Wealth, partying, and connections were three important things to anyone seeking to be part of East New York's exclusive high society in the Roaring '20s. F. Scott Fitzgerald captured all three with his literary voice. He impressed everywhere with the supreme success of his third novel, The Great Gatsby. This novel is the story of the sensational life of people in the 1920s. Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby to exemplify American identity in the early 20th century. Fitzgerald uses symbolism and other narrative techniques to illustrate upper-class society's materialistic pursuit of the American dream in the 1920s. Before we can fully analyze the way Fitzgerald wrote, it is important to understand the time he came from. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived and wrote during the Roaring '20s and the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald's most important work, The Great Gatsby, took place during this period. In the 1920s life was extravagant, it was a time of partying, money and drinking. Prohibition, the ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, went into effect in 1920 and lasted until 1933. Ironically, during this time drinking was at an all-time high and played a major role in making parties bigger and wilder . People not only spent money on alcohol, but also on new cars. The automobile industry was booming in the 1920s, making the era also known as “The Age of the Automobile” (Kemp). While alcohol and automobiles were the big fads of the time, significant historical events also occurred in the United States. The growing United States was also improving with innovations such as women gaining the right to vote. In 1920 women won the long battle for suffrage in the United States... middle of paper... open because it gave me a new insight into the details of this classic and how symbolism and other narrative techniques are so relevant in life of everyone. This is what makes this book so important for people of all ages, everywhere. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.Harper, Jay. Fitzgerald: man of all ages. Cincinnati: 2002: eLibrary, December 2002. Web. February 21, 2014. Kemp, Bill. "The Jazz Age." Pantagraph (Bloomington) August 17, 2008: eLibrary. Network. February 21, 2014. King, Taylor. “F. Scott Fitzgerald.” American Cultural Leaders 2001: eLibrary. Network. February 21, 2014.Schneider, Daniel J. Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby. Ed. Martin Steinmann, Jr. New York: Sons of Charles Scribner, 1970. Print.Thomas, Devin. “Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Critical Review.” General References MacMillan (1963): eLibrary. Network. February 21. 2014.