Regan Robinson

Expository Writing

Ms. Johnson

April 20, 2017

The Roaring Twenties Satirized

The 1920s, also known as the Roaring Twenties, is a well-known, seemingly comical, era

in American history. The dramatic cultural change during this time sparked people, such as F.

Scott Fitzgerald, to write poetry and literature (Roaring Twenties). A piece of literature that

satirized this era is The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The characters in The Great

Gatsby bring the book to life by representing a flawed 1920s society. In the book, Nick Carraway

tells a story of when he moved to New York and lived next to a billionaire named Gatsby. After

being invited, Nick attends a party of Gatsby's and discovers that Gatsby is in love with Nicks

cousin, Daisy Buchanan. Even though Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan, Nick helps Gatsby

meet up with Daisy. The two start to see each other and Tom doesn't like it so he confronts

Gatsby about it. This starts a dramatic spiral of tragic events. After Nick experiences all of this

he is a changed man. One satirical aspect of the The Great Gatsby is the larger than life

characters. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald created Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby, and Tom Buchanan

to poke fun at the lifestyle of the 1920s.

Through his creativeness, Fitzgerald displays his humor by creating the character Daisy

Buchanan to satirize how women acted. The way women acted in the 1920s was just another

factor of how society was split up; some women were flappers, and some were traditional.

Daisy's character is more of a traditional woman than a flapper. She is tradition in the way that
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she is dependant on Tom, unlike the flappers, who are very independant. She believes that a

woman can't depend on herself to have a good life. She shows this in the following quote when

she talks about her daughter, I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this

world, a beautiful little fool (Fitzgerald 17). This quote shows that she thinks it is best for her

daughter to depend on someone for a good life, not the other way around. Through Daisy,

Fitzgerald shows the flawed ideas of traditional woman, for example how fragile and incapable

of independence they were thought to be. The idea of a woman depending on a man is the

traditional way, but during the 1920s, women called flappers started to become more

independent. The independence of women was due to men going off to war. Flappers were

confident women; they flaunted while dancing, smoking, and wearing a skirt (The Changing

Role of Women in the 1920s). In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald pokes fun and points out the

differences between flappers and traditional women.

The character Gatsby also sets the stage of this satire, as he is used to symbolize the

American Dream. The American dream is the idea that anyone can be successful in life. In The

Great Gatsby, the American dream is focused on money and material things. Gatsby's dream was

to be with Daisy and he puts a lot of time and effort into it by growing his wealth and hosting

parties, which were nothing short of extravagant. Nick is blown away by the impressive

entertainment, live music, dancers, and an abundance of alcohol when he first attends one of

Gatsby's parties. In this quote, Nick describes the entertainment A celebrated tenor had sung in

Italian, and a notorious contralto had sung in jazz, and between the numbers people were doing

stunts all over the garden, while happy, vacuous bursts of laughter rose toward the summer

sky (Fitzgerald 48). Gatsby made sure that his parties had the best of everything. However,
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nightlife in the 1920s was different from Gatsby's parties. Most of the night life happened in

speakeasies. Speakeasies were hidden places where flappers hung out. These speakeasies were

popular spots because they sold alcohol, which was illegal (1920s). Fitzgerald makes Gatsby's

parties so big because he wants to add a satirical effect to the American Dream and nightlife of

the 1920s. He is poking fun at how Gatsby interprets the American Dream. Ironically, the idea of

the American Dream in the 1920s wasn't anything like the it is in the book. It had more to do

with how America's economy was thriving, which gave people hope for success. In the end, the

American Dream crashed, for everyone because of people like Gatsby, just as the stock market

did, due to excessive spending and carelessness. The Great Gatsby shows an exaggerated

example of the American Dream that is dependant on money and material things.

Another character that Fitzgerald uses to satirize the roaring twenties is Tom Buchanan.

Tom adds the topics of affairs and racism of the 1920s to The Great Gatsby. Tom, who lives off

his inherited wealth, is dependant on money to cover his poor character. He is very arrogant; he

does and says whatever he wants because he has money. Toms carelessness leads him to have

strong racist views, which he expresses at the diner party in the beginning of the book. In the

following quote, Tom is talking about a book where races other than the white race have the

ability to dominate. He says, Its up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these

other races will have control of things (Fitzgerald 19). This quote shows he truly thinks that the

white race is superior and that he looks down on others. During the 1920s, racism was a major

problem. There were groups like Ku Klux Klan acting violently against people who weren't of

the white race. People of the superior race, like Tom, couldn't care less for people who didn't

fit their mold. So many people thought this way that there were about 5 million members of the
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Ku Klux Klan. Intolerance was a big issue (Racism in the USA). Fitzgerald is using Tom to point

out and make fun of how ridiculous people like Tom, who were intolerant and careless, were in

the 1920s.

The characters in The Great Gatsby, such as Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom, each bring

something to the table in order to make it a satire. Daisy is used to poke fun at how women acted

in the 1920s. Gatsby is used to symbolize a shallow american dream. Tom is used to poke fun at

racism and affairs at the time. It is clear that Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby because he

wanted to acknowledge that the 1920s era was flawed in many ways. The way Fitzgerald pokes

fun of this era may have a lasting impact on people with a shocking realization of how the 1920s

were truly roaring.

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WORKS CITED

Racism in the USA. gcsehistory.org.uk. Gcsehistory.org.uk, n.d. 1 May 2017

Roaring Twenties. American Historama. Siteseen Ltd, n.d. 25 Apr. 2017

The Changing Role of Women in the 1920s. BBC. BBC, 2015. 1 May 2017

The Roaring Twenties. History. A&E Television Networks, 2010. 25 Apr. 2017

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.

1920s. Night Life of the 1920s. Weebly, n.d. 1 May 2017