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The social classes in the great gatsby
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In the book “The Great Gatsby” we are presented with this idea of classes. In the novel there are three classes presented, which are working class, newly rich (earned), and old money (inherited). The Great Gatsby displays the fact that social classes played a large part in the lives of people in the year 1925. One specific time in which it shows the different classes is in the beginning of the book. Fitzgerald references the Valley of Ashes, which is described as “desolate area of land,”(p.21) and a “solemn dumping ground,”(p.21) this is the place the poor live in. The Valley of Ashes is located in the middle of West Egg and New York, West Egg is the place where striving classes are placed, this is the “less fashionable of the two” (p.8), West Egg is where Gatsby lives. F. Scott Fitzgerald also presents us with idea when he talks about what Gatsby does for a living. Gatsby, rumored to be selling alcohol illegally, makes fast money which means that people have a lot of money to afford buying this expensive drink. …show more content…
“And a whole clan named Blackbuck, who always gathered in the corner and flipped up their noses like goats at whosoever came near.” (p.49) Some people in the book call it the ‘mixing pot’ with all the social classes combined. New York City is where Tom and Myrtle have their secret apartment “The living room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it” (p.25). This quote shows us that the apartment they have is very small, which is completely different from the space Tom has at his house that he has with Daisy. This tells us that if you were in the upper class, back then, you were able to afford a house taht has a lot of room, but if you were with the lower class all you could afford was a small compact
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel, the Great Gatsby, during the 1920s. This decade was characterized by economic and cultural change. With the growth of a new class of new money, Americans began to grow tired of the different social standards of the each social rank and attempted to move into a higher class. Fitzgerald focused on this disparity between classes and several class issues, specifically class mobility. In the year 2005, several journalists wrote and published a group of essays known as Class Matters. These essays discuss modern social and economic class structure and associated class issues. An essential theme in each of these novels is class mobility. The Great Gatsby and Class Matters both explore the differences between classes and the lack of class mobility in order and bring attention to the class imbalance.
Chapter 1: Chapter one introduces the reader to the narrator Nick Halloway and most of the other other characters of the story. Including his cousin daisy, her husband tom and their friend jordan - the golfer. Nick comes from a wealthy family; however, doesn’t believe in inheriting their wealth. Instead he wishes to earn his own wealth by selling bonds in the stock market. Chapter one also talks about the separation of the rich. Where the east egg represents the inherently rich whereas west egg represents the newly rich. The people in the east also seem to lack social connections and aristocratic pedigree. Whereas the people in west egg possess all those qualities usually lacked by people in the east.With nick living
In the book Great Gatsby there are many examples of society and social class, many are shown to us as the book progresses. Some are shown to us very up front while, others are hidden in the text. Society and social class play a critical part in this book such as how people interact with the lower classes, to how the rich live their lives. When we look deeper into on how the Great Gatsby handles sociality and social class, which puts the characters in the positions they are in.
Through his vivid depiction of the valley of the ashes in the acclaimed novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald unveils the truth about 1920s America: economic prosperity did not guarantee happiness and resulted in depreciating conditions for those that were not able to connive their way to the top.
Within the novel of the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses a symbolic setting to contribute to the novel's overall purpose. Right in the beginning of the great Gatsby, he introduces the idea of West Egg and East Egg. East Egg being where Tom Buchanan and Daisy reside, among other people who live lavishly off of their inherited family money,”across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water”(Pg.8). This part of the two eggs represents “old money,” which is the way the author calls wealth that has been passed on through generations within families.West Egg being the location where the narrator, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby reside, represents “new money,”or people who are new to wealth, as opposed to people who have had it in their families,”West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two”(Pg.7). Fitzgerald sets this sort of tension between the West and East Eggers. Many of the East Eggers thought the entrepreneurs living on the West were shady, “A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers…”(114). Between West Egg and East Egg, there is a place the author calls the Valley of Ashes, “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like
... inhabitants to symbolize the corrupt nature of the pursuit of wealth as well as artificiality. Both West and East Egg hide their flaws beneath glamour and extravagance, connected in their artificiality despite distinct differences in the origins of their money. The valley of the ashes is a symbol of the corrupt nature of wealth and its accumulation, relentlessly under the watchful eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, or God himself. New York City veils its corruption and shady criminals under an atmosphere of chaos and restiveness, artificially hiding the moral decomposition at its core. All in all, the geography of The Great Gatsby significantly illustrates the decay of America’s central values; symbolizing that the American dream is more than the accumulation of wealth and prestige.
In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald criticises the increase of consumerism in the 1920s and the abandonment of the original American Dream , highlighting that the increased focus on wealth and the social class associated with it has negative effects on relationships and the poorest sections of society. The concept of wealth being used as a measure of success and worth is also explored by Plath in ‘The Bell Jar’. Similarly, she draws attention to the superficial nature of this material American Dream which has extended into the 1960s, but highlights that gender determines people’s worth in society as well as class.
Classism, in the meanwhile, refers to racism, discrimination and snobbery, in the case of The Great Gatsby, present in West Egg. In his influential book The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald recognizes and describes many of the less alluring characteristics of the 1920's and the pursuit of the American Dream including dysfunctional relationships, materialism and classism. F. Scott Fitzgerald describes and recognizes the pursuit of the American Dream present in the 1920's, including dysfunctional relationships. These types of relationships are based on infidelity, carelessness, and lovelessness.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Throughout history many societies have had upper, middle, and lower classes. The classes formed separate communities of diverse living and never crossed social barriers. In the book, The Great Gatsby, instead of streets and communities separating each class there was a sound. On West Egg, the rich received their money not from inheritance but from what they accomplished by themselves. They worked hard for their money and received no financial support from
In actuality, the valley of ashes is a sullen post war wasteland compiled of ashes extramural to the East and West Eggs. It takes on the identity of a functioning city, with imitation landscapes and souls of men ready, willing, and able to make things happen. In order to get to the city from the Eggs, one must travel through this barren reminder of recent history. Nick informs with this description: “About half way between West Egg and New York … a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” (34). This observation illustrates the reality of the world, especially during the war. Closer to the story, this can directly compare to the overbearing, poor class of society and that of Gatsby and the Buchanan’s caliber. In many cases, the rich and elite know nothing outside the realm of their own lavish lives, and rarely care for anything besides it. Gatsby may have turned his life around as to not be stuck clawing the walls within the likes of the valley of ashes, but he seems to have forgotten reality and focuses sharply upon huge parties, scandal, and especially winning Daisy back. The valley of ashes conveys a theme
“The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored. Such is exemplified by Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson and Tom Buchanan. Their ambitions distinctly represent their class in which Fitzgerald implies strongly about.
The 1920's was a time of great economic prosperity and many people became rich and wealthy. Some people inherited "old money" and some obtained "new money". However, there was the other side of prosperity and many people also suffered the nightmare of being poor. In the novel eThe Great Gatsbyf, Jay Gatsby is portrayed as a wealthy character who lives in a mansion. However, Nick Carraway, the protagonist of the novel and next door neighbour of Jay Gatsby, is an average man who does not have the fortunes that Gatsby has. He is gtoo poorh. Nick Carraway is part of the middle class in society while Gatsby is in the upper class of society.
This essay discusses the role of social mobility in The Great Gatsby. It argues that not all people can reach the highest social class, this is a class you must belong to from the beginning of life or marry in to. However, the characters are living the American dream which makes social mobility to the other social classes available. The essay addresses the American Dream, the difference in social class between the main characters and how some social mobility is unreachable.
The "American Dream" supposedly allows everyone to climb the "social/economic ladder," if they wish to do so. Anyone that works hard is supposed to be able to move to a higher class. However, society often prevents social mobility. Social classes dictate who moves to a higher class and who does not. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this issue was especially prevalent. The rigidity of classes was often an underlying theme in many novels during this time period. For example, The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby both feature the exclusive nature of social classes as a motif. In both The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby, the rigidity of social classes and the desire for social mobility leads to the downfall of several
Fitzgerald portrays two neighborhoods, East Egg and West Egg, to display the slowly evolving corruption of the American Dream. East Egg houses old money sophisticates, and West Egg accommodates the less fashionable “nouveau riche” types. The apparent differences cause the two neighborhoods to develop a seeming rivalry. The different neighborhoods are connected through the characters becoming entangled with each other. Both Carraway, and his wealthy, yet enigmatic neighbor, Jay Gatsby live in West Egg. Carraway lives in a modest bungalow, which is overshadowed by Gatsby’s extravagant estate. In his magnificent manor, Gatsby indulges in an excessive and exaggerated lifestyle including many lavish parties: “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (43). Gatsby considers his prodigious wealth and stature to be the means to regain his one true love, Daisy Buchanan. Daisy's aura of wealth and privilege--her many clothes, her perfect house, her lack of fear or worry—attract Gatsby's attention and gradual obsession. Gatsby realizes that his own capacity for hope made Daisy seem ideal to him. He does not realize that he is pursuing an image that has no true, lasting value. This realization would have made the world look entirely different to Gatsby, like "a new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about” (169).