Satire of materialism in F. Scott Fitzgerald's the beautiful and demand

Abstract

Abstract

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s second novel The Beautiful and Damned exposes a severe satire of materialism of post-war generation who live only on the pursuit of wealth and decadent pleasure. In the novel, the couples, Anthony Patch and Gloria Gilbert get married on the expectation that someday Anthony will inherit his grandfather’s property. They drift into a lifestyle far beyond their means. Their life together deteriorates into a sordid round of adultery, alcohol and debt, and contempt gradually takes the place of love as they are in a constant desire for more in a materialistic manner. This brings doom in their life. Thus, by exposing the couple’s self-indulgence and self-destructive extravagances, Fitzgerald satirizes the materialistic life of American people in the first half of the twentieth century.