ipl-logo

Examples Of Social Stratification In The Great Gatsby

977 Words4 Pages

The Great Gatsby is arguably Scott Fitzgerald’s most excellent portrayal of the American society in the 1920s when the country was undergoing an unprecedented economic boom. Through its theme of a romantic and prosperous love, the novel offers a strong indictment of the normalization of competing interests that bordered on greed and selfishness. Jay Gatsby, the novel’s principal and central character, seems to know everybody and yet is still somehow unknown to everyone. Gatsby is an extremely ambitious young man who challenges and breaks out of the shackles of social stratification with the abundant fortune he obtains throughout the years by insisting devotion to his pursuit of the American dream. Gatsby also utilizes this massive affluence …show more content…

As the story progresses, the novel rushes to Gatsby's abrupt death as the intricacies of America’s social setup of the 1920’s are brought to the fore. The Great Gatsby’s ending, defined by Gatsby’s death and Nick’s return to the Midwest, represents Fitzgerald’s harsh indictment and forbidding nature of the American dream; as well as the coexistent evisceration, an inevitable reality with bleak consequences, where the wealthy and most successful survive at the expense of achievers such as Gatsby. Gatsby’s death towards the end of the novel is a philosophical abstraction that offers a deeper analysis of the nature of life and being rich during the American economic boom of the 1920s. A close analysis of Gatsby’s character reveals an underlying truth, and justifies the ending of the novel. Both Nick and Gatsby are considered outsiders in a closely knit community of privileged, wealthy individuals represented by Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jordan Baker. While Tom and Jordan share a long history of aristocracy and affluence and being raised in a privileged environment, Nick and Gatsby embody a completely different class

Show More
Related

The Great Gatsby Rhetorical Devices

614 Words | 3 Pages

The Not So Great Gatsby In the cataclysmic novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes an array of rhetorical strategies to produce a tortuous and stratified narrative of unrealistic wealth, passion, and aspirations of ambitions. In Chapter eight this can be revealed by Fitzgerald using a shifting tone from solemness, to peaceful, then imagery to capture the painless death of Gatsby, and lastly an insightful perspective to recount the tragedy of the many deaths occurring in this final, fatal chapter of the book. Fitzgerald asserts the fantastical ethos of the Roaring Twenties. However he also censures the American Dream and how it manipulated the domination of wealth and authority in order to propose the idea that it will never be more than an illusion.

Read More

The Great Gatsby Hero Quotes

734 Words | 3 Pages

Reckless parties, vehicular manslaughter, and the unwarranted death of a man who is innocent all describe Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. This novel is set in the roaring twenties in the New York City/Long Island area, and it displays the divisions of social status and the division of the divisions of social status during this time in the United States. Nick Carraway takes the reader through his journey of moving to the East Egg of Long Island from the western United States, and during his journey he witnesses the reunion of past lovers, the struggles of the American dream, and the untimely death of two people who just wanted wealth and love. While it is commonly accepted that Jay Gatsby is a hero, it is very evident that he lacks

Read More

Examples Of Social Status In The Great Gatsby

406 Words | 2 Pages

Furthermore, Tom and Gatsby share the belief that it is crucial for individuals to perceive themselves as having a high social status. These characters are obsessed with accumulating opulent material possessions that serve as blatant displays of their wealth and success, in order to bolster their image in the eyes of the public. They adhere to the notion that their social status is an essential determinant of their self-worth and validation, revealing their deep-seated insecurity and shallow values. Although these characters both enjoy the idea of having a high self image, they both do it for different reasons. Gatsby desires to have a high social status in order to obtain Daisy.

Read More

Examples Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

711 Words | 3 Pages

The Great Gatsby is a classic novel of a man’s infatuation over a past lover and his hopes for their rekindled romance, and future together. However, at its core, F. Scott Fitzgerald is depicting the corruption during a time of wealth and economic prosperity, the 1920s. The idea of the American Dream is that through hard work and determination, anyone can become successful and wealthy. Several characters in the Great Gatsby demonstrate how the desire for wealth and power corrupted the American Dream for many during the roaring 20s. Jay Gatsby is a prime example of how the American Dream can be corrupted by the yearning for money and status.

Read More

Examples Of Ambition In The Great Gatsby

429 Words | 2 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," the characters exhibit a spectrum of traits that evoke admiration and disdain among readers. Through their actions and motivations, certain characters stand out as the most admirable and despicable. By examining and delving into the intricacy of these characters, readers gain insight into the society and moral normality that was present during the time of the novel. Jay Gatsby shows the societal ambition of the American Dream through his pursuit of wealth and status. Regardless of his questionable methods, Gatsby's unwavering dedication to his glamorized vision of love and success is worthy of admiration.

Read More

Democracy In The Great Gatsby

1408 Words | 6 Pages

Scott Fitzgerald is one of the great American novels of the twentieth century primarily due to book tackling the concept of the American Dream in the roaring twenties. Each of the characters in the novel symbolizes how the American Dream has turned from a form of hope and aspiration towards greed and lack of morals. The general focus of novel is on the character Jay Gatsby, who readers learn about through Nick Caraway’s point of view. Near the end of the novel, the reader learns that Gatsby is a self made man who came from a working class family, joined the army, and through extremely hard work makes a life for himself. Gatsby’s main goal in becoming wealthy was to be with his sweetheart from the army, Daisy.

Read More

Significance Of The Middle Class In The Great Gatsby

610 Words | 3 Pages

The Great Gatsby has three social classes the upper class represented as old money, the middle class represented as new money, and the lower class represented as the working class. In the story Daisy and Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker represent the upper class. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby represent the middle class, and Myrtle and George Wilson represent the lower class.

Read More

Moral Decay In The Great Gatsby

1210 Words | 5 Pages

The literary masterpiece The Great Gatsby, written by American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a classic story depicting the extravagant life of Jay Gatsby and his lifelong quest to rekindle his love with past lover Daisy Buchanan. Written in 1925, the novel serves as a bridge between the conclusion of World War I and the Great Depression of the early 1930’s. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald both examines and critiques the vision of the 1920’s American Dream. Despite the fact that Fitzgerald himself was an avid participant in the stereotypical “Roaring Twenties” lifestyle - consisting of material excess, self-destructive behavior, wild partying, and bootleg liquor as a result of the Prohibition - he is still able to convey his disapproval of the moral decay that occurred in

Read More

Aristocracy In The Great Gatsby

1874 Words | 8 Pages

The Demise of the American Aristocracy Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby takes place in the 1920s’ elite New York spheres where East Eggers’ family riches represent the aristocracy, while West Eggers epitomize nouveau riche. Within this New York world the color white appears in the East Egg, whereas outside this bubble the absence and desire for white is prevalent. The narrative is told through the eyes of Nick, a West Egg transplant, who immerses himself into the social scene, interacting with both East and West Eggers. Nick’s cousin is Daisy, who is married to Tom and friends with Jordan, who provide the East Egg perspective.

Read More

Trends In The Great Gatsby

487 Words | 2 Pages

The Great Gatsby is a perfect portrayal of countless trends that are identified in the 1920’s. F. Scott Fitzgerald combined the trends and fads into the characters lives while also spreading a message. Taking the author’s advice, society as a whole, has a new goal to stop being materialistic and to check into reality every so

Read More

Youth In The Great Gatsby

1872 Words | 8 Pages

The Great Gatsby is a great American novel as the statements it made clear in the 1920’s of the ruin of America and the American Dream still resonates with readers today. In The Guardian article, “What Makes the Great Gatsby Great?” author Sarah Churchwell states, “Gatsby is a fable about betrayal – of others, and of our own ideals. The concept that a New World in America is even possible, that it won't simply reproduce the follies and vices of the Old World, is already an illusion, a paradise lost before it has even been conceived... The materialistic world of Gatsby is defined by social politics in a metropolitan America.

Read More

Great Gatsby Consumerism Analysis

811 Words | 4 Pages

Jay Gatsby is a product of 1920’s America and consumerist philosophies. He serves as both a celebration of the American Dream and a warning against its trappings. Through his rapid rise to the top of American society, and his eventual downfall, F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the inherent problems with Gatsby’s ostentatious lifestyle and the constant desire for more. Gatsby, from his outward appearance and mannerisms, to his own name, is a self-made construct of an ever-restless philosophy.

Read More

Examples Of Social Class In The Great Gatsby

537 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Fragmented Society In The Great Gatsby

784 Words | 4 Pages

To conclude, the fragmented world inside The Great Gatsby is proven to exist because of the constant greed, lack of loyalty and the major difference in social class. People are living a lie, are desperate to live with status and wealth while lower to middle class citizens are living next to mansions. The American Dream is decaying and because of this, people are destroying the world around them. The people in this book are all separating from something, just like a fragment. All of this further validates that this society that Nick lives in is fragmented, broken and

Read More

New Historicism In The Great Gatsby

720 Words | 3 Pages

Scott F. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway when he meets Jay Gatsby, who has been trying to achieve wealth so he can feel worthy of the woman of his dreams. Gatsby always dreamed of being rich but was born to a poor farm family. A conflict in the novel is between the new rich, characterized by Gatsby, and the old rich, characterized by Tom, and if the two types of rich are equal. While the novel may seem to take a critical look at the old wealth of America in the roaring twenties if we use a New Historicist approach with a focus on subversion and containment then we see the book in a new light.

Read More

More about Examples Of Social Stratification In The Great Gatsby

Open Document