Examples Of Working Class In The Great Gatsby

In the novel The Great Gatsby, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays his views on life in the early post world war I society. The 1920s or the “Roaring twenties” was a period of economic prosperity in the United States. This, however, was a success that did not distribute equally among the varying classes, as an increasingly disturbing gap emerged between the rich and the poor. Those with wealth began to lavish themselves with material goods and extravagant lifestyles, while those without sank into the depressing, grotesque scene of poverty. Through a winding story of love and loss, Fitzgerald gives the audience

The emerging inequitable class systems and antagonisms of the nineteen twenties saw the traditional order and moral values challenged, as well as the creation of great wealth for few and poverty for many. The Great Gatsby, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, explores the causes and effects of the unbalanced class structures. Fitzgerald outlines the idea that the desire to accumulate wealth and status is a common ambition amongst the lower classes; when that desire is reached, the traditional upper class is challenged by the emerging newly wealthy, which finally leads to destructive consequences. By creating rigid class structures, traditional upper class, new wealth, and the poor in The Great Gatsby, it is

The high class tends to be blinded and senseless to the multiple privileges given to them by their wealth ultimately losing their chance to achieve something greater. The novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald proves how reckless the bourgeois, influence their power over the proletariats showcasing the status quo in society at that time. The power gained by wealth and status changed the thoughts and images people have on each other. This kind of society welcomes classism, the struggle for a person of a lower class to reach a higher standard due to prejudice. Gatsby being born poor tries to gain wealth to open his chances to see and be with Daisy, this devotion causes his death, and him realizing that he was never

In the period of the 1920s, a certain status of wealth was difficult to achieve. Two consisting societal classes were of those with wealth from prior generations, and 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 money to work and earn for. 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 to achieve 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, creates 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 which Daisy expressed through Gatsby’s rejection, because of the corrupt way in which he gained his wealth, making his American Dream unattainable.

Many novels are written as a means of scrutinising the details and flaws of a specific society. The author’s purpose is to use the novel as a lens through which they can offer their own critical perception. The highly praised novel The Great Gatsby provides such a view into 1920s America, an era which was often described as the “Jazz Age” or the “Roaring 20s,” mainly due to the +and carefree nature of the wealthy. This higher class, who were essentially safeguarded by their money, lived life as if it was an endless party. It is this particular group that F. Scott Fitzgerald mainly targets when providing his criticism

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (188).

The Roaring Twenties were a time of booming economic growth in America. Newfound wealth flowing into the nation’s market provided a stream of chances for impoverished people to achieve the American Dream. This gave many people the impression that social mobility was not only possible, but prevalent and that lower class and upper class could merge together in unison. In the novel The Great Gatsby by renowned American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, protagonist Jay Gatsby is used as a way of showing the impossibilities in attempting to rise through the social structure by his incapability of blending in with upper class patricians. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby highlights the false beliefs that a rise in social mobility and new opportunities for lower class citizens to achieve the American Dream were commonplace while a decline in plutocracy occurred during the 1920’s in America.

The pressures of social class tend to give us an urgency to act a certain way. In The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, He carefully sets up his novel into wonderful agencies but, in the long run, every group has its personal issues to take care of, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious region the world truly is. By creating awesome social instructions which include new money, old money and the poor. Fitzgerald sends sturdy messages about the elitism running throughout society. He emphasizes the department between the social instructions and the motives in the back of why they are separated. The first and most

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.

The novel is based around Jay Gatsby, the protagonist who obtains an exuberant amount of wealth and rises from the well-kept secret working class he was born into. However, he is unable to attain that true upper class, despite the fortune he has amassed. While Gatsby fooled many into believing he was a part of the upper class, he was unable to deceive the upper class. Jay Gatsby is never able to climb to the social class equivalent to his economic class; emphasizing that class strata are not based on how much money is amassed or the possession owned, but, from the social class one is born into. Through the novel, Fitzgerald proves that mobility does not exist and that social fluidity is prevented by the upper classes and their insurmountable grasp over power and control. In the 1920s, American society did not allow for social mobility, portrayed by Gatsby’s downfall as he attempted to delude the upper class by associating wealth with class.

Although Tom acted as if he truly cared about Myrtle, he really did not. This is displayed when he claims that his wife is a Catholic, and that is why they could not get a divorce. The issue with that, would be that she is not Catholic, Tom was just making up an excuse. This shows that Tom has no real intention of actually being with Myrtle. Instead of being truthful, and telling her that he will never want to marry her, he is dragging her along, and lying to her, making her believe that he cares. By doing this to Myrtle, he is preventing her from actually trying to make something of herself, and further proving that the “upper class” is constantly affecting the lower classes. Gatsby and Daisy would be another perfect example of this idea. “I did love him once, but I loved you too,” Daisy said, proving to Gatsby he was never the only one she wanted. By saying that she loved them both, she is showing that Gatsby was never the only man on her mind. She proved that she did not have the purest intentions of being with him, because she was never fully committed to him. This was also shown when Gatsby was the one to tell Tom she loved him, not Daisy. Finally, upper class people tend to drag lower class people down, by abusing their money, power, and

“Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby is an example of the poor. Myrtle is Tom’s lover who is desperately trying to change her life as the lower class. Myrtle is not found with the class she was born into. She insists that she married beneath her, and tries to talk about the lower orders— as if she is not one of them: “‘I told that boy about the ice.’ Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. ‘These people! You have to keep after them all the time’". Unfortunately for her, she chooses to be Tom’s lover who treats her as a merely object.

The social hierarchy is influenced by the amount of money one owns which determines whether one can attain their dream. By creating apparent social classes within ‘The Great Gatsby’ – old money, new money and no money, Fitzgerald strongly suggests that American society is intensely stigmatised. Daisy, Tom and Jordan represent the elite social class of society where despite their problems and failures they are always protected and immune by their wealth. Tom refers to Gatsby as ‘Mr Nobody from nowhere” and a “common swindler who would have to steal the ring he put on her finger” as he boasts about his hereditary wealth compared to the other distinct elite group of society who acquire their wealth through business deals, which are sometimes corrupt. Although Fitzgerald mainly attacks the rich, by making them look judgemental, superior and selfish, evidently the lower class of society are vulnerable within American society. This is shown where so many, like Myrtle,

The novel The Great Gatsby was written in a time and place in which the separation between classes based on money was a great factor. The two rich classes were the old money and the new money. The two classes were also physically separated. East Egg is for the great “old money” and West Egg is for the “new money”. This segregation based on class is a problem discussed by the Marxists. They understood the huge differences and were the people who believed that there should be no class separation. The Marxist idea of class separation is well depicted in the character Jay Gatsby and his passionate fighting against the class system, in Tom Buchanan’s arrogance and power, typical for the rich people, and in the way George Wilson’s life is negatively influenced by his interactions with the higher class.

Fitzgerald uses the no money class to make a strong statement as well. Nick although he doesn’t have money proves himself to be an honorable man. Almost immediately social discomfort is characterized by the Buchanan marriage however the affairs and actions of the old rich eventually lead to similarities between the wealthy and the poor. George and Myrtle’s interaction with the wealthy serve as a reinforcement for Fitzgerald’s social commentary on the rich. Myrtle is like Tom and she displays the same qualities that he does. She tries to exert a sort of superiority with her husband just as Tom does with people who he considers inferior to him. Myrtle’s actions cause the rich’s behavior to be seen as absurd and ridiculous by the