Social Divisions In The Great Gatsby

The 1920’s brought about extreme change in the way the average American lived their lives, both socially and politically. Immigration, industrialism, and economy boomed, creating abundant wealth among Americans through the creation of new job opportunities. Eventually, a more defined social class structure was established, bringing fluctuations in the distribution of wealth among different ranks in society. This period of time, known as the “Roaring Twenties”, is exhibited in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who uses the characters in the novel to depict the conflict in American society. Gatsby, the central figure of the novel, represents the lower class and is followed as he attempts to achieve the benefits of the American Dream,

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.

“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.

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.

The essay focuses on the way the novel presents various social groups throughout the novel by the narrator, Nick. The novel does not only focus on the devision between the poor and the rich, but between the different types of rich. The narrator is silencing the upper class and specifically those who were born into wealth, emphasizing his difference from the people he is surrounded by and why he is sympathetic towards Gatsby. The task will begin with the introduction of the way the American society seems to be in the 1920s and extent of racism that is present, leading to a point that the African American race is marginalized within the text. The task will introduce various characters of the novel and refer to specific examples, such as Tom

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.

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.

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.

F. Scott Fitzgerald presents many themes in his novel, The Great Gatsby. One of the

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

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,

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.

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

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

In the Great Gatsby, Daisy shows how she does not want to marry Gatsby when he is poor. However once she meets the newly rich Gatsby, she wished she had waited. Similarly to Mr.Croteau and Ms.Woolner’s situation of being from different classes. A clash of classes can be difficult because one will overpower the other with money and because it does not look good on their social life.