Examples Of Social Class In The Great Gatsby

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There are many things that affect how people see each other. Judging others on their looks, personalities, and lifestyles is as natural as sleeping. A common subject of judgement has always been social class; each class has judged one another for centuries. Looking at another class is like looking into the window of another world that is shrouded in mystery; especially the upper class. The idea of being wealthy is surrounded by a stereotype that life is easy and everything is perfect. F. Scott Fitzgerald teaches in The Great Gatsby that this is not true through three different social classes in the 1920s: old money, new money, and no money. Although status makes life easier it can negatively affect the personalities of people with old money, new money, and no money. One of the first things the narrator says about himself is that he comes from a well off …show more content…

He does not act the way the top tier is presumed to act. “Some time before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care” (48). His mannerisms and even his words seem forced to fit in. Towards the end the reader learns that this is because Jay Gatsby is really just Jimmy Gatz and that he has drastically changed himself to become the man many people spoke of. Many things about Gatsby changed but some of his personality traits remained the same. “He was only a young man, but he had a lot of brain power here” (168). His will and intellect remained the same throughout the book. Gatsby’s story is similar to the saying “you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” Gatsby rose up to the likes of a millionaire but still kept his working class personality traits with him. Both Gatsby’s personality changes and constants say a lot about the new money class. Their personalities are shaped by both their wealth and the experiences they had to get to that

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