Class In The Great Gatsby

Even though America was meant to be a classless society, economic classes still separate people to a great extent in the 1920’s. In The Great Gatsby and the Twenties, by Ronald Berman, Berman explains that both Nick and Gatsby want to change their lives through hard work and success, (Berman p83) which seems as American as can be. However, those who were born rich never truly accept those who worked hard to become upper-class. When Tom tries to insult Gatsby, he calls him “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere”(Fitzgerald p130), suggesting that even after Gatsby puts in years of effort to become rich, even after he makes a small fortune, the fact that he was not born upper class is enough to make him “less” in some people’s eyes. When Tom is at Gatsby’s house, he still tries

Gatsby let Daisy think that he was rich because she might not have let herself be courted by someone lower class. In addition, the novel makes clear that only someone from Daisy’s class would be able to take care of her. After Daisy marries Tom, Gatsby tries to become rich in order to win her back, knowing that even their past romance can’t compete with Tom’s fortune. The novel clearly differentiates between the classes, showing how hard it is to move up despite the ability to change your fate being a central part of the American dream. Many of the people who fled to America did so for religious freedom. However, in the 1920’s religion was another social bias that people used to discriminate against others. None of the upper-class people in The Great Gatsby are religious. The only person who is shown as God-fearing is Wilson, a poor mechanic. When Wilson finds out that his wife, Myrtle, cheated on him, he says, “God knows what you 've been doing, everything you 've been doing. You may fool me but you can 't fool God!”(Fitzgerald p159) Even though Wilson hadn’t been to church for years, he still is clearly God-fearing. The fact that the only God-fearing