Great Gatsby - Personalities Of The Lost Generation

"Personalities of the Lost Generation"

One of the best writers of the Lost Generations is F. Scott Fitzgerald. He writes exceptionally well on this subject because he was also part of it. One of the many famous novels that he wrote was The Great Gatsby. The characters in this story represent the many different sides of the Lost Generation. The narrator, Nick, is caught between the two worlds, the world of moral corruption and the world that has meaning. Nick realizes the moral corruption of the wealthy and decides he must separate himself from them to reach personal maturity.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin and her husband, are two of the most snobbishly wealthy people Nick knows. When Nick first introduces them, he states, "They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and drifted here an there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together" (Fitzgerald 6). Tom and Daisy are a major representation of the lost generation. They randomly float about because they have no purpose. They do whatever they do and go wherever they go because nothing is expected of them.

When Nick sees Tom for the first time he says "Now... Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face..." (Fitzgerald 7). Tom has changed a great deal since Nick knew him in collage. Before, Tom was more of a stuck-up kind of wealthy; Nick now realizes that his beliefs have become more concrete. Tom sees himself as the superior being among social circles and especially among race. As Nick has dinner with Tom and Daisy for the first time, Tom Violently breaks out, "'Civilization's going to pieces'... 'The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be - will be utterly submerged' 'Tom's getting very profound' said Daisy with an expression of unthoughtful sadness. 'He reads deep books with long words in them.'" (Fitzgerald 12-13). In Tom's eyes, the white race is the most important thing to be a part of. He is fixed on the idea that just because he is purely white, he is a finer being than anyone who isn't. Daisy, however, doesn't take her husband seriously. She sees it as a silly little thing he likes to dote upon. She takes it as a joke. Although Daisy doesn't really care about white superiority in the same intensity that Tom does, she also believes that she is better than most since she in from a rich white family, she says as she talks about her "white girlhood" (Fitzgerald 19), with Nick. These are the kind of wealth people that are represented as morally corrupt.

Nick however does not fit into the same category as the Buchanans. Nick comes from a "Well to do" family. His father is a major reason of why he is the person he is today. He taught him a very important principal that he continues to love by "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had," (Fitzgerald 1) Nick has learned to not judge people. Because of his unjudging and understanding personality, people find it easy to talk to him and exploit intimate detail of their lives to him. Although Nick does not approve of most the things these people do, he is so caught up by the excitement of their lives that he looks past their many faults. He mentions this when he says "I began to like ... the racy, adventurous feel of it..." (Fitzgerald 56).

He also does this with Jordan Baker, who is also represents morally corruption. On of the things Nick notices about Jordan, as he begins to date her, is that she is "incurably dishonesty" (Fitzgerald 58). Nick talks about when she "left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and then lied about it" (Fitzgerald 57). He also says "It made no difference to me... I was casually sorry, and then I forgot" (Fitzgerald 58). Although Nick is exceptionally disapproving of dishonesty, he continues to date Jordan. His feelings for Jordan allow him to overlook her stable dishonest attribute.

One of the times when Nick gets caught up in the excitement of other's lives, is when he goes to meet Myrtle, Tom's mistress. Nick says "Though I was curious to see her I had no desire to meet her - but I did. I went to New York on the train one afternoon and when we stopped by the ashheaps he jumped to his feet and, taking hold of my elbow, literally forced me out of the car," (Fitzgerald 24). Nick is making it sound as if he is being forced to meet Tom's mistress, though he has already agreed to meet her by getting on the train in the first place. Nick is so caught up with the excitement of it all, that he looks past how unethical the situation is. He chooses to not see anything wrong with meeting the woman Tom is