The prosperous economy that followed World War I enabled members of the upper class to lavish themselves with luxury. F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby encompasses the extravagant world of the wealthy and the wasteful manner in which they live their lives. Fitzgerald utilizes the self-centered, money-oriented idiosyncrasies of Daisy and Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby to symbolize how American idealism has been dishonored by adopting materialism as its means.

This self-centered, material oriented lifestyle is conveyed early in the novel when Nick, the narrator, describes Jay Gatsby's grand dinner parties. Nick comments, "Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York - every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves." (39) The "pulpless halves" represent the emptiness and the lack of a substantial foundation in the lives of the rich. The upper class...