How the 1920’s Destroyed Our Earth

Jazz Band from the 1920s

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the intricate world of the consumer in the 1920s. Fitzgerald writes about the lavish lives of the upper class and the ways in which they interact. Each character is infatuated with having everything they could ever need and more. They live in a world of excessive spending and consuming. Big mansions are built on West Egg ruining the beautiful land. The extreme lifestyles of the characters in the Great Gatsby are the precursor to the rapid decline of the Earth and it’s resources.

The smoke from the train pollutes the air

Industrialization caused a shift in culture of the 1920s. Mass production was gaining speed and more goods were available to the public. Transportation was drastically improving. Railways were being built that could transport manufactured goods all over the country. The railways created pollution in the air from all the coal as well as destroying the land in order to build the tracks. Thousands more people were able to travel around the United States, which led to more consumption and more items being purchased. The jazz culture of the time was all about living in the moment and not thinking about the future. The long term effects of living such an extravagant lifestyle were overlooked.The 1920s were a time of mass media. New reporters were publishing stories about the elite making everyone want to be more like them.

Gatsby's mansion in West Egg

The pollution of the Earth is directly related to the consumption of the upper class. The end of World War I marked the rise of consumer culture. After the war, people were no longer rationing their portions. Things that had once been reused hundreds of times were now being thrown away after one use. People no longer needed to conserve all their belongings. Food was more plentiful and people had more money than ever before. This change in culture marked the beginning of the Earth’s demise. In The Great Gatsby the effects of all the blind spending are obvious. Gatsby himself lives in an enormous mansion in west egg. He throws lavish parties, spending thousands of dollars on the music, food and décor. Gatsby is never concerned about money. Gatsby represents the upper class of the time. Known for their conspicuous consumption, they had no concern for the environment. When the Upper Class got tired of all their excess goods, there was nowhere to put them. Almost nothing that people didn’t want was biodegradable so the problem of what to do with surplus of objects became serious.  

The goal of every class was to eventually end up like Gatsby. People in the lower classes looked at the lavish spending of the upper classes with awe. Being able to spend money left and right was the dream of most Americans. The upper class is able to look at the pollution from a far whereas those with less money had to deal with the consequences. Mr. Wilson is an example of a man living in the wake of the consumer culture. Wilson runs an auto shop on the outskirts of the big city. The area around his shop is not in good shape. The land is scattered with discarded items so that what once was green is now grey with waste. “The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour.” The passengers on the train are looking at the scene from a far. They might pity the people who have to live among all the trash but they never have to live in the situation. Many times the passengers on the train are the ones who made it necessary for all the garbage to build up, but they simply observe it for less than thirty minutes. Wilson lives with this litter every day. Wilson is living in the nightmare created by people higher up.

Although the Great Gatsby was written over 80 years ago the themes presented are still relevant. Today the consumer culture is out of control. As a society we produce over 311,000,000,000 pounds of plastic every year. There is no way we can properly recycle all that plastic and it is building up in our oceans. The basis for this consumption was created in the age of spending where Gatsby and his companions lived. Since the 1920s houses have only gotten larger and people spend more money. What started out as a trend in the upper class has spread to every class.