterrupted desolation where 'ash-grey men' move dimly and crumble 'through the powdery air'. The Valley of Ashes represents moral and social decay. It is the grim underside to the hedonism of the Eggs and New York. The Valley of Ashes 'is a large dumping ground for the detritus of a modern industrial society totally absorbed in materialism, which the many references to dust and ashes link inextricably with sterility and death.' The futile activity done by the tired, grey men symbolises the spiritless style of the working class 'the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud'. Fitzgerald's description of the drawbridge and passing barges make an allusion to the River Styx, the river in Greek mythology which one crosses to enter the realm of the dead.

The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg gaze out over the hellish wasteland. These 'blue and gigantic' eyes seem to be a monstrous parody of the eyes of Providence; they watch, but they do not see. This, Fitzgerald seems to be saying, is what remains of God in the post-industrial age. America has failed to carry out its providential design. It has failed to recreate Eden. The valley is an image of hell and the people in the valley are completely drained of vitality. Instead of productive farms there is 'a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens'. There should be a land of plenty, like in 'Bermudas' 'He makes figs our mouths to meet; And throws the Melons at our feet'. The economic prosperity being experienced at this time was spread very unevenly amongst the population, as one observer noted, 'America can show greater contrasts in such matters than any other country I know' . America was the Promised Land but it has been turned into a 'dismal scene' of dust. Nothing grows here or is living.

George Wilson and his wife Myrtle are both abused by members of the 'ruling elite' and become victims of the inevitable process that is taking over America. Tom is having an affair with Myrtle and George cannot do anything about it. This is the epitome of lack of social power. After Myrtle's death Tom returns to George's garage to ensure Gatsby is blamed. He picks 'up Wilson like a doll' and barks orders. George has no power or will; he is completely helpless. George sets out as an avenging figure to right the moral wrong, guided by what he thinks of as the eyes of God. Looking up at the eyes of Dr T.J. Eckelburg, George says, 'God sees everything'. He feels the eyes are directing him to seek justice. In reality George is being misdirected by the world of the powerful as Tom then directs him to kill Gatsby. This is another example of how Tom and Daisy's wealth and power insulates them. Myrtle was run over by the power and wealth of the world she thought she could gain access to. In the end, Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, the people from the wrong side of the tracks, are killed.

Gatsby is striving to achieve the American dream. Jimmy Gatz, a poor farmer's son, 'falls transcendently in love with the wealthy Daisy Fay, and devoted his life to constructing a self that can win her back' . Gatsby is a figure full of direction. Daisy is the pole star by which Gatsby has steered his life, like the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. The green light represents much more though. Gatsby has spent his whole life longing for something better. Money, success, acceptance, and Daisy. So the green light stands for all of Gatsby's longings and wants. He has accumulated the wealth and is now in pursuit of Daisy, the 'Golden Girl' who has become the 'incarnation' of his dream. Fitzgerald, however, is using irony to emphasise that Daisy is hardly the incarnation of this ideal.

Gatsby's house serves as a key symbol of aspiration, reflecting both Gatsby's success as an American self-made man and the mirage of an identity he has created to win Daisy's love. Gatsby follows his American dream as he buys the house to be across the bay from Daisy, and has parties to gain widespread recognition in order to impress her. Yet, Owl Eyes compares Gatsby's mansion a to a house of cards, muttering 'that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse'. Ultimately, the inevitable occurs as Gatsby loses Daisy and dies friendless (except Nick) prompting Nick to refer to Gatsby's mansion as 'that huge incoherent failure of a house'.

After the death of Myrtle, Daisy returns to Tom and the world of the East Eggers, leaving Gatsby to contemplate a world that no longer has any meaning, beauty or purpose. He has given up hope. Gatsby was driven by his belief that he would get Daisy and fulfil his dreams. Even when Nick challenged that you cannot recreate the past, Gatsby insisted, 'Why of course you can!' Now his dreams are shattered. Gatsby is no longer part of the world where he throws opulent parties in the hope of attracting Daisy from across the bay. His American Dream has been shattered and he now 'looked up at an unfamiliar sky'. This is a 'new world' for Gatsby, where people like himself are 'breathing dreams like air'. The world has turned alien and meaningless in Gatsby's eyes. He wanted Daisy, and she slipped through his fingers. So even though his wealth and stature are at their greatest, he is not content.

Gatsby's story exemplifies the loss of the American dream. He thinks that he and Daisy can go back to Louisville and get married but we know they cannot. Gatsby and Daisy's relationship metaphorically represents America since America cannot go back to the days when it was the new Promised Land. Gatsby wanted to obtain the American dream but he was steering in the wrong direction. Daisy's light was the wrong goal to pursue. Gatsby was attempting to recover the American dream when it was already corrupted. Gatsby's dream was 'already behind him'; he had had his time with Daisy and was not going to recover it. The more Gatsby tried to obtain, the less he ended up with. Like the green light, it receded before him no matter how badly he wanted all of it. America is now in a 'vast obscurity' of darkness, 'where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night'. Gatsby's tragic end was due to the 'carelessness' of people like Daisy. Gatsby's story is an emblem of what America has become. America has changed from a 'fresh, green breast' to a 'grotesque wasteland where only the morally reprehensible can hope to survive' .

The East is associated with fast-paced lifestyle, decadent parties, crumbling moral values, and the pursuit of wealth. The West is associated with more traditional moral values. Going East is significant since it is turning against the tide of American history. Tom, Nick, Daisy and Gatsby all go east. They are not pushing American history forward. The dream of improvement turned into a superficial imitation of the old European social system. For example, Gatsby's house, a 'factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy', is merely a copy of an original feudal lord's estate, just like Tom and Daisy's 'red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion'. Metaphorically they are not travelling to the Promised Land since they are going back to the Europeanised, corrupt world of the East.

Fitzgerald is looking at the failure of this Promised Land and compares the realised dreams of the Dutch sailors with the unfulfilled dreams of the 10s. His vision of America is as a place that has fallen from its ideals to a state of division, darkness, and ash-grey men. America is meant to be a place of democracy and equality. America has a chance to recover the old American dream but the ruling elite is going in the wrong direction. In 'Bermudas' the men are described as exemplary figures. 'From a small boat that row'd along…With falling oars they kept the time'. These men are working in perfect accordance with Providence. This allows society to progress, like the boat. In 'The Great Gatsby', however, the boats beat on 'against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past'. They are being dragged back East, to the injustices of Europe.

'American idealism has been corrupted by adopting materialism as its means' . The Toms and Daisys of the world have created a 'socially divided and morally chaotic society' where the working classes are crushed by the power of the wealthy. 'The Great Gatsby' presents the reader with a censorious and disapproving view of the rich in America and the huge gulf that prevails between them and the poor. Fitzgerald has a vision of America as having lost its virtues and 'The Great Gatsby' exemplifies this.

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