Examples Of Social Status In The Great Gatsby

This story explores how society affects people's lives by showing both the ups and downs that come with social status. The Great Gatsby takes place in New York City with the narrator, Nick, being one of the main character's cousins. He brings us along in the chaotic life that New Yorkers live by spending time with Tom, who lives on East Egg, which is perceived as a wealthy and fashionable community. Tom tells Nick about his affair with Myrtle, a married woman, who lives in the Valley of Ashes with her husband who happens to be financially unstable. Using Tom's character and East Egg to illustrate the divide in social class, F. Scott Fitzgerald clearly conveys to readers the theme that people's social status can have an effect on their actions.

Tom, who’s known to be a wealthy man, lives on East Egg with his wife, Daisy, and his daughter, Pammy. East Egg is the home to many affluent families who live in extravagant white mansions. “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water” (Fitzgerald 6) The extravagant mansions represent the community’s wealth, and it displays how having a higher social class can lead one to experiencing many luxuries that most could not afford. That same privilege is also shown through the occupants of East Egg, who often look down on West Egg because the West's occupants come from new money, which they find suspicious. “She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented ‘place’ that Broadway has begotten upon a Long Island fishing village…”(Fitzgerald 107) Daisy’s contemporary feelings towards West Egg were due to the slight differences in social class. The differences between old and new money affected the way Daisy thought about West Egg as a whole, which is a clear byproduct of her upbringing in an affluent family. When you compare East Egg to the Valley of Ashes, where Myrtle and her husband live, you can see how having money affects people in a variety of ways. For example, the valley of ashes is seen as a barren and polluted place where people who have a lower social status live. It’s often depicted as an ashy and desolate community, which is the exact opposite of East Egg. “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.”(Fitzgerald 23) East Egg is described as polished and sophisticated, while the Valley of Ashes is a place where people struggle to survive. That paradox shows the importance of having wealth, and how having little monetary substance