The Role Of Social Mobility In The Great Gatsby

The American Dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success, prosperity, and social mobility through hard work, determination, and initiative. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby attempts to achieve social mobility but ultimately fails due to the constructs of old vs new money. An argument is shown that the American Dream is just that, a dream, and that happiness cannot be achieved through wealth. In the novel, the super poor are stuck in their social class, unable to move because they live in the valley of ashes, which represents poverty and the corruption and social decay that came with the lavish and careless lifestyles of the rich. Myrtle and George lived in the valley of ashes and had different ways of attempting to get out but both ultimately died horribly. George was a hard working, God-fearing man and he tried to escape poverty through hard work and determination but in an age of godlessness, it was not enough to live a successful and happy life. Myrtle on the other hand tried to cheat her way into the

She represented old money and the ideal of social mobility. Gatsby never wanted Daisy because he loved her, but because she was his door to becoming old money, to gaining the social backing, his proof of true social mobility. No matter how rich and extravagant Gatsby became, he would never truly achieve social mobility without Daisy showing that social mobility is a fraud. A fraud keeping people in this dreamlike state, waiting for that day when they are able to freely move through social class from one level to the next. A fraud so profound it could only be created by the American people; and realized by them, it keeps them alive fueling their fervent passion and helping them overcome monumental struggles later to be let down by the one thing that held them up ---The American