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How Does Jordan Baker Create Carelessness In The Great Gatsby

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The Roaring Twenties is an era known for its creativity, chaos and carelessness. As all 3 thrive in American life, but carelessness seems to open itself up in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald uses the 1920’s element of carelessness to write a novel on how it represents a problem in the American Dream. Fitzgerald us Jordan Baker and Owl Eye’s carelessness to represent how America suffered from the carelessness that is brought up in the 1920s.
Jordan Baker is a professional golfer, who has a tendency to lie and has a habit of being careless. Her carelessness is exemplified during Nick’s first Gatsby party. Nick comments, “She was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage” (58). Fitzgerald uses his narrator to shed light on Jordan’s inability to be out of control in situations as a playing field in her carelessness. As long as …show more content…
Owl Eyes is, what is assumed to be, a common man from East Egg coming to the West Egg for one of Gatsby’s grand parties. Nick and Jordan meet Owl Eyes for the first time in Gatsby’s library. Owl Eyes, looking at the books, exclaims, “Absolutely real-- have pages and everything. I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, they’re absolutely real. Pages-- Here! Lemme show you” (45). Owl Eyes is amazed, but rightly so. In this era, There are a lot of fake people and fake things that are sprouting. When Owl Eyes gets excited over books, that is Fitzgerald making a direct jab at the era itself. As the night gets later, Owl Eyes and a friend get into a accident. Owl Eyes is not sure what happened but says, “but I wasn’t even trying, I wasn’t even trying”. This goes with the carelessness that is found not only from people that live in the East Egg, but in the 1920s. People just did not care. Fitzgerald portrayal of American people through Owl Eyes represent the culture of carelessness that plagues the regular American

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