GREAT GASBY IN MODERN DAY RECESSION?

As we have started reading the Great Gasby and analyzed the historical context of the society and economy of the 1920's, the work weaves through a personification of the life of those who are privledged and affluent. Searching the New York Times home page a title in the middle of the page star strucked my eyes, "Conspicuous Consumption, a Casualty of Recession." It explores how with the current recession social economic standards are changing and people are spending less. The interesting fact is even a mass of Americans who have a steady income are reassessing their spending; America is reassessing its spending habits down to the very "ethos of conspicuous consumption". Some Americans believe the recession is helpful because it is transforming their moral habits of spending and fixations with material wealth. One interesting interviewee from the article was "Maxine Frankel, 59, a high school teacher from Skokie, Ill., said as she longingly stroked a diaphanous black shawl at a shop in the nearby Chicago suburb of Glenview. 'It’s kind of funny, but I feel much more satisfied with the things money can’t buy, like the well being of my family. I’m just not seeking happiness from material things anymore'." This quote brings back memories from the transcendentalism unit with the wise words of Emerson and Thoreau. Could their ideas be a modern example of the path to genuine happiness in our modern day economy? Or is following their beliefs of a de emphasis on material wealth almost the worst cure for our modern day economy? 

Some analysis believe that societal norms have shifted to a trend of respectability in saving your money. Instead of showy designer clothes being a sign of wealth and superiority the recession has brought "a crisis of culture" comments Tracey Johnson research director in a Baltimore firm. I question what she means by crisis of culture, are the wealthy diminishing, is social stature becoming less apparent. This seems to be possible with the fact that "fear and uncertainty have paralyzed even the most insulated clients, said Jack Sawyer Jr., who manages money for some of Atlanta’s wealthiest families. “I have clients who have $20 million, young grandparents, and they’re concerned about whether they can continue to pay tuition for their grandchildren. It’s not a rational process.” Are the new societal expectations diminishing the glamour and lust of the highest economic classes of our society?

As in the Great Gasby we have started to analyze the affluent characters of the first few chapters I start wonder if the recession is affecting those who have "old money" and have never worked for anything in their life. The unhappiness of the affluent characters in the novel, such as Daisy and the melancholy in the things she expresses to Nick and he relationship with her possibly cheating husband display the power of Emerson and Thoreau's words of the false sanctity and dissatisfaction of material wealth. The topic came up in class discussion that Americans with a grand income on majority are less happy and that the happiest nations in the world include Kenya. These facts lead me to believe that the recession is not beneficiary for global and political issues but has led our country to a higher moral enlightenment. As we have lived with "conspicious consumption" for many years and lived the high life our time is over and there are new moral standards developing in our society: this might be benificial but we will see where it takes the nation and where Nick takes the reader in the Great Gasby; maybe the Great Gasby is the personification of Thoreau and Emerson beliefs but in the novel he stays in surrounds himself by a society that thrives off material wealth.