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Mrs. Stephanie Tatum

AP Language, 4th Period

17 December 2019

The Harsh Reality of 1920s New York in “The Great Gatsby”

During the era of the 1920s, F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of “The Great Gatsby,” wrote

about the financial success and the term “American Dream” of that specific era in New York.

The time period was notorious for the ban on alcohol, famously known as “Prohibition,”

although individuals continuously broke this law because alcohol existed as cheap and they

could not resist the low price on alcohol in the black market. In addition, money flooded the

stock market as the Allied Powers required that Germany pay them back for the damage caused

in World War I, which caused many individuals in the United States to instantly become rich.

Furthermore, the 1920s appeared as an adventurous satisfaction for an abundance of nouveau

riches. Throughout “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald claims that the aura of 1920s New York

culture will not satisfy all in order to expose its faults and corruption to his audience of nouveau

riches through the rhetorical strategies of diction and characterization.

Primarily, Fitzgerald applies countless amounts of diction of 1920s New York in order to

convey its real aura. He describes New York as “racy” and “adventurous” to portray how many

newly rich individuals view New York as a place of liveliness (Fitzgerald 56). To these

individuals, New York provides a sense of security and satisfaction as the stock market was

booming right in front of them in the 1920s. He begins the passage by describing New York as

those two words to convey the touristic view of 1920s New York because individuals will have a

two dimensional view of a certain place. However, at the end of the passage, Fitzgerald exposes

the true aura of New York as although it will provide a sense of happiness, it will leave “a

haunting loneliness sometimes” because New York never fully satisfies nouveau riches
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(Fitzgerald 56). This sudden sadness depicts how the aura of 1920s New York enchants newly

rich individuals, but it will make them feel sullen as they begin to realize how they waste their

lives in trying to succeed in New York. He writes the juxtaposing terms of “adventurous” and

“loneliness” in the beginning and end, respectively, to grab the attention of the audience and

expose how 1920s New York cannot exist as the true sense of satisfaction. These two terms truly

depict how the culture of 1920s New York portrays an enchanting light toward nouveau riches,

but will leave them to feel solitude in the darkness.

In addition, Fitzgerald provides a character, Nick, who exists as a nouveau riche that is

exposed to the culture of 1920s New York. Nick relates to the audience because he “began to

like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it” (Fitzgerald 56). The audience of newly rich

individuals understand as they, too, feel enchanted by New York’s aura in the 1920s; however,

they cannot understand the harsh revelations of it. Suddenly, Nick begins to feel “a haunting

loneliness … wasting the most poignant moments of life” (Fitzgerald 56-57). The audience starts

to understand Fitzgerald’s claim when Nick, a character depicted by the newly rich life, is struck

by the realization that New York will never fully satisfy him in the dark and begins to understand

how the culture contains many faults, such as individuals who are left in the dark, waiting for

their rich, adventurous life that 1920s New York will never provide. The characterization of Nick

perfectly conveys how a nouveau riche, fascinated by New York’s atmosphere, begins to grasp

New York’s true depressing and unsatisfactory aura; therefore, newly rich individuals will

realize that they will waste their lives in New York through Nick’s experience.

Throughout the course of “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald produces a claim about

the culture of 1920s New York to his audience of nouveau riches. He explains how New York

will appear as unsatisfactory through the use of diction and characterization in order to highlight
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the faults of the city. Fitzgerald truly captures the harsh truth of the “Roaring Twenties” and the

term “American Dream” because to nouveau riches: New York exists as a developing nightmare,

not a dream.