Social 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

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.

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.

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

The “Roaring 20’s” was a time period where material and wealth mattered even more to people. Greed consumed people and the thrill of the time devoured people as well. Parties occurred daily and wealthy members of society appeared out of nowhere. The American Dream, of what once was a dream of self, became corrupted. The opportunity to be oneself became the opportunity to become rich and powerful. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald exemplifies the corruption of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby, an upper-class member of society, allows the thrill of the American Dream to take over his life and determine his actions, in his extravagant plan of winning back his old love, Daisy. This corruption of the American Dream destroys not only his ideals and inevitably, his life but also sabotages Daisy as well. Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby’s versions of the American Dream are a true example of the hold and destruction that the American Dream had on people. Fitzgerald’s way of incorporating the American Dream reflects the truth behind the dream and shows the damage that it did to millions of people during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby is a criticism of the American Dream and how monetary greed and excess destroy the characters’ attempts to find true happiness.

The author of The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott-Fitzgerald, was born in Minnesota in 1896. He was born into a middle class family and spent most of his childhood living in New York because of his fathers job. Fitzgerald attended Princeton but did not get the chance to graduate because he enrolled into the Army. He was stationed at Fort Leavenworth and was under the influence of Dwight Eisenhower. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the life of the working class and how people's dreams of moving up in social class began to dwindle if they did not stay hopeful.

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.

The 1920s is the important transition in U.S. that American economy began to recover rapidly, as American Dream provided most lower classes the chance to move up social levels, therefore, many people believed in hard work can achieve personal success. F. Scott. Fitzgerald uses George Wilson and Jay Gatsby, who come from the same class level, to explore the different backgrounds result the different achievements.However, comparing their different actions, which showed American Dream actually was a phony process, and how honest you were determined how futile you would become. In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys the conflict between the “old wealth”-- the rigid class divisions before WW1 and the newly rich class that emerged in the

Social classes are truly like a ladder, but that final step is by far the most difficult. Trying to become the most powerful, and successful person around it an almost impossible task, which very few will ever achieve. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby spends his entire life attempting to climb the social ladder, in order to win back his young love, Daisy Buchanan. The novel makes a naturalism argument stating that no matter how hard you try, and how much you think you’ve achieved in your life, you will most likely never be able to rise from a lower social class.

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

Coining the term ‘Jazz Age’, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, a modern American writer, has skillfully portrayed the social status, and class of the Post World War I Americans, their illusive pursuit of ‘American Dream’, their luxurious and careless life style in the mode of high class society etc. in his brilliant masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. The novel is the underlying commentary regarding the ascending of the social ladder, the causes behind this, the pursuit of material wealth, how it is associated with racism and sexuality, and the reaction of the consequences. It is found in the novel that the narrator is merely a witness in a character-oriented story, and the characters do not portray the real people, but rather present the cultural and economic state in a class-based materialistic, extravagant, disillusioned, and racist American society. Fitzgerald, in characterization, divides society into various groups defined by wealth and social status and makes a queer relationship between money, love, and sex through the thematic lens of social stratification and ethnic approach.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the finest American authors of the twentieth century wrote The Great Gatsby during the Jazz Age to critique the distortion of the American dream, and his work has lasted long past his lifetime. Fitzgerald discusses the nature of love and wealth and stresses the importance of defining a person beyond their external position. In his novel, letter to his daughter, and the screenplay adapted from the novel, it is clear that F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes exposition, narration, and imagery to illustrate how people in the 1920s did not understand the meaning of true love and worried about superficial characteristics, thus resulting in the corruption of the American dream from the pursuit of true love and equality to the pursuit of wealth and discrimination; however, he moralizes that human beings are capable of emotional growth and of escaping the illusion of wealth.

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.

“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.

The Roaring Twenties, or the Jazz Age, was a period characterized by post-war euphoria, prosperity, profligacy, and cultural dynamism. There were significant changes in lifestyle and culture in the 1920s; many found opportunities to rise to affluence, which resulted in groups of newly rich people, such as the hero of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby. Set in this booming era, the novel portrays the lavish and reckless lifestyle of the wealthy and elite. With the aristocratic upper class in the East Egg and the nouveau riche in the West Egg, people are divided into distinct social classes. Contrasting the two groups’ conflicting values, Fitzgerald reveals the ugliness and moral decay beneath