Class Security In The Great Gatsby

Tom Buchanan’s high social rank illustrates his personalities and actions in the novel. Tom is born in a “enormously wealthy” (Fitzgerald 6) and well-to-do family. Tom is considered old money and lives in the East Egg. Tom does not have to work for his money in which he enjoys very much. Tom is very arrogant in a way that he thinks that is “stronger and more of a man”

Gatsby comes from the Platonic conception of Gatz and by comparing Gatsby to Platonic Idealism, the idea of Gatsby becomes immortalized and genuine. Gatsby, representing the lower class desires to alter his status to an unalterable conception, which epitomizes the new money’s desires. Tom Buchanan, the embodiment of the traditional upper class, is a domineering man who desires only one result, to maintain his status and wealth. Tom obsesses over maintaining a pure, rich class of Caucasians that he believes should never be challenged: “‘It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out, or these other races will have control…this idea is that we’re Nordics. I am, and you are, and you are, and…we’ve produced all the things that go to make civilization- oh, science and art, and all that’” (13). The only characters in this excerpt are Tom, Daisy, Nick, and Jordan and they all come from well-regarded families who are prosperous compared to the other characters in the novel. Since Tom only converses with them about their duty to protect civilization, it suggests that they are the class holds a responsibility to maintain its position. Tom is a symbol of the traditional wealth and he proposes that in order to protect civilization, their traditional wealthy class must be conscious of the threat they are under. These contrasting desires pose a difficult situation for the classes where they must

The 1920s were years of economic prosperity and radical change both socially and politically. During the decade, the American Dream was sought-after by numerous people throughout America, which is reflected in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The novel is a highly symbolic meditation of America in the 1920s, focusing particularly on the disintegration of the American Dream in a time of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby, George and Myrtle Wilson, and Nick Carraway to illustrate that the American Dream is unnatainable, and striving for it only creates an disasterous ending.

Tom has convinced himself that he is the protector of the white race and of social grace and order. He believes, based on the literary work of Goddard, that it’s up to the whites, the dominant race, to be keen or the other races will completely control everything, which will cause the collapse of civilization (Fitzgerald 123). Tom, although through his reference to literature does well to establish his credibility, still builds this concept based on his racist opinions, granted in the 1920’s, racism was a social normality, but that doesn’t mean believing one’s self wasn’t discriminatory made the idea reality. This is a minor illusion, but still aides in the illustration of how easily one’s opinions shape their “reality”. In the scene of Gatsby’s

In the 1920’s, the ideal of change was deeply ingrained into American society. This was due to the increase of industrialism and materialism following World War I which inspired the search for new freedoms and encouraged the establishment of radical concepts, such as class mobility. This period of liberation and its effect on the mindset of American citizens is illustrated through The Great Gatsby. In the novel, the characters of Myrtle Wilson and Jay Gatsby serve as representations of optimistic people during the Roaring Twenties who fell victim to the prospect of advancement and ultimately fell short of their goals. With the introduction of social mobility, much of the lower class attempted to move up in society during the 1920’s, although

In the period of the 1920’s, there was a certain status of wealth that was difficult to achieve. There were two societal classes consisting of those with wealth from prior generations, and those who worked to earn it themselves. Tom, Daisy, and Nick, who represented the old money society did not have to work hard, unlike Gatsby which he represented the new money and they had to work to earn money. People like Gatsby, who gained their wealth on their own often fought for the approval from the upper class who inherited their wealth. Rather than having new money and old money, people who tried achieving the American Dream and ended up in failure usually they end up like George and Myrtle Wilson In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the notion that social norms in the upper class depict the idea that being apart of it was impossible unless they were born in it was expressed through Daisy’s rejection of Gatsby because of the corrupt way in which he gained his wealth, making his American Dream unattainable.

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

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that has a large focus on the ideas of the American Dream and social class in the 1920s. In the novel, the people of West Egg and East Egg are people of the upper who have earned money either through inheritance or working hard and have had many opportunities to make their American Dream a reality. The people of the Valley of Ashes are people of lower class who have little to no money and have to work all their lives to make ends meet. Even though both social classes strive for the same thing, The American Dream, neither of them will ever truly achieve it. Fitzgerald uses a vast contrast in the settings of East Egg, West Egg, and

Conflict is a recurring struggle throughout The Great Gatsby and Ken Allen’s “Roaring Twenties”. In Fitzgerald’s nonfiction novel, class was one of the main conflicts and reasoning’s behind many of the actions from the characters. A major social issue was class socialization. Class socialization refers to the rich socializing with the rich and the poor socializing with the poor. Classes of people were divided by wealth. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy would not be with Gatsby due to his lack of money. Since Gatsby descended from a poor family, Daisy would not accept him as a lover although she was indeed in love with him. Gatsby’s lack of wealth led to many other conflicts sustaining from his drive to earn money to prove his worth of her affection. Another conflict in The Great Gatsby was the stock market crash. The stock market crash was a major event during the Roaring Twenties. When the market crashed, prices on goods soared due to the low quantity of products resulting with millions of people becoming poor. In Allen’s poem “Roaring Twenties”, socialism

The Great Gatsby is a novel that illustrates the society in the 1920's and the associated beliefs, values and dreams of the American population at that time. These beliefs, values and dreams can be summed up be what is termed the "American Dream", a dream of money, wealth, prosperity and the happiness that supposedly came with the booming economy and get-rich-quick schemes that formed the essential underworld of American upper-class society. This underworld infiltrated the upper echelons and created such a moral decay within general society that paved the way for the ruining of dreams and dashing of hopes as they were placed confidently in the chance for opportunities that could be seized by one and all. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s use of exposition to illustrate the superficiality and flaws within Gatsby and Daisy conveys his disapproval with classism, and the letter to his daughter extends his hope for societal reform. When Gatsby insists that Daisy leave Tom to marry him, Daisy firmly postulates, “Rich girls don’t marry poor boys” (Coppola). Fitzgerald elucidates the social stratification in West Egg through Daisy’s love for materialistic items and her reluctance to marry Gatsby. Daisy is a token of the social trend to gain material and represents the twentieth century misconception

Tom Buchanan is the person most dominantly representing these people. His actions are generally self-centered and depict him as racist. Tom’s self-centered nature is revealed in his actions in East Egg. For instance, Tom cares only for himself and his well-being. He mistreats his wife Daisy by hurting her physically. This is evident when Daisy says, “Look! ... You did it, Tom… I know you didn’t mean to but you did do it” (17). Daisy is trying to trigger Tom’s guilt, but fails as he disregards her complaining and changes the topic of the conversation, thus, proving his self-centered ideals that concern no one other than himself. Moreover, Tom’s racist nature reveals itself when he discusses with Nick on the topic of a new book that Tom has been reading; ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’. Tom says, “It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control over things” (18). Tom thinks that the white race is the supreme race and that all other coloured races are inferior, coupled with the belief that the supreme race should watch out or else they will end up losing their title. This ideal is common in the 1920’s and it correlates with the moral deterioration of the upper class in society since they are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the supremacy of the white race. Finally, Tom’s self-centered nature in East Egg best reveals itself when Tom excuses himself from the dinner table in order to talk to his mistress

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.

The Roaring 20s, The Jazz age, the 1920s were a time of great prosperity in the United States. The 1920s were an era of change, both politically and socially. Americans began to move into cities, rather than living on farms, and the nation's wealth more than doubled. Buying the same goods, listening to the same music, dancing the same dances, and overall having the same values, people felt united. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, these values are reflected in the characters’ lifestyles. A recurring theme in the novel is that money cannot buy a person’s true happiness, and this theme is exhibited in the various characters actions, choices, and what they value most in their lives.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of The Great Gatsby, he creates an artificial world where each character’s sole purpose in life is money, and the essence of desire is wealth. It is clear within the text that the characters feel as if they are totally limited by the amount of money they make, therefore, their view of being satisfied and achieving in life is depicted against their financial status. Poverty limits decision and action. The novel is set in the 1920’s when the newly founded ‘American Dream’ was being strived for, the idea that if one worked hard, they would ‘reap’ the rewards, no matter their