F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby as Criticism of American Society

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzg ageld criticizes American society in the 1920?s for its tendencies to waste, advertise, ferwork forcet superficial relationships, and obsess over appearances. The work has been praised for both its brutal naive realism and its keen depiction of the age that The New York Times referred to as the era when, gin was the national drink and sex was the national obsession(Fitzgerald vii). . . . indifference is presented as a moral failure - a failure of society, particularly the society of the American east to recognize the imperatives of truth and honesty and justice? (Gallo 35). F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the wasteful tendencies of American society. He uses the vale of ashes to refer to this ugly aspect of American society. The valley of ashes is a bleak area situated surrounded by the West addict and New York City, where ashes take the solves of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move d imly and already crumbling through the powdery air(Fitzgerald 23). This unpleasant barren is located right along the roadway and train route between the eggs, home of the lofty aristocrats, and New York City, the exciting and fashionable metropolis where many of the nations wealthiest people live, work, and entertain themselves. There is no essential difference between the fuddled wastelands of New York City and Long Island and the valley of ashes, (Gallo 49) Referring to an eye doctors billboard in the valley of ashes, Nick, our narrator comments Evidently some wild wag of an optometrist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank slew himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away. But ... ... Moment The Novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Urbana U of Illinois P, 1970. Whitley, John S. F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby. London Edward Arnold, 1976. Outline Thesis statement In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes America n society in the 1920?s for its tendency to waste, advertise, form superficial relationships, and obsess over appearances. I. Introduction A. Literary Classic B. social Criticism 1. wasteful tendency 2. advertising obsession 3. superficial relationships 4. appearances regression II. Wasteful Tendency A. Valley of Ashes B. Gatsby C. Tom and Daisy III. Advertising Obsession A. hoarding B. McKees C. Tom D. Daisy E. Gatsby III. Appearances Fixation A. Myrtle B. Catherine C. Gatsby IV. Superficial Relationships A. Billboard B. Myrtle?s Party