Student Essay on The Children of the Great Gatsby

The Children of the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Essay

In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald relates to the lack of growth in an era plagued by the haunting demons of war. Never before had the world been an audience to such an atrocious and deadly campaign. Similar to how too much water or sunlight stunts a plant's growth, too much death and destruction stunts the emotional growth of a people. The war causes an emotional void in the young adults destined to rule the new nation, and instead of blossoming into their roles, the youth remain as undeveloped buds. Nevertheless, in this time of emotional uncertainty, physical wealth bombards the new superpower. The industrial revolution that sweeps the United States and successfully pushes the emotional emptiness that inundates the population out of the limelight, and leaves the drowning country without proper treatment and recognition of its lack of maturity. This leaves emotionally scarred children to play the role of leading adults in an increasing fast-paced world that serves as nothing more than an incredibly large playground. With so much wealth and prosperity, the extravagance and frivolity of childhood finds that the heavily armed guards of maturity are no longer there. The former borderline between childhood and adulthood shatters in the wake of a tsunami of prosperity, and the children giddily pass forward with no one being the wiser. Fitzgerald reveals this character flaw of his generation in the love triangle between Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy to expose the truth that the "Roaring Twenties" was an era lead by the immature and childish minds of its adults.