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The theme of social class in literature
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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a fictional story of a man, Gatsby, whose idealism personified the American dream. Yet, Gatsby’s world transformed when he lost his god-like power and indifference towards the world to fall in love with Daisy. Gatsby’s poverty and Daisy’s beauty, class, and affluence contrasted their mutual affectionate feelings for one another. As Gatsby had not achieved the American dream of wealth and fame yet, he blended into the crowd and had to lie to his love to earn her affections. This divide was caused by the gap in their class structures. Daisy grew up accustomed to marrying for wealth, status, power, and increased affluence, while Gatsby developed under poverty and only knew love as an intense emotional …show more content…
Daisy’s original impression of Gatsby is evident in her early letters to him, “...he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself- that he was fully able to take care of her” (149). Daisy loved Gatsby under the false hope that they belonged to the same social class. She grew up surrounded by riches, never working a day in her life, and she could not comprehend the struggles of a man who must work for the food he eats each day. Daisy knew that she must marry when she is beautiful, for being a beautiful rich girl of good social standing was her highest commodity and most valuable chip in marrying well. In order to live a secure life, she had to find someone the had the means to provide for her extravagant lifestyle, and the deep care for her that would allow Daisy to do as she pleased. The only definition of love Daisy knew was one of disillusioned power and commitments under false pretenses in order to keep the wealthy continually rich. Daisy acknowledges the false pretenses of marriage for the wealthy in how she describes her daughter’s future. She tells Nick, “‘And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this …show more content…
He was as poor as could be and only gained any knowledge and hope of a different future from his parents due to a chance meeting with a rich and extravagant man. From him, Gatsby learned the ways of the wealthy and what it takes to be rich, however, he was never truly a member of the upper class. Just before Gatsby’s death, Nick comments that Gatsby is worth more than all of them put together, referring to the upper class. (154). However, Nick is only able to make this comment as Gatsby is not truly a part of the upper class that Daisy belongs to. Despite gaining the wealth, fame, and general appearance of the rich, at heart Gatsby is still the poor man that fell in love with Daisy five years prior. He lives in the past. Gatsby had no shot with Daisy as she needed someone who truly fit the constructs of the upper class, while Gatsby could never fulfill that requirement. Achieving Daisy would have been the epitome of the upper class. Lois Tyson writes in Critical Theory Today, “Possession of Daisy would give Gatsby what he really wants; a permanent sign that he belongs to her socioeconomic class, to the same bright, spotless, airy, carefree world of the very rich the Daisy embodies for him…” (71). If Gatsby had won Daisy’s love, it would have proved that he could assimilate with the wealthy. The failure of Gatsby to do so is a
The Great Gatsby a, novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, follows a cast of characters abiding in the town of East and West Egg on affluent Long Island in the summer of 1922. Each of the characters, while part of the same story line, have different priorities and agendas, each character working towards achieving what they think would benefit them the most. As The Great Gatsby’s plot thickens the characters constantly show their discontent of the American Dream that they are living, always expressing their greed for more, three particular offenders of this deadly sin are Tom, Daisy and Gatsby himself. The characters motives stem from a mixture of boredom, a need and longing for the american dream, and simple selfish human desire.
For five years, Gatsby was denied the one thing that he desired more than anything in the world: Daisy. While she was willing to wait for him until after the war, he did not want to return to her a poor man who would, in his eyes, be unworthy of her love. Gatsby did not want to force Daisy to choose between the comfortable lifestyle she was used to and his love. Before he would return to her, he was determined to make something of himself so that Daisy would not lose the affluence that she was accustomed to possessing. His desire for Daisy made Gatsby willing to do whatever was necessary to earn the money that would in turn lead to Daisy’s love, even if it meant participating in actions...
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of a man of meager wealth who chases after his dreams, only to find them crumble before him once he finally reaches them. Young James Gatz had always had dreams of being upper class, he didn't only want to have wealth, but he wanted to live the way the wealthy lived. At a young age he ran away from home; on the way he met Dan Cody, a rich sailor who taught him much of what he would later use to give the world an impression that he was wealthy. After becoming a soldier, Gatsby met an upper class girl named Daisy - the two fell in love. When he came back from the war Daisy had grown impatient of waiting for him and married a man named Tom Buchanan. Gatsby now has two coinciding dreams to chase after - wealth and love. Symbols in the story, such as the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, the contrast between the East Egg and West Egg, and the death of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Wilson work together to expose a larger theme in the story. Gatsby develops this idea that wealth can bring anything - status, love, and even the past; but what Gatsby doesn't realize is that wealth can only bring so much, and it’s this fatal mistake that leads to the death of his dreams.
The sixth chapter explores the love that Gatsby has for Daisy. It is unfortunate that the foundation of the deep passion is set on only one summer hype from which Gatsby has based his life goals (Fitzgerald, n.a). Langston Hughes in his poem A Dream Deferred explores what happens when a dream is put off for a long time; Gatsby’s Love for Daisy. It is curious to explore the fact that Gatsby expects Daisy to forego her life for him after being apart for five years. The chapter closes with Nick pondering over the course of Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy and how that cannot be recreated from the past (Fitzgerald, n.a).
Society won’t let Gatsby and Daisy be together when they fall in love because Daisy comes from a family of old wealth, while Gatsby is the son of peasants. “For over a year,” as a young man, “he had been beating his way along Lake Superior as a clam digger and a salmon fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food or bed,” (98) before meeting Dan Cody and getting his first taste of real wealth. When Gatsby meets Daisy he sees the same carefree lifestyle of Dan Cody that only the rich can achieve and is soon seduced by it. Daisy comes...
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, may at first glance resemble a story of unrequited love. However, closer examination reveals the work to be much more than that. The Great Gatsby is a story about The American Dream and the moral corruption that sometimes occurred in the pursuit of that dream. The American Dream has been described as being the pursuit of happiness while maintaining strong moral values. However,as Fitzgerald vividly portrays, The American Dream seems to have become the pursuit of wealth accompanied by extreme moral decay. Greed and selfish pleasure are the focal points of the book as portrayed by the interactions of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan.
The Great Gatsby was a major success in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s writing career. With more failures than successes, Fitzgerald’s determination to achieve a best seller had become a reality by reason of The Great Gatsby published 1996. The novel is written with many twists and hidden mysteries. Nick Carraway, a young and said to be attractive man, finds himself mentally captivated by Jay Gatsby, his neighbor who is seen to live this wild lifestyle. Carraway receives an invitation to one of Gatsby’s parties. Intrigued by Gatsby’s ambitious lifestyle, Nick attends. Although seeming to be wild and overwhelming, he realizes something about this atmosphere seems phony. Nobody knew the real Gatsby; most guests couldn’t identify him if he was standing right next to him. Taken back by all that is happening around him, Nick is determined to find this Gatsby everyone speaks so highly about, but no one really knew. Further on Gatsby’s side, his heart ached for Daisy Buchanan. Married to Tom Buchanan with a child, it was not as easy to love him as it was for him to love her. Gatsby truly believed Daisy never loved Tom, and pressed for her to admit it throughout the novel. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the concept of the cliché upper class living in the 1920’s along with the act of illegal importing; this thematic structure of the text parallels the concept of the American Dream and hustling in current popular culture and for this reason the text is a classic still read and respected today.
After Daisy and Tom show up to the party, Daisy is amazed and enjoys the presence of famous people at Gatsby’s party, but she is “appalled by West Egg...she saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand” (Fitzgerald 107). Daisy has never been to a party and a town in which everything was so wild and uncontrolled. Daisy lives a life that is more sophisticated and mature, but the life of West Egg was quite different. She realized that West Egg is not a place for her and she didn't have much of an interest for the place. She preferred her sophisticated life in East Egg. She was dissatisfied with the life lived in West Egg so to make the situation better Gatsby terminated his wild parties. Nick knew this was official when “the lights in his house failed to go on one saturday night” (Fitzgerald 113). Gatsby didn't want to be viewed as unsophisticated and not like Daisy’s class. He wants to be seen as equivalent to Daisy and he wants her to know that they are the same type of people. If she believes this he can get her to truly love him. Gatsby shows that he will do anything to attain Daisy’s love. It is imperative that Daisy represents herself based on the ideals of her social class and not ruin her reputation. Gatsby has to fix his motives and match them to Daisy so she won’t risk ruining the reputation that she stands for. Daisy social class comes between who Gatsby is and what he has to do to get her to want
Despite having loved Gatsby, Daisy has ended their relationship because Gatsby cannot provide her luxurious gifts, like the pearls that Tom bought her. After five years, Gatsby and Daisy have met and he has been changing his life in order to please her. Gatsby used Daisy as a motivation to become the man he is now, a prosperous man. We can see this in his house. “He revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes” (Fitzgerald 91). In Gatsby’s early years, he devoted himself to making his life better. Gatsby wanted to be in the upper class because more opportunities came to him. The luxuries that are provided by wealth satisfy Gatsby’s need to become an affluent man. However, this all changes when he meets Daisy and falls in love. After he returns from the war, and realizes that Daisy is married to Tom. Ever since then, Gatsby does not let go of the past and wants to change what could have been with Daisy. Daisy soon takes control over their relationship. In the quote, Gatsby waits for an approving look from Dai...
Daisy’s society places her under strict social regulations based on wealth, which ultimately decide many aspects of her life. The 1920s society that is the setting for The Great Gatsby seems to consist of three social classes: the wealthy, socially connected, and old fashioned in East Egg; the newly rich and flamboyant lacking social connections in West Egg; and the poor living in the “Valley of Ashes.” Daisy Buchannan belongs to the upper East Egg class. Those who are part of this class are held to high social standards. Coming from a wealthy family, Da...
“The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time…” (75) The Great Gatsby
Was she gatsbys american dream, an incredible love with a beautiful women and a big house with tons of money. “ jay gatsby wanted daisy to tell tom that she never loved him”, maybe that is telling you something right their does gatsby want the daisy he had 5 years ago. I don't doubt even a little that gatsby wasn't in love with daisy but witch daisy was he in love with? The present or the past? Daisy is beautiful and fun and rich anyone could say they were in love with her. Gatsby didn't want her for her money he had his own he wanted to take care of her not the other way
In the story Great Gatsby, love is very hurtful. Love can make you do some reckless and crazy things for the one you love. The novel great Gatsby is about the main character Gatsby who is a confused man that is so lovestruck with a married woman. Gatsby is so willing to be with the girl of his dreams, he tried to wou her marriage. The main character gatsby plays many roles in the novel such as being inccure about does Daisy love him or not he has complicated relationships with many characters throughout the novel and him so being love stick over daisy the women of his dreams makes him focus all his attention on her love.
Nick describes Gatsby as “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life(Ch.3).” Such description unifies the appearance of Gatsby with people’s expectation of a man who accomplished the American dream. The obsession with wealth often blinds people from the potential crisis. The crisis of having everything they worked and struggled for redefined if the reality fails them. Just like strivers who chase the American dream, Gatsby also spent his whole life in pursuit of his American dream, which Daisy was a major component of.
Gatsby downfall came when he sacrificed his morality to attain wealth. Gatsby realises that the illusion of his dream with Daisy, demands wealth to become priority, and thus wealth becomes the desire overriding his need for her [Daisy’s] love. Gatsby claims to others that he has inherited his wealth, but Nick discovers "[h]is parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg 104) and that Gatsby has lied about his past. In a society that relies on luxuries, Gatsby throws parties to attract Daisy’s attention. Also, Gatsby expresses that same need to keep busy, just as Daisy does, in a society of the elite. Nick describes Gatsby as "never quite still, there was always a tapping foot somewhere or the impatient opening and closing of a hand" (Fitzgerald, pg 68). Gatsby fills his house "full of interesting people...who do interesting things" (Fitzgerald, pg 96). Gatsby's dream is doomed to failure in that he has lost the fundamental necessities to experience love, such as honesty and moral integrity.