Social Class In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Caraway relocates to experience the extravagant ways of life in New York alongside his new companion, Jay Gatsby, and his distant cousin Daisy. Although many New Yorkers are rich, the citizens appear to develop a distinction between those who have family money and those who have recently accrued wealth. This concept coincides with the idealistic American Dream and whether or not it is achievable. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald focuses the story around the flawed concept of the immutable American Dream and how social classes can undermine the image people hold of it. Perhaps the most blatant point of discrepancy between social classes is that between the newly rich and those that have been rich

For example, West Egg is considered inferior to the home of royalty at East Egg. Carla Verderame discusses how Gatsby tries to force his glorified vision of the American Dream on all people that he meets despite the fact that his inability to reside in East Egg. Verderame also claims that the Valley of Ashes represents an even further division of class that also involves location. She insists that the Valley of Ashes represents the limits of the American Dream for characters like Myrtle Wilson, a social climber. Nick introduces the new location by commenting, “This is a valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens 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”(26). The Valley of Ashes is considered a putrid place where only the lowest citizens reside and few of the rich people would even consider visiting. Its remote location and terrible reputation prevents those living in the Valley of Ashes from escaping and achieving the American Dream. ("The American