English Teachers Magazine Texts that Teach Teens In today’s article, we will be discussing the theme of class in the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, and a Hollywood film, Crazy Rich Asian. Societal class is among the many themes in the book, along with love, greed, and betrayal. The issue with class being that it divides society into ranks and prohibits a wide range of friendships, relationships, or partnerships. We can see evidence of this through Daisy Buchanan betraying Gatsby’s love and marrying Tom. There was also the betrayal of George Wilson when his wife, Myrtle, engaged in an affair with Tom Buchanan. In the film, class is what stops Nick Young, the son of a real estate tycoon, from getting his mother’s approval to marry Rachel Chu, an economics professor. If you didn’t know this before, just know I felt just as ashamed of society as you did. Set in the roaring 1920s, the author, Scott Fitzgerald, took us to a time when the rich were getting richer and the poor were struggling to get by. And at the centre of the story is Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man who throws extravagant parties in the hopes of winning back his lost love, Daisy Buchanan. In the background of the story runs the infidelity of Myrtle Wilson and Tom Buchanan. …show more content…
Rachel comes from a middle-class background and is completely out of her element in the world of the super-rich. She's constantly being judged and criticized by Nick's family and friends, who view her as unworthy of their son and their social circle. But what's interesting about this book is that it also explores the class divide within the Asian community. Nick's family is Chinese and their wealth comes from old money, while some of the other characters in the book are nouveau riche from places like Thailand and Indonesia. There's a sense of competition and one-upmanship between these different groups, and it's fascinating to see how they interact with each