What Would Veblen Say by David Scott, Gray Matter by Michael Kraus and Stephane Cote, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald all mention the different social classes. What Would Veblen Say discusses conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. Gray Matter discusses the differences between higher and lower class. The Great Gatsby is not straightforward when talking about social class but there are many context clues that tell you about the characters’ social classes.
In Scott’s article, he discusses issues within the social classes such as conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. Conspicuous consumption is when someone buys something impractical to show off their wealth. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay gatsby uses conspicuous consumption to get Daisy Buchanan’s attention.
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When describing George Wilson the narrator says, “When anyone spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable colorless way” (Fitzgerald, 144). When this is read it is easy to tell that Wilson is a very dull person. He doesn’t seem to have many emotions of his own. He just goes with whatever everybody else is feeling. The words dark and pale are also used to describe Wilson. “...mingling immediately with the cement color of the walls. A white ashen dust veiled his dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled everything in the vicinity…” (Fitzgerald, 30). These words are both associated with the color grey as well. When you hear or see the word dust or cement the first color that comes to mind is grey. Everything that has something to do with Wilson is grey. The color green represent the future. The narrator says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastiv future that year by year recedes before us” (Fitzgerald, 189). Green, just like on a stop light, mean moving forward. When people think of the color green it makes them think of the future because it tells them to always keep moving