So much violence and the nonsense of World War I left Americans in such a state of shock that those who could afford it turned to a wild life of excess to compensate. The unprecedented levels of prosperity of the nation enabled F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, icons of the Roaring Twenties, to live extravagantly staying out late and drinking heavily in continuous lavish parties. The couple, who idolized wealth and luxury, was really fascinated by the very rich and all their magic. Their sprees continued in Paris, so full of youthful idealism, where they soon became part of a celebrated circle of American expatriates.
But F. Scott Fitzgerald could also see through all that glitter of the Jazz Age, discovering the moral emptiness and hypocresy beneath this pointless pursuit of pleasure. The Great Gatsby is the tragic hero, solely faithful to a dream. All the wealth he has been able to achieve has only one aim; to recover his former love Daisy. But the mistake is to try to recapture the past and carry it into the future. His spiritual quest, in a materialistic society, is to be defeated by selfishness and indifference.
The story represents the disintegration of the American Dream and those times of economic growth and loss of moral values should sound familiar to us. They turned out to be a warning sign of harder times to come.
Is it worth trying to recover a love that is worth nothing?
ReplyDeleteYes,it is... if it´s a true love.
DeleteA life without dreams isn´t worth living. And you have to dream before your dreams come true. The only problem here is that Jay Gatsby´s dream of Daisy was corrupted by money and dishonesty.
Like in a Greek tragedy, the readers (audience) feel pity and compassion for the hero and his downfall. His flaw (Aristotle's hamartia) was to innocently think that money could buy happiness and that in a godlike way he had the power to control the lives of everybody.
ReplyDeleteEverybody should have a purpose, a goal, an objective in life. Without it, we are lost. We don´t know where we are heading for...
ReplyDeleteGatsby´s was to recover an old love (even though for many Daisy might be worth nothing) and this made him great.
I remember a wonderful Robert Redford playing this role in that old film with Mia Farrow. I´m afraid Leonardo Di Caprio won´t be able to equal him...
And once your objectives in life are sensibly and wisely chosen, follow Mark Twain´s words: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions"
DeleteI was also looking forward to seeing the new screen adaptation and... what a disapppointment! Too much extravagant and exaggerated spectacle, too much noise and
Deletefuror distract the audience from the essence of the story. A film without soul which has failed to take advantage of the plot line of the novel and is therefore unable to move us.
Ana, yesterday was the 23rd of April and we missed a post of yours on the World Book and Copyright Day...
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