The Role Of The Rich In The Great Gatsby
In the novel The Great Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of “wealth can breed carelessness” using the literary devices and/or techniques of irony, irony, and point of view. From Nick 's perspective, the wealthy characters of this story tend to act ignorantly and care nothing else besides themselves, which would impact others, including the actions shown by Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan. First of all, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of “Wealth can breed carelessness” using irony. In the text, a conversation between Jordan and Nick, “‘They’ll keep out of my way,’ she insisted.
Amelia Cieslik Ms. Phelps English III May 26th, 2023 Wealth vs. Love In Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, Daisy’s lack of responsibility and characterized as reckless and carefree to foreshadow the lack of responsibility and self control the characters have in this novel. In Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, Daisy's carelessness and stupidity eventually leads to the death of Myrtle Wilson. She lets Gatsby take the blame for her unintentional manslaughter, after saying he would reveal to Nick that Daisy was the one driving the vehicle, declaring that “She ran over Myrtle like you'd run over a dog and never even stopped his car”(Fitzgerald 143).
The Negative Influence of Wealth Wealth and prosperity are the core of living a lavish lifestyle and having a successful life. However, money can influence people into debauchery. In the book, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald introduces to us to some of the dangers of being rich. Most people in the Great Gatsby were very privileged, and they lived a lavish lifestyle.
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.
In the Great Gatsby, privilege comes into play. Privilege in this context means being born with advantages that you did not earn or work for. Some people have to work to get their money but others are born with money which means that they didn’t have to work for their money. Gatsby for example was not born with money. He had to make his own money by selling and dealing drugs and is now a very wealthy man.
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.
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the reader is immediately struck by Tom Buchannan’s wealth. He believes he is intrinsically superior and can afford to treat others poorly. Tom physically bullies others and discriminates against their wealth and social status. Tom represents “old money” and how his vast wealth strengthened his arrogance to look down on everyone. When Tom first meets Nick Carraway, he says, “‘Now, don’t think my opinion on these matters is final,’ he seemed to say, ‘just because I’m stronger and more of a man than you are’”
There is no better display of the roaring 1920s than the people of New York, who fully embrace the culture scene involving music, partying, fashion, and alcohol. The city has an adventurous feel, especially to outsiders who wish to get in on the excitement and opportunity. However, the luxury and grandeur yearned after is near impossible to come into without the right relations. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses geography in The Great Gatsby to express the idea that one can never truly assimilate into the culture of the elite class.
In the story, the narrator describes the rich as “different from you and me. [The rich] possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand” (Fitzgerald, “The Rich Boy” 3). The narrator 's description is very accurate, which is shown especially in the main character, Anson, who was born into a wealthy family and exhibits many of these characteristics. Tate, a critical writer explains that “‘The Rich Boy’ is not so much about wealth itself as about the effect of wealth on character, and the primary effect on Anson is an over power sense of superiority” (1). This superiority that Anson feels directly correlates with his upbringing because he has more money than most people.
Humans, by our very nature, are always striving to achieve more in life. Unfortunately, our materialistic society, and that of the Roaring Twenties, interpret this as striving for wealth. That pursuit often becomes all-consuming, eventually hindering our pursuit of gratifying life goals. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts wealth as a fraudulent thief whose pursuit must be abandoned for the sake of tangible fulfillment. He illustrates the dangers of attempting to find gratification in wealth through the life of Jay Gatsby, who ironically sacrifices morality, identity, and love in order to gain wealth, which he attempts to use to justify his claim to these very things.
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.
The novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published the 10th of may 1925, revolves around the main character Jay Gatsby as well as Nick Caraway. All of Nick’s supposed friends are very self-centered and greedy. I believe that the characters in the novel personify greed. The novel is told through narration from the character Nick Caraway.
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 179). This quote captures the advantages the upper class has because of their money. Tom and Daisy’s actions left three people dead, yet they received no punishments .They put all their baggage on the lower class, and left them to pick up the pieces. In The Great Gatsby, the theme of social class is very significant in the book. Scott F. Fitzgerald used the theme of social class to show the reader that it plays a much bigger role in life.
Set in the lavish era of the 1920’s, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the wealthy, yet sinful life of Jay Gatsby. When describing his character, Fitzgerald touches upon the three deadly sins: greed, envy and gluttony. James Gatz, having grown up in a small town to farmers, wished to make more of himself. Disowning his parents at a young age, he went off in search for money, and a new identity. “And when the TUOLOMEE left for the West Indies and the Barbary Coast Gatsby left too” (Fitzgerald 107).
In the 1920’s, social classes were divided with a large gap. The poor wanted nothing to do with the rich, and the rich wanted even less to do with the poor. In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he uses the class structure in the 1920’s to redefine poverty. While the rich people in the novel are material rich, they are still “poor” socially and psychologically. Poverty is shown in a differently in this book than other books being written in this time era, and in doing this, it shows the rich what they are, and how they treat others from a different perspective.
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