The Great Gatsby Analysis

Fitzgerald's insightful yet hopeless tones reflect his woebegone view of the people of his time and his fascination with their inability to move into the future.

As "boats beating against the current," the people of the 1920s were, for the most part, reluctant to leave the comfort zone they knew so well behind them and move into the churning future before them. The 1920s were controversial times, mainly because of the young women of the time. Flappers, as they were called, flaunted their bodies and bare skin before the ravenous men begging for a glimpse of these improper women. The older generation refused to accept these inappropriate females. Similar to this apprehensive generation are the boats they are compared to. These older people are beating against the current of the younger generation,