American Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

American Literature - Essay Example These four pieces have been selected carefully to cover the most crucial aspects of the American lifestyle and the culture of the American society in general. The Godfather, The Great Gatsby, The Long GoodBye and The Social Network are four pieces which have been used in the paper to find out various patterns regarding the American way of life. All of these pieces are focusing a particular point in the history of America, where certain fads were apparent and various lawsuits had their own effects of the society, thus all such aspect will be covered in the paper. For instance, The Great Gatsby particularly focused on the post World War I period when the American Elites had their own way of life as they were highly indulged in a luxurious lifestyle full of lust and obsession with the material things. Similarly, The Godfather focuses on the post WWII period which represents a period of transition by portraying the story of a Mafia family which suffers badly due to the changes in the sys tem how the Mafia system works. Also, The Long Goodbye is another post WWII Classic literary piece which also tries to portray the world of Drug Mafia and the perils of the system prevailing at that time in the American way of life. The Social Network, however, is a completely new and a recent composition which reflects the current trends of the American lifestyle. ... The lust for money makes them even greedier; also the urge to flaunt their wealth in front of others makes their lives fall apart in the long run. Secondly, American lawsuits have always inflicted major problems in the system, and when the Americans try to use illegal methods, problem are further complicated. Also, all of the pieces tend to show a slight transition in the American culture, and they portray that change is inevitable, however the change brings along various implications which are hard to resolve. It was perceived that the virtual world which minimize the problems, however, this was never the case as reflected in the paper. To make generalizations regarding the American way of life via the literary texts composed by highly reputable artists it is first important to analyze the pieces one by one. â€Å"The Great Gatsby† is the classic and one of the most popular books composed by Scott Fitzgerald. The author has incorporated all kinds of evils as well as the good about the American society during the time, by introducing many different characters and connecting those though different stories. The novel is more of roller-coaster ride where events are events reveal various aspects, and the scariest ones, thereby creating a realistic scenario of the time. The story revolves around two main characters, i.e. Nick and Gatsby, however many different supporting characters have also been introduced. Nick was a war veteran who plans to shift to the city to make use of the metropolitan life to make some money. On doing so, he happens to live next to Gatsby, who is a millionaire and throws the most lavish parties in now every now and then. Nick also gets to meet Daisy, who was rather Gatsby`s cousin, and both Daisy and Gatsby also a love affair