J. Fitzgerald is an American writer who introduces today’s people the Jazz Age. Between the dates 1918 and 1929 (after the First World War), in the USA with the improving technology and economy, people’s life style changed and they started living luxurious lives, going parties every night, buying extra-ordinary cars and hankering for money. Fitzgerald, as a person who lives at that era and knows the conditions of that period, criticizes the society and the money lover people. He tries to make the reader understand his ideas and the society via using some characters who reflect the Jazz Age Period. Hypocrisy is one of the bad specialties of Jazz Age people. As well as using thirst for money, falsehood and sexual affairs he also uses hypocrisy to show the wrong changes in people with starting of the Jazz Age. It also makes his book a work of art which contains a lot of social criticism elements.
Hypocrisy is an important theme of the book. Almost most of the characters are insincere and Fitzgerald frequently reveals his discomfort with hypocrisy by using Nick who is one of the main characters and narrator. Very cleverly in the beginning of the book he makes the reader meet with Nick and trust him by showing the others’ bad and Nick’s good characteristics. After that time, Nick is trustable for the reader. We can trust him. Then later on, when someone shows his hypocritical character, he takes the stage and shows his anger. That is how he takes the reader into his the social criticized work of art.
As another matter of fact, he uses sexual affairs which become very common around American people during the Jazz Age Period. As well as telling a common sin of the society by using the sexual affairs, he also shows hypocrisy. In other words, firstly a sexual affair appears, and then hypocrisy takes its place. To illustrate, Tom, one of the major characters of the book, has sexual affairs with a married woman, Myrtle. His wife, Daisy, surely is not aware of his affairs. Very ironically, at one point in the book (on page 130) Tom says “Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next day they’ll throw everything...”. He complains about Gatsby who sneers at his family life; however he does the same thing to someone else’s family (Wilsons). Similarly on the other hand Fitzgerald introduces us the Tom’s lover, Myrtle. She hides the fact that she is with Tom from her husband. One day his husband sees a golden collar and asks her about that. She refuses to answer and states that she is not with anyone else.
Similarly, Jordan, another major character of the book, a golf player and Nick’s girl friend for a short time, is another typical Jazz Age people. In a golf tournament, Jordan cheats and gets the first place. Most of the people don’t recognize it, but it becomes one of the reasons to Nick to alienate from her. At that point, Fitzgerald again uses him to show his ideas. It is more important that a girl who is seen good and moral suddenly becomes a cheater, liar and deceitful.
Even Gatsby, whom the title of the book comes from, is twofaced. Gatsby’s background and his richness are big riddles. A lot of conversations about him go around and everybody cooks up news about him. Especially in Gatsby’s parties, people gossip about him much. Nick wonders and doesn’t know anything about him either. Later on, just like the others he hears some gossips about him.
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