Great Gatsby Society Analysis

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Identity in Society Optimised by Money F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, is still so relevant in today’s society, especially when addressing the norms of social stereotypes and for once, Zinia Prasad agrees. Humankind lives on judgement, gossip and stereotypes. Without these three factors humans would just be aimless animals. Whether it’s classifying someone based on their looks, on their living arrangements or maybe by their weekly income. From the moment we leave the womb, we are subjected to three very distinguished classes – old money, aspirational class and the apparent unfortunate working class. Unsurprisingly we don’t pick these classes but are born into them by uncontrollable circumstance. Why is it that because I appear less sophisticated I am straight away thrown into the working class by society? How are we any different to animal kingdom? Positions in society have been instilled in us as humans since young, although it was never enforced it is very much prevalent. This behaviour of positioning people into various classes is also apparent in snow monkeys. The largest monkey in weight and size is automatically placed as troop leader, ensuring he is from a chiefly family, whereas the lowest class is made up of monkeys that come from a family seen as less then desirable. The working class is not a place chosen but unfortunately delivered. Fitzgerald demonstrates this ideology through the Wilsons, who work hard in manual labour but to no avail.