Essay about Class in F. Scott Fitzgerald´s The Great Gatsby

The desire for social pleasure was rampant in the roaring twenties and in The Great Gatsby. On the surface, Gatsby’s dream appears very materialistic. We’ve just talked about his fancy parties and his flash car. But if Gatsby’s dream was truly material, would he chase after Daisy? If his aim was purely material, he wouldn’t have been such a desperate romantic figure. We’re selling him a bit short here by accusing him of just wanting money. He is unsatisfied with his wealth, and pursues something greater – ‘true love’. Gatsby’s idea of ‘success’ was Daisy. Granted, you and I will agree that Gatsby could have done so much better. In fact, what does Daisy represent? Daisy has a symbolic name, and the way she gleams “in the sunlight” (pg 160) is merely a white façade covering her superficiality. The truth is, she and Tom are “careless people”, they “smash up things…and retreat into their money and carelessness…let other people clean up the mess they’d made” (pg 191). You may think Gatsby’s corrupt. However, clearly Daisy and Tom are the corrupt ones; they think they can do anything and everything, with the social influence and wealth they gained at birth. Daisy exploited Gatsby, his naive desire of “the golden girl” (pg 128), the ‘girl of his dreams’ – or so he believed. Fitzgerald also wanted a girl out of his league; Ginevra (Erbentraut, 2013). Very much like Daisy, Ginevra couldn’t be with Fitzgerald because of she was rich and cool and he

In The Great Gatsby, wealth can be distinguished from class; it is possible to achieve great wealth without being accepted into the élite class, as evidenced by Jay Gatsby’s experience. Jay Gatsby was part of the new rich, the millionaires that popped up over night in the 1920s. His money could not buy him into the society of old money, the aristocratic money. The life of ease and luxury that Tom and others enjoy is contrasted sharply with the stranglehold of poverty containing Myrtle and George Wilson or the life from which Jay Gatsby emerges. Wealth is what separates Gatsby from his love, as he notes of Daisy that "her voice is full of money."(Fitzgerald 127).

In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the dichotomy of the established upper class of the East and the nouveau riche from the Midwest with the two areas of East Egg and West Egg. The novel's characters were obsessed by class and privilege. One reason Tom and Daisy would be considered part of the wealthy class would be because of his parents. Tom and “his family were enormously wealthy” (6). Tom came from a wealthy, established family, and was a much-feared football player while at Yale. The wealthy class includes those high society families who have been rich for generations. These extremely wealthy people live off the income from their inherited riches. Another reason Tom and Daisy would be considered an example of the

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

In The Great Gatsby, various factors affect the class to which a character belongs to; such as wealth, social status, and political power. Furthermore, Fitzgerald portrays the era of the 1920’s as a corrupt society which thrives to impress other individuals with their materialistic possessions. The setting of the novel expands through four different suburbs, each with distinct classes. East Egg and West Egg are both communities of wealth, which contrast each other by how an individual builds their capital. Potentially, a person of any background could make a fortune, but families belonging to the category of American Aristocracy earn their fortune from inheritance .

Although Gatsby has dedicated his whole life to transforming himself into a different man and becoming part of the upper class, he is still not on the same level as Daisy and Tom. Gatsby knows how hard he has worked to earn everything that he has gotten because he knows what it is like to be poor and not have a lot. In contrast, Daisy and Tom are both born into rich families and do not know the feeling of earning what they deserve because they have always had the privilege of getting what they want. They do not care about any other peoples’ feelings because they believe that their social status puts them above others. This is evident in the way that Daisy treats Gatsby because she never considered his feelings when she led him on, then crushed

Secondly, Tom and Gatsby have few differences. Mainly, Tom is aggressive and lacks loyalty, while Gatsby isn’t aggressive and is

Social Class Difference in ‘The Great Gatsby’ The novel, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, gives the reader the impact of the social class difference, which their lives and thoughts are different from each other. While reading the novel, reader gets to have endless questions that leads to think what is to be living perfect and better than others in the book. Most of the readers get impressed and learn how to live, how the upper class uses money, petty death overcome hunger and fake things and so much more. The title of the novel states that it is not just Gatsby, it’s the “Great” Gatsby.

The novel, The Great Gatsby focuses on one of the focal characters, James Gatz, also known as Jay Gatsby. He grew up in North Dakota to a family of poor farm people and as he matured, eventually worked for a wealthy man named Dan Cody. As Gatsby is taken under Cody’s wing, he gains more than even he bargained for. He comes across a large sum of money, however ends up getting tricked out of ‘inheriting’ it. After these obstacles, he finds a new way to earn his money, even though it means bending the law to obtain it. Some people will go to a lot of trouble in order to achieve things at all costs. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, conveys the numerous traits of Jay Gatsby through the incidents he faces, how he voices himself and the

In the story “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is portrayed as a man of high class with lots of money, living in a corrupt time in America’s history. “The Great Gatsby” takes place in 1918 right after World War I, a war in which Gatsby had gone off to fight in. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway from a first person point of view, where Nick tells us about his experiences with a “racketeer” farmer boy, named Jay Gatsby. Gatsby doesn’t appear in the story until chapter three and until then Gatsby, to the reader, is simply a mysterious wealthy man who throws wild house parties. Very little is learned about Gatsby in the first chapter, except for the fact that he lives in “West Egg” and not “East Egg.” “West Egg” is

The character Gatsby can be understood at a higher level with the help of Marxist ideas because he is a representative of the lower class that understands the difference in classes and the superiority of the higher class. Moreover, he is forced to gain entrance to the higher class because of this segregation. Firstly, Fitzgerald demonstrates the idea of the separation between the classes best through Gatsby. He is someone who has been a part of both the lower and the higher class in different periods of his

Moreover Gatsby’s charm and resilience are plausible traits that are introduced to his character which aids to greatly symbolize him as the “Great American dream.” As the Great Gatsby defines the distinct relationship of the aristocracy and the dominant wealth the audience is able to see the sociology of wealth by the East egg and west egg signified by the rich people that include Gatsby. One of the most major and memorable character so far, Gatsby of the wealthy and extravagant life symbolizes the extreme sophistication of the West egg. His wealth status can be seen because he owns a mansion that over dominants the West egg.

Gatsby is a “poor boy trying to remake himself” (McClurg). Gatsby comes from an impoverished family, so he leaves his family and starts looking for success. His first chance at being rich is when Dan Cody leaves him some wealth. Unfortunately, Cody’s wife refuses to give it him, so Gatsby makes it his goal to get rich without Cody’s help. Gatsby serves in the Great War then he joins the bootlegging business. The bootlegging business turns Gatsby to a really wealthy man. He becomes “mister nobody… who rise up out of the crowd” (McClurg). Gatsby tries to fit in with rich people by throwing extravagant parties, buying a personalized car, and lying about his background. Despite of all his generosity at his parties, people usually “came and went without having met Gatsby” (Fitzgerald 41). Additionally, his desire to be an upper class comes from his love for Daisy. For instance, Jordan Baker tells Nick that “Gatsby bought [his] house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 78). Gatsby wants to show his wealth to Daisy and prove to her that “he has been cured of poverty” (Pidgeon 180). Nevertheless, Daisy leaves Gatsby “standing… in the moonlight – watching over nothing” (Fitzgerald 145). Gatsby’s hard work is all for nothing. Readers can infer that Daisy picks Tom over Gatsby due the fact that he does “not belong to the right club [class]” (Pidgeon 178).

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

In The Great Gatsby, the setting plays a prominent role in illustrating the wealth of the characters. The setting is the 1920’s during the Jazz Age, in New York City and Long Island and within the first few pages, the main characters and their opulent residences are introduced. The readers are informed of Gatsby’s mansion in the “West Egg,” which includes "forty acres of land and garden and a marble swimming pool, all for eighty dollars a month,” and similarly is Tom and Daisy’s residence described by Nick as “the white palaces of fashionable East Egg” (Fitzgerald 5). It is their setting and wealth that enables them to enjoy a carefree lifestyle that includes