Gatsby - Themes exploring the impact of the first World War.

Gatsby - Themes exploring the impact of the first World War.

1. The characters are defined by their WEALTH or lack of it. Dreams are built on money.

2. The WEST remains a symbol of freedom,but the EAST now symbolises the land of opportunity.

3. Americans' dreams of the future are now rooted in REAPEATING THE PAST, and so are unachievable.

4. Fitzgerald creates a new URBAN ROMANTICISM.

5. The narrator struggles to understand THE REALITY BEHIND APPEARANCES.

6. Young people blame their parents' generation and reject their values and their RELIGION.

7. The AMERICAN DREAM has become contaminated with the persuit of wealth.

8. Most live for the here and now, like those at Bunyan's Vanity Fair in THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.

9. GENDER ROLES are explored because women are at last beginning to share the dream.