Money And Social Status In The Great Gatsby

Money, social classes and geography have a prominent role in society. Fitzgerald uses the settings: The East Egg, The West Egg, The Valley of Ashes, and Manhattan to demonstrate the prominence of money and social status in the American culture in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses East Egg to represent high social status and old money. People in East Egg, such as Daisy and Tom, have a sense of entitlement because they were born into money. This sense of entitlement is demonstrated by complete disregard of people with lower social status like Myrtle and George. Fitzgerald displays this disrespect between the two statuses with Tom and George at the car garage. “Shall I help myself” Tom questions harshly (Fitzgerald 123). Tom pushes George around and walks over him because of the difference in social standing between the two men. Nick describes Tom and Daisy as “careless people” (188). This displays the rich and hollow nature of people in the East Egg. Social Standing and money have a direct correlation to they way people treat other people in The Great Gatsby.

People from West Egg, such as Nick and Gatsby, have the same disregard for people of lower status that people from East Egg have, however people in East Egg work for money and were not born into it. People in the east see themselves as good people. Nick describes himself as “one of the few honest people” (64). Gatsby is key to the representation of the West Egg’s moral compass. People that attend Gatsby’s parties “haven’t even seen the host” which creates the idea that people in West Egg are all about the party. This idea is further proven when only a few people showed up to Gatsby’s funeral. West Egg exemplifies high society and new