The Great Gatsby Social Class Structure

At the surface level, The Great Gatsby is most renowned for the tragic love story of Jay Gatsby and Daisy. However, despite this popular understanding, it is rare to find an analysis of the underlying reasons behind their failed romance. In society, social class is a commonly used dividing factor that separates people based on income. In a similar way, the main characters of The Great Gatsby are divided into the following social classes; the old money, the newly- rich and the working class. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes social classes to create a distinct line between the rich and the poor, creating a distinct outcome to the novel due to the advantages and disadvantages of each group.

In “The Great Gatsby” F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his characters as symbols for the fragility of the American dream and the ultimate dissatisfaction inherent in its pursuit. In doing so, this theme becomes more tangible as represented by living, breathing people who go through things that we can visualize. Daisy has all the outward signs of luxury while achieving no real happiness. As such she epitomizes the disillusionment with the American dream. Tom, her husband, who has a life of luxury and power and uses it in destructive ways represents the negative effects of the mindless pursuit of wealth. And Gatsby, himself, pursues wealth to attract a love from his past. His failure in this represents the fallacy of such a pursuit.

Gatsby believed wholeheartedly that his happiness lay in the chance of reuniting with Daisy, but she was unfortunately unable to live up to his obsessive and arguably overwhelming dream. In fact, Gatsby himself becomes so engrossed in his “American Dream”, that when Daisy’s rejection comes, his life seems to lose all its purpose in the absence of his obsession. Perhaps even his former warm view of the world was lost as he lay in the pool, waiting for Daisy’s phone call, and “looked up at an unfamiliar sky.” This shows us how obsession can take over one’s life, wielding a complete unhealthy control over our emotions and actions. On the critical side, it is also showing us that the American Dream, which was once a genuine, pure aspiration for advancement, has, for many people, turned into a greedy desire and obsession for wealth and material goods. As well as the unrealistic notion of equal opportunity for all, Fitzgerald is suggesting that what was once “a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable”- as coined by U.S writer James Truslow Adams- has evolved into a dense objective of achieving personal material comfort. Although Gatsby claims that he did everything for Daisy, there is the underlying question; was his bootlegging really all for Daisy’s love, or was it for his own ideal life that he dreamed of- a life of luxury, aesthetic appeal and a beautiful woman? Fitzgerald is criticising the corruption of what was idealised to be a world of freedom, equality and opportunity. Instead of striving for an improved, richer and fuller life for the country as a whole, society has turned into a battle between individuals to get to the top and appear the most

In the novel, Jay Gatsby, an exceedingly wealthy man, throws extravagant, and lavish parties, but behind his wealth, and all the parties he remains unsatisfied. Daisy questions, “I love it, but I don’t see how you live there all alone.” (Fitzgerald 90). In this scene Daisy is astonished by the enormous size of Gatsby's mansion. His mansion is so large yet he has no one to fill it. He has so many rooms and accommodations for everyone but his empty house is a representation of his empty heart; for without Daisy it

Jay Gatsby is a self-made man, he turned himself from a farm boy to one of the richest men in America at the time and bought himself a beautiful mansion on West Egg, Long Island with the other new millionaires. In contrast to the newly rich, there is those who have inherited their wealth from family before them such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan. These people were lucky to be born into their lives and reside on East Egg along with other family’s with “old money”. Readers come to easily identify that despite their different

Gatsby realizes that life of the high-class demands wealth to become priority; wealth becomes his superficial goal overshadowing his quest for love. He establishes his necessity to acquire wealth, which allows him to be with Daisy. The social elite of Gatsby?s time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an enormously wealthy family, ?seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind.?(Lehan, pg.60) Nick describes Tom?s physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a ?hard mouth and a supercilious manner?arrogant eyes has established dominance over his face?always leaning aggressively forward?a cruel body?his speaking voice?added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed? (Lehan, p.61)

The main theme of the novel “The Great Gatsby” focuses on the American Dream and it is portrayed through the life of Jay Gatsby. Through Gatsby’s life we see the withering of the American Dream, a tragedy that struck Jay’s near finished dream. The American Dream is what many have hoped of achieving, it has existed in the past and is in the present. The American Dream gives people a goal that they can work towards, it also gives them a purpose in life. The American Dream represents luxury and wealth it believes the goodness of the quality of life. For Jay Gatsby, he was so close to achieving the American Dream. He had the wealth and the class, all he needed was his long lost love, Daisy. Gatsby truly believed that he

Everything that Gatsby ever did, his wealth, his social status, and his complete new personality, have all been for Daisy. The corrupted and illegal ways in which Gatsby achieved his great wealth make it unclear whether good or evil notions drive him. Nick notes his immense wealth when he exclaims that Gatsby’s mansion is a “colossal affair by any standard” (5). Nick later learns from Jordan that “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (79). These two quotes show that Gatsby’s wealth is not just for his own personal

The culture of the upper class, illustrated by Tom and Daisy’s lifestyle, was a closed society that individuals such as the Wilsons had seemingly no chance of achieving. Tom and Daisy represented the old wealth which will cause conflict in between the society in their time when the book stated, “I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors eyes; fresh, green breast of the new world; the trees vanished where they made way for Gatsby’s house”

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

As the tide lessens, the truth of her barren conscience comes to rise. A white void, half empty with wealth and power, frowns before him. Mr. Jay Gatsby may still precede within a mirage of deep surging floods and earthy roots entangling himself and Daisy in a dream-like world, but she will never be satisfied by the devotion of a man. I have chosen to picture Mr. Gatsby as his confident nightlife self, otherwise recognized as the way the outside world has most often perceived him. The sad, mistaken man inside his nesting doll like layers of impressive feats, tall tales, and just a handful of entirely authentic traits is much too sorrowful to depict upon

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.

At one of the final points in The Great Gatsby when Tom and Daisy retreat back to their careless lives leaving Gatsby dead and Nick to clean up the mess, the reader’s view on Daisy takes a downhill spin. The previous understanding that Daisy was the poster child in an era of ever-changing lifestyle and surging economic growth,

“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