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Examples Of Privilege In The Great Gatsby

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In the Great Gatsby, privilege comes into play. Privilege in this context means being born with advantages that you did not earn or work for. Some people have to work to get their money but others are born with money which means that they didn’t have to work for their money. Gatsby for example was not born with money. He had to make his own money by selling and dealing drugs and is now a very wealthy man. Tom didn’t have to work for his money. His family was very rich when he was born and he hasn’t had to work a day in his life. The book makes really good points that have examples of privileged characters. Tom Buchannen is a very rude and disgusting character in my opinion. He was born into a wealthy family and hasn’t had to do work or have a job a day in his life. He believes he is better than everyone and thinks he’s superior over everybody. In his world, he believes that people don’t have to work and that money is the most important thing in the world. He thinks that wealth equals value as a person and poor people are inferior. This isn’t right because it shouldn’t matter if someone is rich or poor. It doesn’t make them less or more of a person if they have money or have no money at all. Everyone …show more content…

She was also born rich. Daisy isn’t an evil character in the story but she likes to take things for granted. She bases her life off of money just like Tom does because they think that money is the most important thing in the world to them. Daisy married Tom because he has money but their relationship is not the best. Tom goes off to other girls and messes around with them and Daisy doesn’t do anything about it because she is sick of him. She can’t imagine a life without money because in her mind it wouldn’t be a life at all. She likes being known for being rich and having that fame. Divorcing Tom would result in not having as much money as she would have being with him and then she would be

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Trusting they are socially equivalent, Daisy never again has any misgivings about drawing near to Gatsby, who soon begins to look all starry eyed at her. After finding Gatsby 's façade, Daisy quickly "vanishes… into her rich full life" (157), staying "protected and pleased over… poor people" (156). Her recusal into the extravagances of high society reflects both her dread of dejection and scorn for the penurious. For her, riches is a basic piece of any relationship, which means Gatsby, with his absence of material belonging, is not any more an alternative. Tom, then again, is an advantageous source "of adoration, of cash, of undeniable reasonableness" (159) who can supply her with the measure of social security important to pacify her.

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Daisy shows this by the fact that she knows that tom is cheating on her but still stays with him under the false fact that she is catholic purely for the reason that he has money. She also shows this when she talks about her daughter and her hopes for her. Before the war daisy was in love with Gatsby but he was poor and when he left for the war she moved on and got married to tom who was rich. But when the two are reunited after nick sets up a meeting and when she sees Gatsby’s house she learns that she is rich and becomes attracted to him again simply for the fact that he has money.

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She’s Catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce”. Because Tom didn’t want to be with his mistress, in marriage that is, he lied to her and her sister telling them that the only reason there wasn’t a divorce yet, was because Daisy’s religious views keeps them from getting a divorce, but clearly Daisy isn’t catholic. To conclude, Daisy is well aware that being a female is not the best thing to be in that time. The segregation of race and sex was beginning to decline, but was still very prominent with most societal issues. and Daisy is just hoping that her child wouldn’t have to go through the same hardships she had to with Tom.

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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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They think people like him are of lower class and do not have as many social skills. In addition the “Old rich” class believes they are more refined and elegant while the “New rich” money class overcompensates with purchasing large houses, and spending exorbitant amounts of money. There is also the class that has little money such as the

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Daisy never has to sacrifice anything or work hard for her own money because she inherited all her money from her parents. As Adam’s says “It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrust of it.” She does not understand what the American Dream is and how it affects Gatsby. Nick comments, “It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy---they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or in their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they made…”(187).

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For most people, money doesn’t not bring you happiness but in the book on the other hand has a different idea. In the “world” that Tom and Daisy lived in was taken place in 1922 where everyone is ranked into three categories: the East Egg, where the “old money” people live. The West Egg, where the “new money” people lived. And the last is The Valley of Ashes where basically where poor people lived.

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“Social oppression is a concept that describes a relationship of dominance and subordination between categories of people in which one benefits from the systematic abuse, exploitation, and injustice directed toward the other.” This quote, stated by Ashley Crossman on Thoughtco, perfectly describes what oppression is especially from a feminist point of view. As Britannica stated, Feminism is “the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.” In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many relationships. However, none of them are based on love and in most of the relationship, the women are also being oppressed.

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In the present time, Daisy is moved on and married, with a child in a beautiful grand home. Her relationship with Tom can be speculated to be based on her wanting to gain his finances or that he can support her like no one else can. Daisy portrays an idealistic vision of herself, and , throughout the story, shows a selfish and narcissistic persona at times. Daisy and Gatsby

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Wealth identified how you lived to the people surrounding you in society. It was wealth that built you and destroyed you. Wealth overshadowed true love and beauty in The Great Gatsby. Those who had old money looked down upon those with new money, while those who were not rich was ignored by society. Wealth and the desire to be accepted by the society distracted the characters from making moral decisions.

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Characters throughout The Great Gatsby present themselves with mysterious and questionable morals. Affairs, dishonest morals, criminal professions, weak boundaries and hypocritical views are all examples of immorality portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, lies and mischief fill the lives of many and significantly damage numerous relationships. First, Jay Gatsby's whole life is consumed into a massive lie. His personality traits set him apart from others and the attention he accumulates motivates him to falsely portray his life.

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Daisy is shown through her expensive house, rich husband, and luxurious attire, to help mask her ultimately unhappy identity. She has had so many opulent experiences due to marrying Tom, yet she feels so empty and wanting more with her life: “’You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow’ she went on in a convinced way…‘I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything’” (Fitzgerald 17). Daisy’s true character is revealed shortly in the story when she tells Nick how she has seen and done everything, yet feels empty and that everything is terrible. Daisy believes that money can buy happiness, which is why she has to purchase everything to fill a potential void in her life.

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In The Great Gatsby, social status is a significant element in the book as it separates the haves from the have nots. However more importantly, social status portrays the personalities of people belonging to different classes. In the end, you are stuck in the class you are born into, and attempting to change classes only leads to tragedy and heartbreak.     In The Great Gatsby, there are three main social classes portrayed. These are old money, new money, and no money.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, social class is a key theme, as seen by every character having their own distinct class. Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and even Nick are old money, Gatsby is new money, and the Wilson 's are no money. In short, the more money you have, the better off you will be. In the epigraph of the novel, there is a poem by Thomas Parke D 'Invilliers, who is a fictional character created by Fitzgerald himself. This poem is about using materialism to win over the affection of someone, which is exactly what Gatsby tries to do.

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