The Great Gatsby from a Historical Perspective

The Great Gatsby portrays many aspects of American society in a negative light. The wealthy in society are portrayed as immoral and superficial; Gatsby conspires with suspicious characters like Meyer Wolfsheim and gains wealth through bootlegging and other illegal activities. People “guessed at [Gatsby’s] corruption” and believed in his “incorruptible dream”, revealing an inherent distrust of the wealthy. However, there are many examples of people in the early 1900s who earned their wealth through sincere hard work and innovation. Around the turn of the 20^th century, Andrew Carnegie was the prime example of the self-made man. Raised in a poor Scottish family, Carnegie found success in America by investing in steel technologies and the railways. Unlike the wealthy in The Great Gatsby, Carnegie found value in giving back to the poor and the rest of society, writing articles like “The Gospel of Wealth” to emphasize how it was a great responsibility for the wealthy to share their wealth for the greater good of society. Carnegie also founded Carnegie Mellon University and many libraries to emphasize the importance of knowledge in the industrial age.

Fitzgerald also criticizes the American dream, commenting on its superficiality. Perhaps the American dream truly seemed superficial during the 1920s; after the devastating World War, people possibly were losing faith in a society with rampant crime and financial instability. However, there were some events in the 1920s that suggested that the American dream was becoming more of a reality than ever before. Women’s suffrage in 1920 was a major victory for activists and it granted greater equalities for women. Women also began to have a greater role in the workforce. Today, many of us are either related to immigrants or are immigrants ourselves. We might not think of our current lifestyle as ideal, or the “American dream”, but we enjoy countless comforts and luxuries that we would not have in other countries. The American dream really is just a matter of perspective. Our current situation may in fact be the dream for someone else. By keeping our dreams in perspective, we can find greater fulfillment from our future dreams when we do eventually fulfill them.