Gender Roles In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel that displays the representation of social classes in the early 1900s. Moreover, New Money is represented by Gatsby, who acquired his new found fortune by bootlegging alcohol throughout the Prohibition of Alcohol in 1920. Gatsby is not allowed to live his life carelessly due to the fact that he obtained his wealth and at one point was considered ‘a penniless young man’. On the contrary, Old money is represented by Daisy and Tom Buchanan, who were both born with their enormous wealth. The Buchanans are entitled to living a carefree life because they have enough money to do whatever they please. Last, No money is represented by Myrtle and George Wilson, who reside in the Valley of Ashes

Both of their parents gave them the wealth that they have along with their high social status. The Buchanans and all other members of the East, are not responsible with the enormous amounts of wealth. Tom and Daisy live as they please, doing whatever they have the urge to do. Often, words like ‘selfish’ are used to describe people who live like this. The two live their lives doing what they want to do, always knowing that someone will come behind them to pick up whatever messes they have made. A quote from The Great Gatsby supports this, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”(Chapter 9. Page 170) Furthermore, Nick states this to Tom when the two are discussing Myrtle being run over by the car that is being driven by Daisy. When Nick says this, the fact that the Buchanans have been ruined by their own riches is proven, it has made them careless people with no moral

The residents here do not have money to be careful or careless with. The Valley is often described as literally covered in grey dust. Ironically, one particular resident, Myrtle Wilson, is the one thing throughout the valley that is not covered in this layer of ash. Throughout the course of the novel, Mrs. Wilson tries to act as if she belongs to one of the higher classes, when in reality, her husband, George Wilson is an unhappy man who owns a run down auto-shop in the valley. Myrtle and Tom are both cheating on their spouses by having an affair with each other. Moreover, Myrtle is attracted to Tom due to the fact that he is a dominant male who is wealthy. In Chapter two Myrtle states that, "I told that boy about the ice." Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. "These people! You have to keep after them all the time.”(Chapter 2. Page 69). In this quote, Myrtle makes herself look like an unattractive snob by putting down a servant after he did not bring her the ice as he had requested. She acted like she was better than him. When in reality, they are on the same social