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Examples Of Classism In The Great Gatsby

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Many individuals believe that The Great Gatsby is a romantic novel because the novel is about Gatsby’s determined quest for Daisy. The novel also contains many affairs. Arguably, Fitzgerald’s award-winning novel takes a deep look into the worst aspects of society. The Great Gatsby is about the classism, superficiality, and recklessness of the 1920’s. Classism is the main factor that prevented Daisy and Gatsby from being a couple. Daisy was in love with Gatsby, but married Tom because of his wealth and Gatsby was drafted for World War II. In the film, when Gatsby asks Daisy why she didn’t wait for him, she says “Because rich girls don’t marry poor boys, Jay.” In fact, Daisy does love Gatsby but classism was the chasm separating them. Melodramatically, Daisy cries out to Gatsby- I love you now- isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.” (Fitzgerald, 141) Even though Daisy is superficial, she is likely brainwashed by the ever-present classism of the 1920s. Another example of classism is Gatsby getting away with speeding. While he is speeding around town, …show more content…

Gatsby became involved in illegal activity to obtain some money to impress Daisy. His web of lies is discovered by Tom. “I found out what your ‘drug stores’ were.’ He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.” (Fitzgerald, 142) Jordan is a reckless driver who expects others to stay out of her way. “They’ll keep out of my way,’ she insisted. It takes two to make an accident.” (Fitzgerald, 64). Jordan is an impulsive spender, buying things she can’t actually afford. “I want to get one of those dogs,’ she said earnestly. I want to get one for the apartment. They’re nice to have- a dog.’(Fitzgerald, 30). When Jordan implies that she wants to get a dog for the apartment, it shows her narrow understanding of a dog’s needs and that they are not a

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Juan Martinez Dr. Angiello American Lit 3/4/2023 Status and the Jazz Era Through The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows that status is the most important aspect of someone’s life in the Roaring 20s. When Gatsby tells Nick about first meeting Daisy, he tells him that, "but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself” (Fitzgerald 92). Gatsby led Daisy astray by letting her believe he was from the same class as her because he believed that he could only be with Daisy if he appeared to be from the same class as her. Gatsby later tells Nick that, “He knew that Daisy was extraordinary,

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In society, the wealthy seem to live in a different world as the majority of people do not interact with them. Although there is little interaction between the middle and upper class, the middle class often deal with results or by products of the wealthy’s lifestyle and actions. Over the course of history, the middle class has come to accept this and expect this of the rich. The narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, recalls events from his life revolving around his interactions with the upper class in the 1920s. He describes their actions, and he characterizes them as greedy and self-centered.

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Have you ever noticed someone getting bullied for not having money, or their social status? Whether it is online or in person. We all have seen some type of this in one way or the other. The book, The Great Gatsby, is a great example of this. Tom makes fun of Gatsby to degrade him in front of Daisy.

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Then she later proceeds to call Gatsby “cool” leading Tom to correctly conclude that there’s a connection between the two that he had previously been unaware of. After hearing his wife say this to another man several times, Tom becomes absolutely furious. He now wants to preserve what he thought he could never lose. As for Daisy, though she is beautiful on the outside, she is completely corrupt underneath. We know that the reason she chose to marry Tom years ago was to uphold her status and become even more wealthy.

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The Great Gatsby" is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that tells the story of a wealthy man who throws extravagant parties to impress his former love, Daisy Buchanan. The story is set in the 1920s and talks about the themes of love, wealth, and the American dream. Gatsby sees himself as someone who is determined, wealthy, and who can achieve anything he sets his mind to. Tom sees Gatsby as a fraud, a rival who is entitled to his wealth.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

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When thinking of something who has class, many immediately think of wealth. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald creates distinct social classes -- old money, new money, and proletariats. Fitzgerald first starts off by attacking the bourgeois. However, there are two distinct types of wealthy people. There are people like Daisy and Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker who were born into wealth.

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Sometimes, people fail to fit in among their peers for a variety of reasons. In social situations, people often look down on specific groups or individuals for not fitting in. Sometimes people’s interests and behavior are too different from what is considered the norm, and they will be labeled as strange and unlikable. In other cases, they may be excluded because they come from a background or social class that causes people to look down on them. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Novel The Great Gatsby this occurs in the case of Jay Gatsby, who, despite his mansion, massive parties, and fancy car, never truly fits in among the people around him.

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“He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” In this paragraph Tom revealed Gatsby’s crime saying that Gatsby was doing illegal stuff, such as drugs and alcohol to make money. Gatsby is trying to become rich faster so he can be with Daisy because since her parents would rather have Daisy marry a rich man.

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Affairs, money and love are all a part of the drama created because of the importance of social status in The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the modernist characteristic of the social breakdown of social class and status. Many characters in the novel focus a lot of their lives and decisions on wealth and social status, something that was very common during the 1920’s time period in which the story takes place. The social breakdown of social status in society causes many problems for the main characters throughout the story. One major dilemma caused by the social breakdown of social class in The Great Gatsby is the affairs going on in the marriage of Daisy and Tom Buchanan.

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Whenever asked the question on how Gatsby maked his money, he would always answer that he built up a few drugstores and when his parents died he inherited money. Gatsby was never telling the truth about this; and Tom eventually figured this out. Gatsby wanted to appear as old money to impress Daisy which is why he lied. However, the reason why Gatsby never told the truth about how he made his money was because he was making his money illegally. In chapter seven, Tom accuses Gatsby of being a bootlegger, “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (133).

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1037 Words | 5 Pages

He turned to us and spoke rapidly. “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t wrong.” Gatsby doesn’t deny Tom’s

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537 Words | 3 Pages

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 179). This quote captures the advantages the upper class has because of their money. Tom and Daisy’s actions left three people dead, yet they received no punishments .They put all their baggage on the lower class, and left them to pick up the pieces.     In The Great Gatsby, the theme of social class is very significant in the book. Scott F. Fitzgerald used the theme of social class to show the reader that it plays a much bigger role in life.

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In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby we see this theme played out through the character of Daisy. During the writing of Gatsby Fitzgerald weaves in aspects of his own life where he was on the receiving end of this characteristic of human nature. “With Gatsby, [F. Scott Fitzgerald] creates a character with a similar situation to his own; he is motivated to become wealthy after his love interest, Daisy, marries a very wealthy man rather than waiting for Gatsby to earn his income” (Wood, 2007, p. 5). Fitzgerald shows us the effects of the struggle for greater wealth has had on Daisy.

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“No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members of the upper class are poor and miserable”(Adam Smith). In “The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrayed relentless themes that contributed a strong connection to the roaring twenties. One of which is the stratification of social classes that he purposely distinct to convey a strong message, that in the end each class faces their own obstacle. The author relates this theme through vivid visuals among the characteristics traits of the roaring twenties age, and how the social classes were evolved around arrogance, hate, love and selfishness. In the novel, Fitzgerald illustrated the separation of social classes among three ideologies that were known as; no money, new money, and old money.

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