Social Class In The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, has three distinct economic classes described throughout his novel. He has the leisure class, the working class, and the poor. The outcome for the characters in each social class was similar; the poor were unlucky and faced death, while the wealthy got away with murder, literally. By having this trend appear throughout the plot, it is clear that Fitzgerald wants his readers to understand the amount of power and lack of decency money gave individuals back in the 1920s. People with money were able to live life without many consequences no matter their actions. Two of the characters, Myrtle and George Wilson, would be classified as poor. Jay Gatsby also, in the end, was moneyless because he illegally obtained his wealth and it was eventually disclosed to others. George, Myrtle, and Jay all had the same fate- death. Fitzgerald, having the book end with the death of these characters, made a bold statement about the benefits one received with money. Money may not buy

In this social class is Tom and Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker. All three of them inherited there wealth and had the “leisure” to not work. Jordan, unlike Tom and Daisy, did not have much effect on the storyline with her actions. Daisy impacted the plot greatly when she committed manslaughter by running over Myrtle Wilson and then fleeing the scene. Her actions then led to George visiting Tom Buchanan to try and identify the car that ran his wife over. Tom became an accomplice in the murder of Jay Gatsby when he told George that Gatsby was the one to run Myrtle over. Tom knew that George would end up going over to Jay’s and getting revenge. We have one assisting in murder and another guilty of murder, but both are sitting at home having a casual dinner at the end of the book. This is another clear indicator that Fitzgerald wanted his readers to see the freedom money gave, especially in the