Examples Of Social Classes In The Great Gatsby

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In the history of world literature, American literature became one of the most popular genres of works. This period hosted many of the greatest authors, and their names even dwell to this day. The author’s novels always present many similar themes, and one of the themes is social classes. Social classes consist of the novel’s characters’ social structure which includes wealth, status, reputation, and education of each character. An example of social classes, outside of the literature realm, is presented thoroughly by the United States’ social classes. In the United States, there are five different social classes. According to Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus, today’s social classes include the part-time or unemployed, the clerical or …show more content…

Francis Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, and this work is still popular today. During the time the book was written, the 1920s, it was an era of indulgence and wealth. Fitzgerald tried to connect the theme with real world situations with the help of social classes. That is why the characters in the novel are separated by where they work and how wealthy they are. Three main characters appeared in the book: Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby. The author classifies the classes as ‘old money’ and ‘new money.' People in the old money group, Daisy and Tom, are considered to be extremely wealthy and can be seen as the high class. They are also known to have been educated by an Ivy League school. Old class people are known to have social connections The people in the new money class is Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway, who is considered to have recently become wealthy. To demonstrate the separation of characters, Nick says the following “I lived at West Egg, the – well, the least fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them” (9), and also “…so I had a view of thew water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires - all for eighty dollars a month. (9). The quote shows Nick explains how his social class is different from the old money dependent on his wealth. Fitzgerald encloses the theme in the book to show how a social class/status can affect the

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