Classes In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In the book The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald it follows one theme of the differences in classes. In this era of time in New York, there are stark differences in the wealth distribution. You have the upper class split into two groups, old money and new money, both of the eggs. Then you have the lower class, which is very poor, which include the people who live in the valley of ashes. Although the old and new money people have realistically the same amount of money, people who have old money tend to look down on the people who have new money.

West Egg and East Egg of New York were very split in the 1920’s. On the East Egg side you have the people who have generational wealth like the Buchanans. Then across the bay you have West Egg,

The Eggs have towering mansions, green grass lawns, fountains, and huge gardens. The Valley of Ashes is covered in smoke, it's a desolate area of land, it represents everything opposite of the American Dream. In contrast to all of the people on the Eggs who believe they are actually living it. The Eggs are upper class, the most wealthy of all of the people from New York. “This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (23). The Valley of Ashes brings Myrtle and her husband into the story, they are very poor. Mr. Wilson has been relying on Tom to make a living by having him sell him a car. The valley of ashes is a desolate area, filled with smoke, and represents all of the death and despair in the book. When Nick is going into New York he says “The Valley of Ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour ” (24). The Valley of Ashes is dark, gray, and gloomy, nothing like this would ever happen in the eggs. It signifies the poverty that the Buchanans and Gatsby would never see,

When they all ride the train into town and they pass through the town that Myrtle lives in. In chapter 1 Nick says “I lived at West Egg, the – well, the least fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them.”(7). Nick talks about the superficial stereotypes all of the socialites of New York put on the eggs. Both of the eggs are extremely wealthy, both sides are filled with millionaires from generational wealth or people who have “new money”. But for some reason Old Money people look down on New Money people, when they have very similar amounts of money. "But above the gray land and the spasm of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it" (23). The working class of this era, always the forgotten, the people who are part of the reason why some people end up in the eggs. It's dark, gray, and gloomy, nothing like this would ever happen in the eggs. And if it did the people would freak out, they are very superficial and only care about things like Gatsby’s parties. While the people living in The Valley of Ashes have to endure this all the time, and it will never go away from