The Influence of F. Scott Fitzgerald on American Literature

The time period between 1890 and 1930 is known as the emergence of modern America. During this time the country grew in size and in maturity. As a result, American society made a shift in its behavior as well. F. Scott Fitzgerald experienced this shift in his own life and used experiences from his own life to write several novels portraying the good and bad of the era. Through The Great Gastby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald places us in American society at the end of the modernizing era and shows us his view of the American Dream.

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald describes the 1920’s as an era full of greed, moral corruption, and unending social activities. Gatsby is always holding frivolous parties for no reason other than because he can. Fitzgerald uses symbols such as the valley of ashes and the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg to depict the 1920’s. The valley of ashes symbolizes how the poor are affected by this new way of life. It shows the moral corruptness as the rich get richer and indulge themselves without a care in the world for others around them. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg represent God looking down and judging American society. The eyes are always brought up in the story when something unjust is occurring. Through his novel, Fitzgerald shows the dramatic change in social behavior occurring during this era.

Through two other novels, This Side of Paradise and Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald again uses high society families to show changes occurring in society. Both novels take place in the twenties when wealth was on the rise and everyone cared how much money they had. Fitzgerald illustrates this greed and materialistic view in This Side of Paradise when Rosalind won’t marry Amory because he has little money. Fitzgerald also shows in Tender is the Night how people during this era could get away with almost anything if they had the money. Dick Diver has an affair with Rosemary and no one seems to think it’s a big deal. Fitzgerald again uses his novels to portray American society during the 1920’s.

Fitzgerald’s view of the American Dream is pretty simple. He looks at it realistically and sees that the American Dream can be wonderful yet at the same time depressing, depending on how out of reach it appears. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses a symbol of a green light to represent Gatsby’s hopes and dreams, but it is also a more general symbol as the American Dream. In the novel Nick explains how the American Dream has changed from individualism, discovery, and the pursuit of happiness to a focus on wealth and social activities. Fitzgerald saw the American Dream as reaching the peak of the social ladder.
The modernizing era through the 1930’s was all about high society life, and growing wealth and stature. F. Scott Fitzgerald does a great job portraying the different aspects of life during this time period making his works a mirror of society in the modernizing era. Through his works we also see his view of the American Dream and his opinion about people and their lives during this era.