The Great Gatsby as Representative of the Jazz Age The infamous portrayal of the 1920s is often characterized as an era of abundant prosperity, lavish lifestyles, and "new age" philosophies. This image, however, was only the surface of a distorted decade, full of profound cultural discord. Beneath all the glitz and glamor of bold flappers and fiery jazz bands was a dueling battle between old-school Victorian ways and new-age America (Mintz). This glorious “jazz age,” as Fitzgerald himself called it, was “an age of miracles, an age of art, an age of excess, and it was an age of satire” (Sickles). After the end of World War I in 1918, American society experienced a sudden era of economic and cultural miracles (McDougal Littell Inc 425). What was once a country in great turmoil and despair had quickly become a country on the rise to power, wealth and prosperity. With this great change also came a tremendous transformation of the American way of life (412). Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby captured this transformation exceptionally well with its depiction of the Eastern Egg and the Western Egg as symbols of societies' ever-evolving cultural views (Fitzgerald 101). Fitzgerald's "eggs" were two land masses in New York's Long Island Sound, separated by a small bay of water. Although they were within walking distance of each other, the two eggs served as social barriers not to be crossed (9). The East Egg was reserved for New York's aristocratic social class who grew up in the pre-war Victorian era. It represented the numerous wealthy family chains who wanted to maintain the same social status and elite lifestyle, as it was before the First World War (10). The Western Egg, however, was home to a new race of Ame...... middle of paper......s. Tom and Daisy showed their true colors, using their social status and the power of money to save them from the inevitable truth: their cowardice was the cause of Myrtle and Gatsby's untimely deaths (Fitzgerald 187). Instead of showing Mr. Gatsby the decency of showing up at his funeral, they simply moved to another house to forget their shameful past (172). Every Saturday Jay Gatsby threw elaborate parties filled with crowds of people, but none of his "friends" (Richards) were present at his funeral. This coincided with the hedonistic lifestyle of the 1920s. Nonetheless, “Gatsby believed in the green light, in the orgastic future that year after year recedes before us… tomorrow we will run faster, we will stretch our arms further…. And one beautiful morning... So we continued. Boats against the current, brought back incessantly into the past” (Nick Carraway, quoted in Fitzgerald 189).