The Great Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the society in the 1920's and the associated beliefs, values and dreams of the American population at that time. These beliefs, values and dreams can be summed up be what is termed the American Dream; a dream of money, wealth, prosperity and the happiness that supposedly came with the booming economy and get-rich-quick schemes that formed the essential underworld of American upper-class society. This underworld infiltrated the …showed first 75 words of 1734 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1734 total…the effects that wealth has on their style of life. Because of the tragic events within the The Great Gatsby and the fact that the characters who are still alive at the end of the novel, bar Nick, are not drastically altered by their experience lend to the view that the 1920's and 1930's or the Jazz Age held a society of people who were ruled by materialism and trivial and depthless beliefs and values