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Social Stratification In The Great Gatsby

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In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald brings to our attention the ideas of greed, power, betrayal, and the American dream in the 1920’s. The social stratification peeks this list of themes as you can see through Nick Carraway 's point of view, the different complications of the everyday life. As Nick begins his new life in West Egg, he encounters three types of people. Daisy, an image of perfection, and grace, who comes from ‘old money’. Myrtle, born poor, and holds her reputation as the ‘other women’. Gatsby, from rags to riches in the ‘new money’ world, and in the end only desires the golden girl. Nick has create for us a definition of each class based on their different social gatherings, and their first impressions they possess on him. lP2- Party paragraph 1 Daisy’s east egg dinner party makes the feeling of east egg seem like a nice and pleasant place to live because of how dinner is set up and with everyone there having their own conversations. Her dinner party is designed for basically the rich which are the more wealthy people. The image for east egg is wealthy and peaceful. The dinner party also embodies the feeling of Daisy’s image by representing where she lives and also by the way she acts with the people surrounding her. lP3- Party paragraph 2 Residing as pawns in the game of ‘old money’, unable to buy their way …show more content…

When Tom had forced him to go to the gathering while Tom was with his mistress, Nick didn’t really seem comfortable to be around Myrtle 's family because they don’t have the money that the rich do. When the accident happened Nick didn’t really want to stop and see what happened because it happened at the gas station where Murtle lived and when he had seen her dead body he didn’t care. He didn’t care about the situation until he had found out the Daisy was driving the

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Gatsby hosts extravagant parties in an effort not only to boost his social status, but also to look for Daisy. Many wealthy, and often wild people attend these large social events held by Mr. Gatsby. Some of the guests even come lacking an invitation, “Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.” (41)

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Viewing the people in the room as their respective social classes, the upper class and lower class are connected through Nick. At the party, Tom represents a king using his pawns for whatever he desires. “Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!”

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Gatsby’s opulent parties are the spotlight example of the carelessness during this era of time. Spending thousands of dollars on an extravagant mansion, not worrying about a price-point, instead, it’s all in an attempt to catch the eye of Daisy, explains Jordan, on page 83, “Gatsby bought that house so Daisy would be just across the bay.” The same idea is suggested with the parties he throws as well, acting as a light to draw her in, continues Jordan, “I think he half expected her to wonder into one of his parties,....” (page 84.) Jay Gatsby throws all caution at the wind once he starts building his life and empire, all in the name of Daisy, whether it be found in expensive shirts, pink suits or cream-colored cars featuring an interior made up of an ever-talked-about

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Recounting heartbreak, betrayal, and deception, F. Scott Fitzgerald paints a bleak picture in the 1920’s novel The Great Gatsby. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, witnesses the many lies others weave in order to achieve their dreams. However, the greatest deception he encounters is the one he lives. Not having a true dream, Nick instead finds purpose by living vicariously through others, and he loses that purpose when they are erased from his life.

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There were the same people, or at least the same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same multi-colored, many keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before.” Nick classified all the rich people who went to Gatsby's party as the 'same sort' since they are copying from each other's image. They do not have their own identity and is only known as the 'group' of rich people, who do nothing, but entertain themselves with illegal drinking and partying. The unpleasant feeling that Nick has is the rich people's thought and belief of the materialism corruption of the society.

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The impact of socioeconomic status can be examined through a myriad of lenses. F. Scott Fitzgerald aims to show the relationship between socioeconomic status and power. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Tom’s character shows that socioeconomic status is equivalent to power within the novel. Tom puts great pride and emphasis on his socioeconomic status and wealth.

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In The Great Gatsby the characters in the novel come from various social classes. Nick, Daisy, and Tom are from Wealthy families who have been wealthy for a long time. These characters are referred to as “Old rich” because of their families’ long histories of wealth. Jay Gatsby, unlike Daisy and Tom, did not belong to a wealthy family, and he earns his wealth through his own hard work and success. Although Tom and Gatsby are both wealthy, Tom and the other “Old rich” people look down at Gatsby.

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In “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald presents editorial on an assortment of topics, — equity, control, insatiability, treachery, the American dream. Of the considerable number of subjects, maybe none is more all around created than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is viewed as a splendid bit of social discourse, offering a clear look into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald deliberately sets up his novel into particular gatherings in any case, at last, each gathering has its own issues to battle with, leaving an effective indication of what a problematic place the world truly is. By making unmistakable social classes — old cash, new cash, and no cash — Fitzgerald sends solid messages about the elitism running all through each stratum of society.

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For example, the largest gathering that takes place at Tom and Daisy’s house is a luncheon with Nick, Jordan, and Gatsby towards the end of the summer. Other than this one instance, the crowds at the Buchanans’ home are few and far between, with specially selected invitees that are long-time personal friends and family members. These choices of the Buchanans, especially on Daisy’s part, exhibit the cautious lifestyle choices that they must make to preserve their image in the high class of wealthy, old-money East Eggers. At Gatsby’s mansion, however, there is a constant stream of visitors who come uninvited and are cataloged by Nick who finds the entire situation quite puzzling. Contrary to the well-thought-out lives of Tom and Daisy, Gatsby does not invite his guests and does not even bother to meet them once they arrive.

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Tom’s and Gatsby’s party differed in almost every aspect possible. While Tom’s party was a small party to assert his dominance to his mistress and friends, Gatsby’s party was to lure and impress the love of his life. Tom’s party displayed his snobby old money ideals by not spending much money and effort, while Gatsby’s party symbolized new money with its excessive and flaunting spending and grandiose show. The level of intimacy at both parties differed significantly. Despite Tom’s party being small, it was far from intimate with all the guests budging into all conversations, Nick couldn’t even have a talk with Catherine long enough without Ms. Mckee budging in.

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Class status has to do with a series of different aspects that relate to the degree of luxury in terms of wealth and lifestyle. From a generic viewpoint, class refers to a wealth concept that characterizes your lifestyle, assets, and family income. Although there are three generic categories for assessing one’s level of wealth (lower, middle, and upper class), is it possible for there to be a significant fluctuation in amount of wealth over a long period of time that culminates to a change in lifestyle? This question is one of the central themes of a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald known as The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is a key character in this book that attained a lot of wealth throughout their lives, but passed away by the completion of the story.

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In the 1920’s, social classes were divided with a large gap. The poor wanted nothing to do with the rich, and the rich wanted even less to do with the poor. In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he uses the class structure in the 1920’s to redefine poverty. While the rich people in the novel are material rich, they are still “poor” socially and psychologically. Poverty is shown in a differently in this book than other books being written in this time era, and in doing this, it shows the rich what they are, and how they treat others from a different perspective.

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