The Great Gatsby. A versatile image of the Roaring Twenties

Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1, LMU Munich, course: American Impressions, language: English, abstract: Present-day's teenagers are confronted with two major points of criticism concerning their current "lifestyle". The first would be excessive partying with alcohol and other types of drugs whereas the other point concerns the materialism of today's youth. An open minded historian of the twentieth century might be very familiar with that kind of behaviour because it marvellously reflects the famous "Jazz Age" in its most outstanding social aspects. These and other social characteristics of the "Roaring Twenties" are all shown in "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the following term paper I want to describe and compare both the authenticity and the before mentioned social side of the "Jazz Age" in the original novel as well as in the two film adaptations by Jack Clayton and Baz Luhrmann.