Social Lens In The Great Gatsby

Social Economic Lens

In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald the effect of different social classes and the influential ways of the viewed higher classes demonstrates how hollow and ignorant having money and being perceived as wealthy can make a person. Compared to how the lower-class characters are viewed and treated by the upper class. The Great Gatsby is a good representation of seeing literature through a social-economic lens, this is shown in many different ways in the story. The reader is shown the ignorance of the upper class, the things that the characters do not know they have compared to the lower classes, and the opportunities they do not have, the little things that the rich take advantage of. The book also shows

An example of how social class is the lens is how Nick who is from a lower class got mixed in with higher-status people such as Gatsby and Tom, it's also about what Nick sees and experiences while being with people of a higher class. He sees how each social class lives and behaves differently than him or people of a lower class. In the book, the difference between how the rich life and look and how the lower class look and live is described. The rich are much more clean and healthy looking and live easy and comfortable lives, while the lower class looks more ruffled up and is not as in good shape as the upper class. The lower class also lives more difficult lives, when Tom Buchanon went into the Valley of ashes where all the working class people live he met his friend George Wilson who owned a garage in the valley of ashes “He was a blond, spiritless man, anemic, and faintly handsome.”(Fitzgerald 25). This evidence supports the claim because it shows how the lower socioeconomic

The rich instead is very absent from their kids' lives and only spend time with them briefly, missing out on knowing and caring for their children. Daisy takes advantage of her wealth and uses it to have someone raise her child, Gatsby, and Nick did not believe she existed. Another social economic example in the book is how the rich poorly treat the lower class because of their social and financial status. In chapter 7 Tom goes to the valley of ashes where he stops for gas, where he meets Wilson. Tom is from the upper class and he acts very rude and ignorant towards Wlison, only caring about himself even though Wilson is very sick. “ “I’m all run down.” “Well shall I help myself?” Tom demanded. “You sounded well enough on the phone”.”. (Fitzgerlad 125) This text evidence shows how the upper class views themselves at a higher standard, the belief that they automatically are better than people who are in a lower class. Tom views and treats all lower-class characters as less than anything, also shown is the other upper-class characters treating the lower class rudely, making demands, and using intimidation and threats to gain control. In conclusion in chapters 7-9 of The Great Gatsby, the story shows how the upper class like tom, daisy, and gatsby treat lower-class people and how rude and ignorant their behavior is towards