The Jazz Age through Jay Gatsby The Progressive Era prior to the Great War was a time of tremendous economic, political, and moral growth in America. However, World War I was a crude awakening to the reality that although society seemed to have progressed, life was not getting better and the people were no happier than they had been before. Society was shocked by the horrors of war and their once bright hopes for the …showed first 75 words of 835 total…

…showed last 75 words of 835 total…his love. The society that developed following the Great War was a lie. As the people pursued their dreams in a world that had changed drastically, they ignored the reality and turned to escapism to evade the problems of life. It was like a balloon, beautiful from the outside but just air on the inside. The people of the era inflated the balloon that would soon pop like Gatsby and reveal an unbearable emptiness within.