The term lost generation is expressed through the characters of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. The term refers to the loss of innocence in society after WWI. The great war changed everyone's perception of life.
Life was dominated by the pursuit of material wealth and social position, with a great abandon of morality.
James Gatz from a poor family in the Mid-West transforms himself into a millionaire, through questionable means, bootlegging, and other illegal activities, to create a new life.
Jay Gatsby's life is a great illusion, empty of true substance, dominated by lavish parties and his tireless pursuit of Daisy.
Although Gatsby has transformed his humble early life into that of a dazzling millionaire, he remains unfullfilled and miserable.
Daisy Buchanan, a debutante, who marries Tom because he is rich, eventually becomes Gatsby's lover. However, she is cold, and indifferent to him. She cares for nothing.
"Daisy's voice is the voice of money. Her whole careless world revolves around this illusion: that money makes everything beautiful, even if it is not."
"Daisy flirts with Gatsby enjoying his obsessive interest until she commits murder and he takes the rap. Then, she hides behind the protection of her husband, a cruel brute, who uses and abuses people."
The lack of a moral center in any of the characters in this book, except for Nick Carraway, depicts the nature of the society in the period dubbed the Jazz Age.
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