Who Is The Wealthy In The Great Gatsby

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

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses West Egg and East Egg as a symbol for class systems to reveal the differences between the two social classes. The difference between the two social classes are vast. East Egg refers to whom came into wealth. West Egg refers to whom carried down wealth from traditional upper-class families. During the 20th century, East Egg residents were more prestigious. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages you had (Fitzgerald 1).” Many wealthy people were born into wealth. Some wealthy are born poor but had to earn their way up. “And I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool(Fitzgerald 30).” Women who were housewives in the 1920s didn’t get as much respect as Men did (BBC 7). “An Oxford man!” He was incredulous. “Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit (Fitzgerald 110).”

Long lost love, extravagant parties, secret lives, and mysterious deaths, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is driven by the power and importance of wealth. Fitzgerald wrote this novel in the 1920’s, a time where wealth distinguished those from the rest, and throughout The Great Gatsby one can see many similar parallels from the the book, to the environment and values during the 1920’s. Almost every character through the novel displays the idea and mentality that money is the power in the world, and that money really does buy happiness. Although Fitzgerald's novel generally seems like a mysterious, love story the book is driven by the idea and importance of wealth.

West Eggers are the newly rich; the people who have worked hard and earned their money in a short period of time. Their wealth is epitomized on material possessions. Gatsby, like the West Eggers, lacks the traditions of the East Eggers. He is considered 'new money', in the sense that his wealth came to him more recently through his own success. Although Gatsby is now a part of this class, his faith and belief in the success of his dreams has allowed him to preserve some morality. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, lives in West Egg and exhibits honesty in this place of superficiality. Clearly the West is able to preserve some ethics while the East is not able to grasp any. Although West Egg is the more moral, it is still a place of superficiality and materialism.

In 1959 much of the United States, including Chicago, was segregated, meaning that racial segregation persisted in education, employment, and housing even though segregation that was established by law was unconstitutional. Walter one of the main characters in A Raisin in the sun is obsessed with being wealthy like the white men. Just as Walter does, In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has a similar problem obsessing over money, he has anything you could dream of, from cars to mansions and even parties nearly every day. They both have a dream of being wealthy but for different reasons. Walters’s reason is so fulfill his dream of supporting his family and having money like a white man. Walter must put aside his dreams of being wealthy to see the

When our society thinks of the American Dream, our first thoughts are usually money, and having nice cars and a big house. These ideas of the American Dream rooted from way back when people from other countries would come over here looking for job opportunities. They came here for jobs because they believed coming to America would make them successful, wealthy, and happy.

Search for Wealth “All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘you can’t live forever; you can’t live forever” (36). In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, universally different characters are perpetually trying to move up the social ladder of hierarchy; tearing one another down, as another impermanently moves up. As the search for wealth and power continues, people are forced to choose social status over morals. The Great Gatsby takes place in the summer of the year 1922, a time of parties and prosperity, a time notoriously known as the jazz age, or the roaring twenties.

The Great Gatsby occurs during the 1920s in America. There are two different social classes, the rich (which live in the eggs) and the poor ( which lives in the the Valley of Ashes). During the twenties it was a time of a dying American Dream. Most people praised wealth and materialism.The east and west egg is across from each other separated by water. The east egg represents

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920’s. This story is set on Long Island, New York, about a man Jay Gatsby who tries to repeat the past and rekindle his love with a woman named Daisy Buchanan. His affair with her, and many efforts to impress her ultimately do not act in his favor. There are three different social classes in the book, East Egg representing inherited wealth, West Egg representing new and earned wealth, and finally the Valley of Ashes representing poverty and struggle. All of these social classes help to portray the different kinds of people in the 1920’s.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald constantly alludes to 1920’s American life. The story mainly addresses the loss of the American dream and the rise of materialism. East and West Egg correlate with how the east is plagued by lack of morals while the midwest and new-rich still have integrity. Nick, the narrator, comes from old-wealth but the midwest has taught him morals which is why he despises the East. With the 18th amendment came the rise of acquiring money illegally, hence Gatsby’s wealth.

The novel The Great Gatsby illustrates the undisciplined parties and superfluous wealth of a pivotal group in American history all while showing how such extravagant lives could remain devoid of true happiness, morals, and hold a bleak future despite having a prodigious past. Throughout the novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes in great detail the mass amount of wealth and lack of morals the citizens of the two adjacent villages, Easy Egg and West Egg, share as well as the dissimilarity between the two. The shared concept between the villages consist of the belief that with enough money any horizon, any part of the past, anything

The established wealthy have the ability to use their wealth however they desire. Their wealth is important to many people below them as it can give tremendous opportunities, which can equal monetary gain for the people. But, the established wealthy many time use their wealth and statues against people, as a way to not allow characters to advance in their social and economic position. Tom Buchannan is a prominent figure in The Great Gatsby who shows this selfishness as he utilizes the immense wealth that he has to take control of people situations. He is opposed to allowing people to advance their economic status. He shows his hesitation for advancement with his control over George B Wilson when he is dealing with the terms of selling his automobile. When George comments saying, “Works pretty slow, don’t he’ ‘No he doesn’t’ said Tom coldly. ‘And if you feel that way about it maybe I’d better sell it somewhere else after all’ ‘I don’t mean that” explained Wilson quickly” (Fitzgerald 28). Toms defiance of, not selling his car, shows that the rich are limit the advancement of other’s to move higher up. This scenario is a microcosm of the higher American social environment, which the established wealthy try to limit the growth of peoples capital, and also limit the status of people below them. They feel that their position is of such a high value, gives them the authority to determine who advances, and who doesn’t, and the only way to be one of them is to be born into it. The

The setting in The Great Gatsby is used by Fitzgerald to illustrate the class differences in the roaring twenties. The characters in the novel are distinguished by their wealth and where they live or work. The main display of this, is the separation between East Egg and West Egg. The two neighborhoods embody “the

First of all, there is less fashionable West Egg where Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway live. This is often known as where most of the new and upcoming, hard-working people reside. In exception of Gatsby, who throws extravagant parties and flaunts his wealth. In the beginning of the novel, Fitzgerald shows this comparison between West and East Egg by having Nick state, “I lived at West Egg, the---well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a sinister contrast between them” (Fitzgerald 5). This shows how West Egg is a slightly lower class, but the two are very similar in they both have a substantial amount of money. Soon after that, Nick compares his own home to the neighboring homes. He shows his economic status by claiming, “My

Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel and it revolves around class and money. Social status is an important theme and the characters are given their power and the impact they make by the class they belong to. The different characters are from different social classes in the novel Tom Buchanan and Daisy belonged to the upper class, Nick Caraway belonged to the middle class and the Wilson's were part of the lower class. Gatsby had the wealth to be part of the upper class but he was not. Social class is the status they have in the society and this is what separates the characters and their behavior.