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The Great Gatsby Upper Class

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There’s a popular debate over whether people of different financial classes are able to understand the problems those of other classes. “Classes” are the separation of people based on their financial income. “Upper class” is made up of people who make the most money out of all the classes and are wealthy while the “lower class” are people who make the least amount of money out of all the classes and are considered to be very poor. “Middle Class” is made up of people who earn enough money to be considered neither rich nor poor.“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the concept of the different problems of the classes and how the wealthy differ from the poor. People that are part of the upper class are ignorant to the problems those …show more content…

On page 23 of the Great Gatsby, there’s this place called the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is described as a dreary, dirty place where the poor reside at. It’s a desolate place that constantly has smoke in its air because of all the factories working endlessly. This setting shows the contrast in living conditions for the poor and living conditions for the rich. On an article titled “A Dozen Facts About America’s Struggling Middle-Lower Class” there was a statistic about how nearly one-third of struggling middle-lower-class families rely on income support from a government program. Due to the fact that some middle and lower class families don’t have a lot of financial income, they have to depend on the government to have things like food, a shelter, and other necessary things. Those in the upper class don’t have to have any type of funding from the government because they make enough money to financially support themselves and others. Despite the lower class needing financial help and the upper class having a lot of money, they aren't aware of the lower class struggles which prevents them from helping the

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1161 Words | 5 Pages

They understand the sacrifices their parents have made for their children and to support their family. But, upper classmen might not be able to understand why inequality causes consequences because they do not experience the same situations. Those who earn more do not need to work more hours and sacrifice little things, such as vacations, in order for their children to go to school. They may not even notice any changes to their lives because they make more than enough to live stress-free, while low income families spend most of their time struggling to make ends meet. Although this essay was written about 11 years ago, I believe it is still just as effective as when it was first written because the economy is constantly changing and always leads to consequences because of the inequality present in society.

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488 Words | 2 Pages

Scott Fitzgerald uses more speaking style and unnecessary tone for "The Valley of the Ashes". "The Valley of the Ashes" is a (class of people who work hard and don't make a lot of money) which is also known as the lower class of Gatsby. The author uses the words and (putting pictures into your mind) of "The Valley of the Ashes" is displayed as "grey" which represents slow movement, falling apart, or boring. Fitzgerald uses the words the "terrible", "Wild", and "unknown" to illustrate how bad and unnecessary the whole city acts. The author uses an (not interested, because of seeing or doing too much of something) tone for "The Valley of the Ashes" George and Myrtle Wilson live where it is all "pourdery", "in the air", "ash-grey men" live in the (class of people who work hard and don't make a lot of money) community.

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792 Words | 4 Pages

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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834 Words | 4 Pages

“People in the United States do not like to talk about class.”(331) There are many myths that are taught today in America such as “The United States is fundamentally a classless society.”(333). Another myth would be “We are essentially a middle-class nation. ”(333). A last example for myths includes “Everyone has an equal chance to succeed.”

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1123 Words | 5 Pages

However, due to the ideology that one can make money if they tried, the middle class cling to this ideology as hope to one day make it to the upper class. While resenting the low class for not doing the same when so much of the middle class tax money goes to the government which is supposed to help the poor. The middle class fails to realize two important socioeconomic facts: that the upper class is in control, so they make the middle class pay taxes, also the fact that the lower class receives only a small fraction of the taxes, since most of the taxes are pocketed by the upper

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1579 Words | 7 Pages

link.springer.com states that “A higher social class is associated with high power, which in turn is linked with reduction of physical and enviormental Quality of Life.” Although we can not see this in everyday life it can be proved in lots of different ways. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel written based off the 1920’s in New York City and narroted by Nick Carraway, who wants to experience the glamorous city. Nick meets high neighbor, mysterious and wealthy, Jay Gatsby, who is in love with Nick's cousin Daisy Buchannon, issues arise because Daisy is married to, unfaithful and wealthy, Tom Buchannon. From there on out the story of how power and class status can not get you whatever you want but instead leave you with a sad,

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239 Words | 1 Pages

Classism is a major issue that plagues American society. Classism separates groups by their economic status in society. America is perceived to be a middle class society, however in reality the middle class does not hold majority of the nation’s wealth. Most of the nation’s wealth is held by 1% of the population in America which consists of 34% of the nation’s wealth, meanwhile “the richest 20% of Americans hold nearly 85% of the total household wealth in the country” (Adams et al, 2013, p. 151). American citizens that are a part of the upper class are privilege because they have access to majority of the resources.

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475 Words | 2 Pages

The middle class want to become rich and the low class only wants equality.” Orwell’s predictions of the party, the government in modern society, rises to power and the poor stay poor. In LA Times “Income Inequality makes the rich more scrooge-like, study finds”, “Since the 1980’s -- the end of a 30-year period… wealth has grown increasingly concentrated at the top of the economic ladder, while low-income Americans have commanded a smaller and smaller share of the nation’s wealth.” *add where quote is from* ”... top 5 percent of American families saw their real income increase 74.9 percent… the lowest-income fifth saw a decrease in real income of 12.1 percent… Sharply contrasting with the 1947-79 period… with the lowest income group actually seeing the largest gains.”

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977 Words | 4 Pages

There is lower, middle, and upper class, but there are also subcategories that fill the gaps in between, like the impoverished and the top one percenters. “Class in America”, written by Gregory Mantsios, addresses the myths and realities about socioeconomic class in America and how they affect American lives. His article highlights the unequal divide that has persisted over the course of history and will continue to manifest in the future. To introduce the existence of this issue, Mantsios states that this country’s citizens “don’t like to talk about class...or class privileges, or class oppression, or the class nature of society” (Mantsios 378). This is the case in America today because people are neglecting to acknowledge the existence of these elusive

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1105 Words | 5 Pages

Where farm workers and security guards turn to overwhelmed food banks to help feed their families, and homelessness is rising among working families” (Sklar pp. 329). However, on the opposite side of the spectrum, you see a country in which “93 percent of all the nation’s income growth went to the richest 1 percent” (Sklar pp. 329). This is another example of institutional classism because it demonstrates how the government discriminates against the lower-income households based on their occupations. It seems like there should be more money given to lower-income households so that they could not only live their lives, but also to better

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1073 Words | 5 Pages

The upper class get better food and products than the working class that is actually helping the country grow. The upper class controls what is given to the lower class and even cuts down on what or how much the lower classes get, “It appeared that

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939 Words | 4 Pages

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ was set during the 1920's, a period of great enormous expansion and industrial prosperity in America. With this came the rise of the bourgeoisie and ‘American Dream.’ While this idea was idealized by mass culture, Fitzgerald wished to that show it, and the upper class that followed was not as perfect as it seemed. Thus, a key theme in the novel is the decline of the American dream and money, both tied to a major concept of the shallowness, materialism, and vainness of the upper classes. Fitzgerald illustrates this through his characterization of key individuals: namely Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby, who represent the upper-class man and wife, and the self-made-man, respectively.

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1589 Words | 7 Pages

Cloutier discusses the “distorting middle-class ‘exemption’” (6) early on to clarify that he is not simply targeting the upper class. Cloutier portrays the problem as a problem for everyone and that if we hope to solve this issue then we need to stop groups from putting off the issue onto other groups. Cloutier says that 83% of the American population fall between the poverty line and the $250,000 annual income scale and this group possesses “an enormous amount of resources with its spending choices” (7), so if the problem is to be solved it needs to be oriented around the middle class and not merely around the powerful, upper class. This is slightly different from liberation theologians like Cone and Harrison who pen many issues on the most powerful groups, like the upper class in this case. However, his views are similar to liberation theologians as well as he thinks the middle-class, a group with power and privilege, is largely to blame for this issue of luxury and classism.

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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.

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619 Words | 3 Pages

The setting in The Great Gatsby is used mainly to paint a picture of the class differences in the roaring twenties. The people from all the social classes suddenly became aware of the class differences. It was evident that the social classes were clearly divided by location, amount of material possessions and the way one person acts. Throughout the story multiple examples of social classes were being inserted in The Great Gatsby, and how each social class was not found of the other. The American Dream is not all what is made up to be throughout this novel compared to portraying the different views of the objection of American Dream from then compared to now.

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