Why Is Societal Status Important In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, republished in 1995, is a fictional novel meant to describe the efforts of a lower born man to achieve his unreachable dream of capturing the interest and marrying the woman of a higher class despite the social restrictions of the time period. He displays the figures in the story through a stereotypical, of the 1920s, light as he writes out their background and incorporates the setting. He often writes his settings and characters’ background in the light of the common belief about the classes of the society while making it relatable through the wide use of religious identifiers in the setting.

As a society, America has created certain ideas and stereotypes of each class including the citizens within them. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses around the superficial communities of West and East Egg, and their misconceptions of one another. The citizens of East Egg, such as Daisy and Tom Buchanan, frown upon the up-and-coming men of West Egg. This includes Gatsby, who dreams of the riches they take for granted. Gatsby, who obtains his money through dishonest means appears villainous, unsuccessfully attempting to join the wealthy and elite society of East egg. However, there may be more to Gatsby's story. As Nick, the narrator, says he is “worth the whole damn bunch put together”(154). Through his descriptions and comparison of Tom’s house and Gatsby’s house, Fitzgerald reveals the true nature of the two men. While Gatsby appears to be morally corrupt, in the end he actually has pure intentions, instead it is Tom who emits negativity and is ungrateful for his life.

Many novels are written as a means of scrutinising the details and flaws of a specific society. The author’s purpose is to use the novel as a lens through which they can offer their own critical perception. The highly praised novel The Great Gatsby provides such a view into 1920s America, an era which was often described as the “Jazz Age” or the “Roaring 20s,” mainly due to the +and carefree nature of the wealthy. This higher class, who were essentially safeguarded by their money, lived life as if it was an endless party. It is this particular group that F. Scott Fitzgerald mainly targets when providing his criticism

Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is set in America of the 1920’s, a predominantly materialistic society revolving around wealth and status above all else. Fitzgerald depicts this obsession with money and luxury through complicated relationships full of trouble, infidelity and sorrow. The relationships Fitzgerald portrays all symbolize the materialism and hedonism of the age; each relationship is doomed to a certain extent based on the social class of each character.

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

One of the major topics explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce,

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.

Is status more important than The American Dream? According to Gatsby that’s the case, he uses his status more than anything. The American Dream can mean many things to different people. My definition of it would be being happy, having money, and being successful in life. Fitzgerald's definition of The American Dream is being happy and having lots of money, he shows this by having the green light symbolize Gatsby's happiness with Daisy. Gatsby is also very wealthy in the book. When it comes to The Great Gatsby, status plays an important role in society and each character lives up to it. This book shows Gatsby's using status by making him the title of the book and the most well-known wealthy man in the book, shows him reaching his goals, and trying to impress Daisy with his status.

The social hierarchy is influenced by the amount of money one owns which determines whether one can attain their dream. By creating apparent social classes within ‘The Great Gatsby’ – old money, new money and no money, Fitzgerald strongly suggests that American society is intensely stigmatised. Daisy, Tom and Jordan represent the elite social class of society where despite their problems and failures they are always protected and immune by their wealth. Tom refers to Gatsby as ‘Mr Nobody from nowhere” and a “common swindler who would have to steal the ring he put on her finger” as he boasts about his hereditary wealth compared to the other distinct elite group of society who acquire their wealth through business deals, which are sometimes corrupt. Although Fitzgerald mainly attacks the rich, by making them look judgemental, superior and selfish, evidently the lower class of society are vulnerable within American society. This is shown where so many, like Myrtle,

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.

Money is essential for survival; it can bring happiness, despair, or corruption. It rules our daily lives, is preferred in large amounts, and separates us into different social classes. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a perfect example of this since the class structure within the novel, portrays how money or the need for it can cause corruption in all the different social classes. This is shown through the three distinct classes: old money represented by the Buchanan’s and their self-centered, racist nature, new money represented by Gatsby and his mysterious, illegal ways, and a class that can be called no money represented by the Wilson’s and their attempts at

There are several social classes referenced in The Great Gatsby. There is a distinction between the wealthy who live in West Egg, and those who live in East Egg. People who were born into wealth reside in East Egg, while people who were born into a lower class but were able to become rich by their own means reside in West Egg. While the “old” money and the “new” money are similar in terms of wealth alone, they are completely separate classes. People from old money often dislike those from new money and see new money as beneath them because they had only acquired their money recently. Tom, Daisy, and Jordan are part of the old money class, while Gatsby and Nick are new money. Meanwhile, Myrtle and Wilson are part of the lower class. The rift between the ideals of the different classes is evident through the observation of the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, as well as the relationship between Tom and Myrtle.

Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” is a great novel based on the post war period of the 1920s which is characterized by abundance and moral decadence. Standing out as a major driver of events outlined in the book and as a theme among various themes such as betrayal, greed, love and culture, is social class or stratification. This paper aims to analyze social class and how it shapes the relationships and events that take place between the characters in this book.

In The Great GatsbyFitzgerald 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.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his book The Great Gatsby, commonly draws attention to the way people act in society based on their social status. The book describes a time in the narrator's life when he met a peculiar man named Gatsby. Nick, the narrator grows fond of Gatsby for many reasons as he recounts the events in which he spent during that time all up until Gatsby is shot and is alone with Nick as he dies, nobody else present. The fact that Nick grows fond of Gatsby and seems to take his side throughout the book, despite his actions, has a lot to do with Gatsby himself and partially due to his status. Whether or not the narrator may realize it, it was only due to Gatsby’s high social status that they ever met, or that it was what led Gatsby to his demise. We, the readers are shown by Fitzgerald how classism affects a person's attitude toward life and love, how it warps their perception of others worth, and how it deceives people into believing they can have or achieve anything.