My reading of American literature is concerned with this passage by Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy. It explores variety within gender roles and the American dream of the times. This is explored when social divisions are highlighted in the text in the phrase ‘would have assumed at once belonged to this world.’ The worlds that are shown to us are old and new in The Great Gatsby, as there are many that are striving to achieve more wealth to belong to the new world where all the industrial wealth is increasing in rates never seen before. The verb ‘belonged’ suggests the social status of women in those times, as men were the superior and women were to follow behind as ‘belongings’, and the reader has to understand that men had the power and dominance over women. The noun ‘world’ suggests the divisions between the East side and the West side as they are portraying social divisions throughout 1922 when The Great Gatsby was set. Although An American Tragedy was set in 1925, a little after The Great Gatsby, we have reason to conclude that similar social divisions were still in play. In The Great Gatsby, Nick, the narrator of the novella, sees two kinds of America: the hard-working Chicago, part of a "Middle-West" culture; and the "white," fashionable East Egg. Nick may be able to make it in the Middle-West, but he is not cut out for East Coast life. This reference to the two worlds hints at the decadence of the roaring 20s, a time in which which everyone was increasing in
In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald analyzes the different social class in America, specifically New York, to demonstrate how they are intertwined and one’s action can affect another. The interaction between people of different classes has not been witnessed in any civilization or country to such scale. This interaction is found to be harmful to the lower class while benefiting those in the higher class who exploit the perks of their status. Considered to be at the bottom of the social hierarchy, the people in the valley of ashes are working daily to move up from their status and achieve this American Dream. The efforts of these people are hindered by those of higher status who can do what they want, but never pay for their actions and this is
F. Scott Fitzgerald presents many themes in his novel, The Great Gatsby. One of the
“I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others--young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life” (Fitzgerald, p.xx). This is the feeling one might feel in their lives no matter how much money they have. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to portray the different social attitudes within the upper class. F. Scott Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was 29 years old when The Great Gatsby was published on April 10, 1925. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald sheds light on the different personalities between the aged rich families and the modern rich families. An example of the sophistication of Gatsby are the elaborate parties he throws for the people he invites, while on the other hand, Tom and Daisy have a simple dinner with only a few people over. The emptiness one might feel at any time in their life cannot be fulfilled with money but only with other friends surrounding one.
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.
Segregation was still much present in the 1960s and America lived separated full of racism and, some of the people in that time value money more than morality as a result they thought that was the only way someone could live happily. Mama faced many adversities throughout the play due to the great sum of money she received and she wanted to use it for something that would help everyone in her family. Mama loves her family and shows she does not care about money and only cares about her family, showing she has moral since she wants to use the money for something that would be useful for her family, like a house, she also uses some of the money to pay for beneatha's med school and for walters liquor store, she wanted to make her children's dreams come true.
Money is the most important creation in human history. It is the key factor in the creation of modern society: the people with more money are the elite and the ones with less, the plebeians. In “A Critical Social Work Response To Wealth and Income Inequality”, Christine Morley and Phillip Ablett argue that money affects people’s social class and their interactions with others. This is evident in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, through the relationship of Tom and Gatsby. People inertly judge others based on their wealth because they have this mentality instilled in them through their education. Education, as Ablett and Morley argue, is, in fact, the root cause of social inequality.
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.
Fiction, Reality, and The American Dream: An Analysis of The Great Gatsby and Hidden Figures. “The American Dream belongs to all of us.” –Kamala Harris. It’s true we can all dream, but how likely is it that everyone’s dream becomes a reality? The American Dream is the fantasy that everyone can achieve success, no matter what their background is.
Gatsby Analytical Essay The author for the successful book known The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents many themes in his novel. One of the themes is Society and Class. The theme is developed throughout the book by his use of the motif of Parties, mostly happening over at Gatsby’s house. The motif of parties compares Gatsby parties.
Why is affluence so significant? It was not always this way. For hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies, personal properties were insignificant or even disadvantageous unless it was food. For the sake of development and standards of life, this had to change. As wealth gained in value, people also lived better, longer lives, but at a certain point, it began to manipulate the society around it. Some may argue that this occurred around the 1920’s in America. The changes of this time were monumental. People were moving to cities in large numbers, the party lifestyle was adopted by men and women alike due to dramatic social change, and the economy was booming, they were not called “the roaring 20’s” for nothing. The large economy enabled people to gain more wealth than ever. A multitude of people, primarily in older generations, did not encourage this lifestyle, finding it fake, licentious, flashy, and unchristian. This disapproval of change is apparent in The Great Gatsby due to Nick’s distaste for the frivolous and gaudy lifestyles of the East and West Eggers and Gatsby in particular. This distaste, also conveyed heavily by the author, is most significantly formed around the iniquitous value of money and adultery. Ergo, In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that Modern America has become irrationally focused upon immorality and wealth rather than the true American values of hard work and faith, which is demonstrated through the motif of the colour
The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells us a variety of themes-justice, power and greed, The American dream and so on. The Great Gatsby is regarded as a brilliant piece of social commentary. The Great Gatsby concerns the wasteful lives of four wealthy characters as observed by their acquaintance, narrator Nick Carraway. Like Fitzgerald himself, Nick is from Minnesota, attended an Ivy League university, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, moved to New York after the war. The narrator, Nick, is a very clever and well spoken storyteller. Nick confides with the reader in the first pages of the novel. He says that he needs to tell the story of a man called Gatsby. It is as if Nick has to overcome disappointment and frustration with a man who has left him with painful memories. This thesis is valid for three main reasons. First, it is evident that dreams and memories are central to the overall plot and meaning. Secondly, the American Dream is a “green light” of desire that Gatsby never stops yearning for and something he will not forget over time, even as he is dying. This is so, even though no one cares about Gatsby or his dreams after he died, except maybe Nick. Finally, the fact that Fitzgerald uses flashback; that Nick is telling us about a main character after he has already died and before the story begins, is ultimate proof.The Great Gatsby is structured by Nick’s memory. Fitzgerald’s clever use of flashback throughout and within the
In this quotation, it demonstrates the theme of social class between men and women in the 1920s, even when the American Dream was everyone should be equal. At this point in the novel, readers were able to have a glimpse into Daisy Buchanan’s character, which nevertheless, she is a woman in society with no intelligence, independence, and very indecisive. When Nick arrives at her house, immediately he notices her abnormal behaviour and actions. Daisy would often switch from one topic to another, and her idiotic laugh made it obvious that she is hiding something. She also questions Nick about his bond businesses and new home, constantly smiling and laughing to draw Nick’s, and perhaps Jordan’s attention away from the “fifth guest”. To conclude,
Social class plays a role in The Great Gatsby for the sense of fundamental decencies being parceled out unequally at birth. There’s a difference from being born into the money and working to be in the money shown between West Egg and East Egg. Gatz dreamt of being successful and rich, doing anything to achieve such status. Which inevitably leads to his fall for his dream of falling in love threw his life away and kills him. Social class between people is the division of where in society you stand, this division shows the unequal decencies presented by the rise and fall of Gatsby.
Myrtle Wilson, a relatively minor character, belongs to the lower classes, expresses a desire to upward social mobility, but is largely prevented from doing so due to her gender. She uses love to acquire wealth and has an extramarital affair with Tom. She is not happy with her lower social status and her husband George Wilson, a representative of the lower classes and a simple man with no grand ambitions, states in the novel: “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in and never even told me about it,” (Fitzgerald 28). Myrtle allows us to look at her accumulation of things, such as the down-town apartment which was “… crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it, so that to move about was to stumble continuously over scenes of ladies swinging in the gardens of Versailles” (Lindberg 16; Fitzgerald 35).
n The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald offers up commentary on a variety of themes — justice, power, greed, betrayal, the American dream, and so on. Of all the themes, perhaps none is more well developed than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is regarded as a brilliant piece of social commentary, offering a vivid peek into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct groups but, in the end, each group has its own problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious place the world really is. By creating distinct social classes — old money, new money, and no money — Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism running throughout every strata of society.