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Social Classes In The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the setting to differentiate the social classes and divisions of the 1920’s in his novel The Great Gatsby. East Egg, West Egg, and New York City are among the most significant settings that exhibit the classes and the divisions between them. Throughought the novel, Fitzgerald consistently alludes that the residents of East Egg are wealthy, while the residents of West Egg are poor. He also displays that social classes are unable to mesh and will always be divided during the altercation at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The fist setting Fitzgerald uses to portray social classes is East Egg. These residents are known for their lavish homes, extravagant lifestyles, and exuberant wealth (which is almost always passed …show more content…

Known as “the less fashionable of the two,” (page 5) West Egg represents the home of the middle class in the novel and America in the 1920’s. The locals from this area often have to work hard for the money that they earn in order to attempt to meet the status of the people across the bay. One of these locals would be Nick Carroway, a practical, middle class bondsman. He lives in a cheap eyesore of a home, but is content with it. Jay Gatsby is another resident of this egg, by he attempts to live a very different lifestyle from Nick. He lives in a home that looks like it belongs on the east side, and throws intricate parties within it every week. Despite his mansion, he will never be as elite as the East Eggers because he was born into poverty and had to work for his money just to become middle class. No matter how hard he tried to be like those across the bay, his social class is what is holding him back from achieving that next, higher level. This difference between earned wealth and given wealth represents the social division. The last setting that Fitzgerald uses to display social class divisions is New York City. New York City is used as a gathering place where social classes mesh attempt to mesh, such as when Nick and Gatsby Meet up with Meyer Wolfsheim for lunch. Nick, a middle class citizen, warmly greets Wolfsheim, but he, an upper class citizen, barely gives him the time of day. Here,

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In this novel the wealthy are even separated into two classes; old money and new money. Jordan Baker as with the Buchanans all possess old or family money and all live in East Egg. These people look down upon those who live in West Egg because they did not acquire their money the regular path but instead worked for it. At one time Jordan asked Nick presumptuously, “you live in West Egg?” (Fitzgerald 11).

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(Fitzgerald 5) The East Egg is known as the place where the wealthy congregate. Jordan Baker, Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan were all born into a wealthy family and definitely got a jump-start in life. They fall into the highest social class, enjoying the benefits of affluence, opportunities, and social respect. With family money to support them, they get to live their dreams without the burden of a mundane job.

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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

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There were the same people, or at least the same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same multi-colored, many keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before.” Nick classified all the rich people who went to Gatsby's party as the 'same sort' since they are copying from each other's image. They do not have their own identity and is only known as the 'group' of rich people, who do nothing, but entertain themselves with illegal drinking and partying. The unpleasant feeling that Nick has is the rich people's thought and belief of the materialism corruption of the society.

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Social stratification is permanent in society and has been represented in numerous literary texts where the most vulnerable dream to become higher class with wealth, and status. This desire to escape the low-class life, flows down into a path of blatant lies, leading to tragic failure and demise. Nicolah Burns, 27th April 2023 The prosperous ‘Jazz Aged’ parties of Long Island in the 1920s, sparked the mind of F. Scott Fitzgerald to write the classic novel, The Great Gatsby (1925). Fitzgerald represents a class system in the novel featuring the locations of the Eggs and The Valley of Ashes, where success, wealth, and popularity, became a desired lifestyle for those of the higher class, yet a lifetime goal for those of the lower class.

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The impact of socioeconomic status can be examined through a myriad of lenses. F. Scott Fitzgerald aims to show the relationship between socioeconomic status and power. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Tom’s character shows that socioeconomic status is equivalent to power within the novel. Tom puts great pride and emphasis on his socioeconomic status and wealth.

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Not only does the amount of wealth affect social class, but the type of wealth also affects it. It even affects where people live and who people marry as seen with Gatsby and Daisy. The characters social standing affect who they interact and how they are perceived by others. Fitzgerald highlights the different class structures like “New rich” and “Old rich” and the impact of wealth on the people’s lives in those classes. He also shows the superficial nature of the characters and highlights the value placed on wealth.

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The Great Gatsby Essay F. Scott Fitzgerald was a famous author who wrote the book, The Great Gatsby. His purpose in writing this book was to show the differences between old and new money. Old money meaning people being born into wealthy lifestyles and new money meaning people who were not born with money but gained a lot of wealth. These were separated by two areas called west egg and east egg. This book gives sort of an exclusive look into the luxury and glamour that people think is the life of a person with a high amount of wealth.

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For centuries houses have been a way to showcase an individual’s social class, lifestyle and personality. The 1920s, during which The Great Gatsby is set, was an era of excess wealth where social position held great importance. F. Scott Fitzgerald extraordinarily represents three distinct social classes, lifestyles and personalities during this time with his descriptions of the houses belonging to Nick, the Buchanans and Gatsby. Nick Carraway’s West Egg house is “a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked” (1.14) much like the man who resides in it. Throughout the novel, Nick acts as more of an observer rather than a participant.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

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Firstly, the impossibility of social mobility can be seen through the characters that attempt to become upper class through more traditional, “moral” ways. An excellent example of this can be found in Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story. Nick moved east to New York to “[learn] the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Mæcenas knew,” but ultimately he decided to go back home to his family in the Midwest (Fitzgerald 4). Nick wished for the richness that the upper class offered, further proven by his relationship with Jordan Baker.

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The Great Gatsby GEOGRAPHY Throughout the novel, places and settings symbolize the various aspects of the 1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the dissolute, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West is connected to more traditional social values and ideals. Themes: The American Dream "Whereas the American Dream was once equated with certain principles of freedom, it is now equated with things.

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The Great Gatsby Showcasing The 1920s. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald represents all sorts of different lifestyles in the roaring twenties. From rags to riches, there is a character for each category. Throughout the 1920s, America went through drastic changes.

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Fitzgerald expressed that social class defines a person and their personality. You can’t escape the social class you were born into, and you can’t fake it either. Your roots will always show through. The overall message Fitzgerald was trying to send to the reader is to accept your social status and don’t take it for granted. Someone will always be better than you, therefore accept what you have and be

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Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is a wealthy man with dubious sources of money; Gatsby is renowned in New York due to the lavish parties he holds every friday in his mansion. These are spectacles that fully embody the wealth and glamour of the roaring twenties, and are narrated through the eyes of another character Nick Carraway, an ambitious 29 year old man that recently moved back to a corrupt new york in a cramped cottage next to Gatsby’s palace. After admiring the careless behaviour of the parties from a distance, Nick gets a personal invitation to Gatsby’s next party, he promptly becomes infatuated by the extravagant and frivolous lifestyle the parties portray, along with the superficial

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