ipl-logo

Theme Of Society And Class In The Great Gatsby

941 Words4 Pages

1. Society and Class The Great Gatsby is offering a peek into American social life in the roaring 20s. The 1920s is a time of economic growth since the World War One had just ended. Fitzgerald presents a picture of America he observes around him. His characters are divided into a social class. The society believed that they had skewed views and so social boundaries were deemed necessary. In the Great Gatsby, It is seen that there are three different types of class. These are the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. In the following paragraphs, I will examine their roles. Hence how this theme was memorably delivered. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald introduces two types of wealth. First, there are people like Daisy and Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker who were born into wealth. Their families have had money for many generations, hence the term "old money" can be used to describe them. As portrayed in the novel, the "old money" people don't have to work and they rarely speak about business arrangements. They invest their energy interesting …show more content…

“People were not invited—they went there.” They come and go “like moths” attracted to bright lights. This simile and others reducing humans to lower animals is a characteristic of Naturalism, the undertow to tragedy below Fitzgerald’s high glittering wave of Romanticism. Gatsby’s station wagon “scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.” Yellow becomes a motif in this West Egg chapter, whereas Nick is wearing white, the normal color of an egg, consistent with his innocence. East Egg would be a golden egg for McKee, and might be for Nick, who takes Jordan’s “golden arm.” Yellow is not quite gold and Gatsby is not quite up to the social gold

Show More
Related

Application Of How To Read Literature Like A Professor In The Great Gatsby

809 Words | 4 Pages

Although the original setting mentioned is important, the setting characters are in throughout the story is useful to notice. In The Great Gatsby, the plot line is developed alongside the concepts of the East and West Eggs. The people living on the East Egg side are referred to as the “old money” because their wealth has been in their family for generations, but those living in the West Egg side have only newly acquired their fortune. The American Dream is slowly dying because the people of the East Egg do not have the same drive typically associated with the American Dream. There has been no need for those with “old money” to practice determination and hard work because everything they have has been handed down to them.

Read More

Society In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

529 Words | 3 Pages

The Roaring Twenties, known as the decade of the 1920s in the Western World, consists of dramatic changes in social values. The cultural differences between the 1920s and the Victorian era changes people's behavior, where they become more free-will, youthful and carefree, despite of being more conservative before. People are more open-minded and found satisfaction through the “open pursuit of sex, money, and booze” (Berman 53) as they suggest their wealth and status in the society. New York City had become one of the cities where materialistic wealth has become the key of happiness and the standard to judge people's success, further leading Americans to pursue each other in a negative, acquisitive way. Through the different scenes and characters of the famous novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores how the society twisted the original idea of

Read More

Great Gatsby Dbq

1189 Words | 5 Pages

F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby examines the luxurious lifestyle and societal excesses of the rich elite in 1920s America. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is comparable to today’s ideals of the American Dream; similarly, there are many threads that span over 100 years. Individualism

Read More

The Great Gatsby Green Light Essay

610 Words | 3 Pages

At the end of The Great Gatsby, Nick reflects upon Gatsby’s life and pursuit on the beach where “the green light” at the end of Daisy’s dock can be seen. As a significant metaphor, “the green light” represents Gatsby’s dream which guides him to keep pursuing wealth and social status, while the position of the light, the distant and inaccessible Daisy’s dock, indicates the close connection between Gatsby’s unreal dream and Daisy, and as well the disillusionment of the dream. In the last three paragraphs, Nick explains the disillusionment of Gatsby’s dream, “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (162). Gatsby has always strived for his ambition and dream.

Read More

The Role Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

747 Words | 3 Pages

In The Great Gatsby the characters in the novel come from various social classes. Nick, Daisy, and Tom are from Wealthy families who have been wealthy for a long time. These characters are referred to as “Old rich” because of their families’ long histories of wealth. Jay Gatsby, unlike Daisy and Tom, did not belong to a wealthy family, and he earns his wealth through his own hard work and success. Although Tom and Gatsby are both wealthy, Tom and the other “Old rich” people look down at Gatsby.

Read More

Marginalization Of Women In The Great Gatsby Analysis

853 Words | 4 Pages

During the twenties the economy of the United States was changing greatly. Due to the establishment of the prohibition of alcohol the billionaires were those who would smuggle the goods to society. The Great Gatsby is a novel which portrays the different societies of the United States during the twenties differently. F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on revealing the types of lives lived by each social group. Throughout the book we are exposed to the marginalization of women and the lower class during the time, since the important individuals in society were the wealthy people who impacted the economy of the country.

Read More

Appearance Vs. Reality In The Great Gatsby

1108 Words | 5 Pages

In the time period that The Great Gatsby takes place; the values of a citizen of New York singly depended on the appearance of one another. The difference between West Egg and East Egg became more prominent as ‘old’ money and ‘new’ money. As a citizen of West Egg, Nick Carraway describes it as “the well less fashionable of the two” (14). This indicates that the location of where one lived was a key dictator of the appearance of a person living in the 1920’s. Gatsby was viewed as a less classy man and was classified as impure based on the fact that he lived in West Egg.

Read More

Examples Of Elitism In The Great Gatsby

879 Words | 4 Pages

In “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald presents editorial on an assortment of topics, — equity, control, insatiability, treachery, the American dream. Of the considerable number of subjects, maybe none is more all around created than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is viewed as a splendid bit of social discourse, offering a clear look into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald deliberately sets up his novel into particular gatherings in any case, at last, each gathering has its own issues to battle with, leaving an effective indication of what a problematic place the world truly is. By making unmistakable social classes — old cash, new cash, and no cash — Fitzgerald sends solid messages about the elitism running all through each stratum of society.

Read More

Great Gatsby Symbolism Essay

1236 Words | 5 Pages

Fitzgerald does a fantastic job of portraying these things and then adding a descriptor to them to make them appear as more wealthy or regal to apply a thought of awe to the scenes. In The Great Gatsby wealth is shown as objects painted in expensive colors such as green and gold. Jay Gatsby is shown to be the ideal man and lives the American

Read More

Theme Of Social Mobility In The Great Gatsby

1349 Words | 6 Pages

During the 1920s, America seemed to be a land of glamor and luxury. Underneath the beauty, however, was a vast underworld of crime: bootleggers and gangs ran rampant, controlling even members of the government. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he tells a tale of that decade, which appears glamorous but is filled with corruption. The novel makes a naturalism argument about the impossibility of changing social class, revealing that only a facade of mobility can be achieved through debaucherous actions.

Read More

The Sense Of Self In The Great Gatsby

1037 Words | 5 Pages

‘A Sense of Self’ Essay A Sense of Self is a unique quality that differs from one person to another and yet may involve multiple identities. Explore the extent to which the protagonists in the texts you have studied appear to possess one or more identities. Refer closely to the texts in developing your response. This essay will revolve around four main texts, namely ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Twelfth Night’, ‘New Selected Poems’ and ‘The Lost Continent’ by Scott Fitzgerald, William Shakespeare, Carol Ann Duffy and Bill Bryson respectively. ‘The Great Gatsby’ is a highly symbolic meditation of America in the 1920s.

Read More

Money And Power In The Great Gatsby Analysis

1149 Words | 5 Pages

How does the desire to pursue money and power negatively impact the characters' moral sense of right or wrong? Many people allow their social class and wealth to determine their belonging in life. In The Great Gatsby people with "old money" are more respected and superior than those with "new money". The characters' actions are driven by their desire for wealth and power.

Read More

Examples Of Social Class In The Great Gatsby

537 Words | 3 Pages

In The Great Gatsby, social status is a significant element in the book as it separates the haves from the have nots. However more importantly, social status portrays the personalities of people belonging to different classes. In the end, you are stuck in the class you are born into, and attempting to change classes only leads to tragedy and heartbreak.     In The Great Gatsby, there are three main social classes portrayed. These are old money, new money, and no money.

Read More

Materialism In Gatsby

708 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, social class is a key theme, as seen by every character having their own distinct class. Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and even Nick are old money, Gatsby is new money, and the Wilson 's are no money. In short, the more money you have, the better off you will be. In the epigraph of the novel, there is a poem by Thomas Parke D 'Invilliers, who is a fictional character created by Fitzgerald himself. This poem is about using materialism to win over the affection of someone, which is exactly what Gatsby tries to do.

Read More

Theme Of Poverty In The Great Gatsby

619 Words | 3 Pages

The website wordpress made an article about the social classes in the Great Gatsby, talking about the differences and similarities that both social classes in the book have with each other, from the good things, to all their flaws. “All the characters do not suffer due to lack of funds in life, but from key dimensions within themselves”(wordpress, Poverty in Great Gatsby). All of the characters in the Great Gatsby have some form of funds in their life, but each of them are devoid of certain key aspects of their personality. One of them could have a lack of social wealth, such as Jay Gatsby. Everyone is wealthy and poor, and when this was brought out to the public when this novel was published, this redefined poverty, and wealth as a whole.

Read More

More about Theme Of Society And Class In The Great Gatsby

Related Topics

Open Document