Social Classes In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Social classes are something so familiar but not so normal to many of us. In our world you are either rich, middle class or poor, that’s a social class in very simple broad terms but during the jazz era, social classes had a twist. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald took place during the roaring twenties “jazz era” and two very prominent social classes in this story were named the Old Rich and the New Rich. You see the old rich were the ones born into generational wealth and the New rich were the ones who made something of themselves and made themselves wealthy. During the roaring twenties, these classes were very much a part of society like no other. But society as a whole impacted these two worlds. There were two different worlds F.

Scott Fitzgerald he portrayed his characters and storylines in a way that portrayed and demonstrate what society was like in the jazz era during that time which brings me to my first topic which is how the social roles of women were depicted. Based on the book itself women during this time were seen as “trophies” here are a few examples from the book itself according to Nick in (chapter 1 12%) “She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet”. And according to Daisy in (chapter 1 13%) “All right,' I said, 'I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'" These two direct quotes from the book stuck out to me because they gave me two perspectives one from women and one from a male and it shows me how exactly women really were treated. You can easily see by reading those stated quotes that women in the jazz era were disrespected and objectified by men. No matter what status they had they were treated the same way men were superior and dominant women were not. Another quote that made me think more was in (chapter 8 81%) “She wanted her life shaped now, immediately- and the decision must be made by some force-of love, of money, of unquestionable practically-that was close at hand.’’ This quote right here also stuck out to me because this quotes me points out

So, knowing that let’s continue on with my second topic which would be F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life and how it may have impacted the way he portrayed the old rich and new rich culturally. According to (ThoughtsCo, Esther Lombardi) “Fitzgerald was inspired to write the book by the grand parties he attended on prosperous Long Island, where he got a front-row view of the elite, moneyed class of the 1920s, a culture he longed to join but never could.” This made me begin to think more about the author himself and I wanted to know if he demonstrated and portrayed this world based on life experiences. Because if so then there had to be more than what meets the eye especially when it came down to this story. Based on the stated quote we know that Fitzgerald lived in the world that he created. He went to “grand parties” he had one on one and real-life experiences from this world. So, knowing that it would only make sense to portray his characters in a way that he knew was real since he experienced it firsthand. Now that we know that let’s jump into his life so according to (ThoughtsCo, Esther Lombardi) “The Great Gatsby was first, and foremost, a reflection of Fitzgerald's life. He put pieces of himself into two of the book’s major characters. (ThoughtsCo, Esther Lombardi) also stated a connection between Jay Gatsby and Fitzgerald “Fitzgerald struggled with alcoholism and money troubles