The Jazz Age in The Great Gatsby: Excess and Meaning

Introduction: The Roaring Twenties and The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is the great novel of the Lawless Decade — the Roaring Twenties, or the Jazz Age, as it was otherwise known. It was a time of easy credit and flowing cash. It was a time of Prohibition, when alcohol had been outlawed and people looking for a good time had to go underground to the speakeasies, where they drank their liquor in hiding. To be human meant to be a criminal, and thus everyone who wanted a drink became a scofflaw. The 1920s was the decade of excess and the decade of the nouveau riche — those who, like Jay Gatsby, made their millions from bootlegging, the stock market, or both. Nothing captured the essence of the post-war 1920s like jazz, which was a new kind of music in America — fast, loose, and flowing, with no care for old-world culture. It was good for dancing (ragtime) and good for drinking (anytime). This essay describes the significance of the Jazz Age in The Great Gatsby and shows how the excess and superficiality that characterized Gatsby's world were best represented by the spirit of the swinging Jazz Age.

Key Characteristics of the Jazz Age in the Novel

Some of the most predominant characteristics of the Jazz Age were the flappers, the nouveau riche, and the festivities — all of which are present in The Great Gatsby. On the surface, everyone is having a great time, but underneath it all, as Nick Carraway, the novel's narrator, notes, something dark and strange is happening: there is no moral order beneath any of it. There is only impulse, desire, and senseless action. This is why Nick frames his story at the outset in these terms: "When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart" (Fitzgerald 2).

He says this because he has just spent time on the East Coast among the wealthy class, with his cousin Daisy, who is married to Tom. Tom represents old money; Jay Gatsby represents new money. Jay is in love with Daisy from days gone by and does not care that she is now married. Though Gatsby is now rich and throws elaborate parties, the only reason he does so is because he hopes she will take notice, come to his mansion, and be his once more. It is a dream he pursues — and ultimately it ends tragically. Throughout it all, Nick observes how callously everyone behaves. Tom is no saint, as he is cheating on Daisy. Daisy ultimately ends up cheating on Tom and then leaves Jay once Tom returns to reclaim what he considers his. There is no foundation of honesty or commitment for any of the characters.

Everything is superficial in the novel, right down to Daisy, the strange object of Gatsby's affection. Even Gatsby's love for Daisy is unrealistic. Everything passes as though in hyper-reality. The novel is set as though on the brink of the postmodern, and jazz is there to fuel the action. Indeed, Gatsby finally makes his long-awaited appearance in the novel while the band plays The Jazz History of the World — a fictitious musical piece created by Fitzgerald to play up the effect of everything in the 1920s being a passing craze. At a party like the ones Gatsby throws night after night, the history of the world had to be told from the perspective of jazz, so that the flappers could dance and the men could play the buffoon.

Jazz, Post-War America, and Social Change

In a way, it is all perfectly understandable. The First World War had just ended and America had helped bring it to a close. Americans felt victorious and, for the first time, felt like leaders of the free world. They were celebrating riotously at home and the music was reflecting this changing culture. The old-world values were no longer in vogue. America was feeling boisterous and rambunctious. There was a hint of social revolution in the air as women's suffrage was achieved in 1920 and a new spirit of equality and freedom spread widely. Jazz emphasized this spirit. It had grown out of New Orleans and spread all over the country. It was "street music" — music that the African American population had originated — and therefore music from the other side of the tracks, a side of life not previously seen by the upper class. Yet the upper class, and particularly the nouveau riche, were ready to try new things, to cut loose, to have a good time, and to let the party go on. It was the 1920s, and at the height of Prohibition, everyone was disrespecting the law.

Conclusion: The Jazz Age as Moral Tale

Thus, the Jazz Age serves as the perfect backdrop for the shallowness and superficiality of The Great Gatsby. It represents a moment in time when America was flush with cash and careless about the rules, the laws, or morality — none of it mattered because America had won the war and the party was on. That mentality is what helped push Gatsby toward his tragic fate. It is ultimately what turned Nick off from all of it. And it is ultimately what makes the novel a moral tale.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Simon and Schuster, 2003.