Class Classes In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the ideals of wealth and dreams are exhibited through the lives and experiences of Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby. Specifically, Gatsby tends to waste his wealth rather than investing for the future. He uses the “green light” to serve as a constant reminder of his dreams and life goals he wishes to pursue. Nick Carraway’s friendship with Gatsby enables him to partake in the wealth and luxuries of Gatsby's lifestyle. The American Dream is brought to fruition through Gatsby’s lavish lifestyle and extravagant parties. Furthermore, the motifs of wealth and dreams are perpetually shaping and influencing the characters’ decisions, experiences and outcomes over the course of the story.

With the addition of nameless butlers and servants throughout the narrative, a sense of the wealthy class’ uncaring attitude towards those of lower social standings or positions is established, and is employed to develop the unattainable idea of moving up on the social ladder, and achieving all one’s ever wanted through hard work. Fitzgerald’s inclusion of descriptions of Gatsby’s “blue lawn” after his death serves as a reminder of the romanticized dream Gatsby worked so hard to attain, when in reality, it was a realistic illusion that was unraveled within one summer. Just as the “green light” began to fade, so did the American Dream with Fitzgerald; with the description of the slowly waning “green light” comes the struggle by both Nick and Fitzgerald to define what the future really means, and to explain the crumbling foundation of the American Dream that has us trying to “run faster, stretch out our farther,” even as one is held back by the chains of the past. Despite the hard work that was exerted for years upon years by Gatsby, just as the American Dream slipped from his fictional grasp, it slowly fades from

Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is set in America of the 1920’s, a predominantly materialistic society revolving around wealth and status above all else. Fitzgerald depicts this obsession with money and luxury through complicated relationships full of trouble, infidelity and sorrow. The relationships Fitzgerald portrays all symbolize the materialism and hedonism of the age; each relationship is doomed to a certain extent based on the social class of each character.

Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, there is a constant theme present: social class. Fitzgerald makes a connection between the theme of social class, and the settings in the novel for example The Valley of Ashes which is described as a “desolate area of land” (p.21) and a “solemn dumping ground” (p.21) which is where the poor people live. The Valley of Ashes is situated between West Egg and New York, West Egg being the place where the aspiring classes are situated, which is the “less fashionable of the two” (p.8), this is where Gatsby lives. West Egg is the place of ‘new money’, Fitzgerald shows this by the idea of the main character Jay Gatsby, rumoured to be selling illegal alcohol (prohibition) which means he is quickly making vast

Class structure in the 1920s was synonymous to prejudice. The 1920s was known as a period of wild excess and great parties with excitement arising from the ashes of the wars in America’s history. It was a period in history where rapid materialism and narcissistic ideals grew uncontrollably, and it was the days where Jay Gatsby, illegally, rose to success. Having social classes was the same as segregation, except it was through economic standings, the two both instil injustice within social standards. Class structure was used to describe the difference between the new money and old money. The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, written during the 1920s, emphasizes the division between the social classes and the reasons behind why they

After narrator Nick Carraway spies his neighbour Gatsby stepping outside of his mansion in the nightly hours, Fitzgerald writes, “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling” (24). Fitzgerald writes the orientation of Gatsby’s trembles to be toward the incubation of his objective, the Buchanan estate, across the unconquerable bay, symbolic of the animosity against those of self-made riches onset by the generational bourgeoisie. To a reader of the modern era, however, the means by which wealth is acquired is of inverse respectability to that when viewed from the perspective of someone from the Gatsby era. As Nick counts description of him and Gatsby’s neighbourhood of West Egg, he details it in contrast of East Egg as being “the less fashionable of the two” (7), then going on to append this description by calling it a “most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them” (7). The difference between East and West Egg is invisible to those whom they do not foster. To their inhabitants, and by definition to Gatsby himself, however, this divide is insurmountable and is ultimately what elicits Gatsby’s compensational flaring of

In “The Great Gatsby” class structure of the 1920s is portrayed through the wealth of the characters. Class structure in the 1920s as we know it was a social status. That is why things ended so abruptly. There are two major levels to how class structure became a conflict in the 1920s. The rich, and the poor.

A billboard advertisement may be viewed by some as a creepy doctor with gigantic blue eyes, or God for one spiritless man who also had light, blue eyes. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby uses symbols, but only through close reading may one discover the true meaning and connections that these symbols have. The 1920s are usually called the “Roaring Twenties,” but Fitzgerald shows, through symbols, that the 1920s were not “roaring” for everybody. In the 1920s the American Dream was still vivid, but it did not always come to reality for many. Examples include Jay Gatsby and people who worked in factories that lived a low-class life, which was much worse than the lives of those

Fitzgerald, in his sarcastic novel The Great Gatsby, frequently shows how racism and classism seriously influence the possibilities of achieving American dreams in obscure methods. The novel details Gatsby’s achievements and dream including Daisy, and makes comparison with other people in different races and classes indirectly but visibly. The fact that, though Gatsby is much wealthier than those in East Egg, he has never achieved the American dream, never owned Daisy truly and never acquired respect, but rumours, due he isn’t born in high class and makes money through bootleg. To some extent, the miserable end of Gatsby is the reflection of the disparity of classism. Gatsby’s mansion reminds people of the feasibility of making the American dream come true. However, his unexpected death that is not caught by police, but killed by Wilson, a white man in mid class, proves that it is related to races and classes closely. Fitzgerald takes us into the suffering of Gatsby to show us that the American dream is like a shell company, which makes everyone look forward to their future with great expectations, but only certain people can truly reach it because people are not standing on the same starting line.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the reader sees a common theme of corruption of the American Dream. In the 1920’s, the times are changing in America and morals are becoming looser and the lifestyle of the wealthy is more careless. New fashion, attitude, and music is what nicknamed this era the “Jazz Age,” greatly influencing Fitzgerald’s writing. He created similarities between many things in pop culture and the journey his characters Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Myrtle are taking to achieve the American dream. Through the use of the lively, yet scandalous, jazz music from the 1920’s, Fitzgerald reflects the attitudes of the characters in The Great Gatsby at the end of innocence and prevalence of

Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby proves that the society of East Egg and West Egg are opposed by the difference between the new rich people and the class of the old moneyed families. Gatsby is aware of the class structure in America because a true meritocracy would just put him in touch with some of the finest people such as Daisy, but as things stand, he is held at arm’s length. Gatsby tries desperately to fake even buying British shirts and claiming to have attended Oxford in an attempt to justify his position in the society.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, follows the story of Jay Gatsby, a man who personifies the American Dream. The narrator of the novel is Gatsby 's neighbor, Nick Carraway, who is connected with all the main characters and has the ability to see the good in Gatsby. Through the focus of Nick, a man with a fairly nondescript background, a story of corruption, illusion and desperate desire unfolds. The story takes place in the roaring twenties, a time that emphasizes the dichotomy of society, with the previously rich and the newly rich living a life of jubilance, while those in the valley of ashes—or other areas of the like—slave away their

Set in the 1920’s Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby depicts the perfect image of wealth, love and aspiration. Narrated from the viewpoint of Nick Carraway, we witness the characters of West and East Egg live, what seems to be a luxurious lifestyle, filled with riches and success. But as we analyze the characters it is observed that the novel is about much more. Hope, love and dissatisfaction plague the life of Mr. Jay Gatsby as we witness his tragic pursuit of happiness.

Rich and upper class live in East and West Egg and poor, almost peasant appearing individuals live in the valley of ashes. Fitzgerald making these living arrangements almost mocks at how vulgar Marxists believe working classes will keep the superstructure together. These working class individuals are portrayed throughout the book as being hardworking and looked down on by upper class. In the book Tom walks into George’s shop and talks down to him about buying the car and even makes passes at his wife as soon as he leaves the room. In other parts of the books as Daisy and Jordan Baker are mentioned they are always lying around, at luncheons or attending parties, and trying to find activities to do. The upper class characters are being supported by working class or people they can merely pay. Gatsby is rejected it seems from both upper and working classes. Daisy rejects him because of how he came into his money and when they were younger because of his social class. Tom rejects anyone in the book because of social status, looks, education, wealth, and even his wife; he rejects Gatsby for being inferior in many of these ways. Gatsby is rejected by working classes because he has money and nice possessions, which they can not afford.

“I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth” (2). So speaks Nick in the beginning of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. This exemplifies how people born into different social classes are not born with the same character and ethics. Since people from different classes think so differently, this may cause conflicts between them and might prevent them from having substantial relationships with each other.