For this blog on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby , I am focusing not on the writing, but the culture of the novel. The story takes place in the early 1920's, a time not unlike our own. Older people are always saying our generation has lost their moral compass. However, I argue The Great Gatsby is proof that the previous generation is just as depraved as the current. For example, Tom Buchanan's affair with Mrs. Wilson. Buchanan's affair seemed to be common knowledge. Buchanan even toted his mistress around Fifth Avenue.
"So Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York" (Fitzgerald, 26).
That this act was hardly even controversial, and seemed to be generally acceptable as long as kept quiet, is shocking. Then there are the crazy house parties, in which drinking seemed to be the main entertainment. Mr. Gatsby's house parties are a free-for-all, tons of people drinking, partying, and then driving home! This book does not reveal a family-friendly and classy atmosphere that my grandparents are always trying to portray. So the next time your grandma comes in the room while your watching any reality show about people in Jersey, don't listen to her saying people in her day never did things like that. They most definately did.
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