The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald And The Sun Also...

Materialism is one of the fundamental American attitudes and encompasses a wide array of desires, such as those for power, wealth, and excess. As outlined in L. Robert Kohls’ piece â€Å"The Values Americans Live By,† the value of materialism is used in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, to illustrate how collecting or consuming an excess is used in attempts to stave off regret. Characters in both novels show how far Americans take this, and help to perpetuate Kohls’ ideas regarding self-indulgence and its effect on people and their relations with others. In The Great Gatsby, the character of Jay Gatsby acts a great example of American acquisitiveness, due to his tendency to turn to material wealth for comfort. An important part of his past was having his family die and leave him a large monetary inheritance, which only made him yearn for more money. When Gatsby is explaining to Nick his life, he says â€Å"â⠂¬ËœAfter that I lived like a young rajah†¦ collecting jewels, chiefly rubies, hunting big game, painting a little, things for myself only, and trying to forget something very sad that had happened to me long ago’† (Fitzgerald 65-66). This shows how he spent his time securing these treasures and focused only on himself, in an effort to forget about an event that troubled him in the past: a regret. The use of the word â€Å"trying† in the quote is important, because it implies that his attempts to forget this past event had failed. YetShow MoreRelated Parallels Between The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway and The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald 1064 Words   |  5 PagesParallels Between The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway and The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the decade of the 1920s, America was going through many changes, evolving from the Victorian Period to the Jazz Age. Changing with the times, the young adults of the 1920s were considered the Lost Generation. The Great War was over in 1918. Men who returned from the war had the scars of war imprinted in their minds. The eighteenth amendment was ratified in 1919 which prohibitedRead MoreHemingway vs. Fitzgerald1518 Words   |  7 PagesAccording to Gertrude Stein, the literary figures of the 1920’s â€Å"drank themselves to death†, especially two of the greatest writers of the 20th century, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Although both authors use alcohol as a â€Å"mask† or an escape to try and fill the void of hopelessness, Hemingway has a stronger emphasis on alcohol than Fitzgerald and also uses it as a means of communion. The life of Ernest Hemingway is a perfect example of turning to alcohol to escape the hopelessness and aimlessnessRead MoreThe Great Gatsby Modernism1513 Words   |  7 Pagesillustrate this theme of modernism are F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, and Ernest Hemingway, author of The Sun Also Rises. From the outside, one may think The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story. However, its overall theme is more about The American Dream and how people are unable to obtain it. The Great Gatsby took place in the 1920s, a time in which America’s economy was booming. At the same time prohibition that created an underground empire. Fitzgerald shows the decline of moral andRead More A Comparison of Biographic Features in The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby2532 Words   |  11 PagesA Comparison of Biographic Features in The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby The writers F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway included biographical information in their novels The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises that illuminated the meaning of the work. Although The Sun Also Rises is more closely related to actual events in Hemingways life than The Great Gatsby was to events in Fitzgeralds life, they both take the same approach. They both make use of non-judgemental narratorsRead MoreRoaring Twenties : A Decade Of Extravagance939 Words   |  4 Pagesbooming with authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, William Falkner, Langston Hughes, and Ernest Hemmingway all found their spotlight each with an original work of literature that got the human race not only entertained but aware. In the novel The Great Gatsby, penned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a story about a rich man living in the early 1920’s New York. The titular character, Gatsby, has an interesting story that was one of the first modern day love stories. Gatsby had an extravagant mansionRead More Hemingway and Fitzgerald Essay1423 Words   |  6 PagesHemingway and Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the parties of one of the most famously infamous relationships in literary history met for the first time in late April 1925 at The Dingo Bar, a Paris hangout for the bohemian set. In his novel A Moveable Feast (published posthumously) Hemingway describes his first impressions of Fitzgerald: â€Å"The first time I ever met Scott Fitzgerald a very strange thing happened. Many strange things happened with Scott, but thisRead More Comparing Barnes of The Sun Also Rises and Caraway of The Great Gatsby1531 Words   |  7 PagesSimilarities Between Barnes of The Sun Also Rises and Caraway of The Great Gatsby   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Supported by Ten Quotes from   Sun Also Rises, No quotes from Gatsby  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jacob Barnes shares a personality quirk with Nick Caraway; both want to give the impression of being decent, honest men forced to endure the corruption and pettiness of those around them. â€Å"Whats not clear through most of The Sun Also Rises is whether or not Jake believes his own press†(Trilling, 34). Nick Caraway speaks openly of hisRead MoreTaking a Look at the Jazz Age1600 Words   |  6 Pagesnew beginnings for Americans. During the Jazz Age, the United States erupted in new musical and cultural changes. These changes can be seen through the shift in literature, from conservative to contemporary writings, by literary giants like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith. The Jazz Age was known as the Roaring Twenties, and is still popular today due to its infamous jazz music, flappers, and prohibition. The Jazz Age was an exciting, and contemporary time period in American history. During theRead MoreThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald944 Words   |  4 Pagesschool typically use physical objects and maybe even characters as forms of symbolism to convey a deeper meaning within that is not in the same realm as the main plot, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is notable for using different colors as symbols to display deeper themes. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses various colors to describe the qualities of different characters and the circumstances of events that take place within the story. Three colors and their symbolic meaningRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1567 Words   |  7 PagesThe pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, and the liquor was cheaper† (Fitzgerald 112, My Lost City). The 1920s was an innovated evolution, away from traditional morals of many Americans to those values less conservative and open-minded. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, and Ernest Hemingway’s, The Sun Also Rises, act as an exploration of Americans’ shift in values, post-World War One (WWI). These authors do so by commenting on the excessive