Class in The Great Gatsby
Depending on how much money a person makes, and how well their edicate is, is what most Americans determine class by. How a person displays, and acts themselves can be a result of their class. When a person is high up, or not so high up in the rank of class, it can tend to alter their opinions and actions. The Great Gatsby written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald is a 1925 novel that’s about loose “group of friends” living a lavish lifestyle in Long Island the summer of 1922. In Long Island, a mysterious man by the name of Gatsby, throws unnecessarily elaborate and wild parties. No one seems to know any background information about this Gatsby, but there are countless rumors floating around. Amid all these false
…show more content…
Although Gatsby does throw some “average” get togethers under his name, he keeps himself very composed, and his class has little effect on how he acts. His behaviors and actions mimic that composure, with some minor exceptions. When he throws his costly parties, he flies under the radar, and no one seems to ever know who or where this “Mr. Gatsby” is. Whereas when Gatsby is with Nick, it's almost like they were friends when they were younger and just pick up where they last left it. When Nick and Gatsby are together, Gatsby puts more effort into everything with him, because he cares about Nick. Similarly, Gatsby also puts a lot of his effort into his forever lover Daisy Buchanan...almost a little too much effort into her. Gatsby behaves very put together, especially at his own parties. He truly does fly under the radar, which is unique since he is the one hosting. This shows that Gatsby honesty does not want all the fame and attention that comes with throwing these wild parties. The first time Nick Carraway attends, one of his soon to be friend, Gatsby’s parties, Gatsby is nowhere to be found. Thousands of rumors swarming the place, and all of the sudden Nick is seems to be talking to an ordinary guest about how he has never seen the host and how a man named Gatsby sent an invitation to his house, later to find out …show more content…
Money can make people do stupid things...like they say, “money makes the world go round”. Gatsby thinks that because he now has all the money in the world, that Daisy will come back to him. Loving someone too much can ultimately lead to hurting them if done wrong. Gatsby loves Daisy so much that he behaves a little childish. He is honestly willing to do anything for her, so much that he even takes her blame for killing Myrtle Wilson. Unfortunately, Gatsby’s actions did him no favor. The end result was Daisy and Tom leaving town, and Gatsby dead. He definitely did not get what he planned, and could be the cause of his actions and behavior, essentially ending up to be the result of his money. Although Daisy and Gatsby did hit it off, and had a great couple of days together, they needed a reality check. Even though Daisy’s husband, Tom, was not at all her first pick, he had the money she needed at the time. Now Daisy regrets her decision and wishes to be with Gatsby. Even though, her husband is not ideal, Daisy still should not be as scandalous as she is with Gatsby. In their previous life Gatsby and Daisy had a relationship. Gatsby went to war, and the two wrote letters back and forth. Daisy couldn't wait anymore and needed someone who would give her stability. She needed someone who could get her ahead in life, so she met ends with Tom Buchanan. When Daisy and Tom first hit it off, Tome
Daisy is living under the illusion that Gatsby has become rich and successful by working so hard and getting lucky with some investments. I think that when she first met him she probably did love him. He conveyed something to her that was the complete opposite of what she was: a poor soldier that did not have the social class that she possessed. But now her attitudes have changed and she is attracted to him because of his money and his apparent success.
When he first meets Daisy, Gatsby becomes infatuated with his idea of her, or rather, the false persona that she creates of herself. In fact, Gatsby reveals that “she was the first ‘nice’ girl he had ever known” (155). Gatsby was so impressed with Daisy mainly because of her wealth and her status; it is what he wants. However, Daisy chooses Tom Buchanan over Gatsby, solely because of his social status. As a result, Gatsby revolves his whole life around her: he becomes wealthy, creates a new image of himself, and buys a house across the bay from Daisy. For instance, he fabricates lies about how “ [he is] the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west” (69) and how “ [he] was brought up in America but educated at Oxford” (69) in order to impress her. These lies end up altering others’ perspectives of him - not necessarily in a positive way - and impacting his life as a whole. Daisy unwittingly transforms Gatsby into a picture-perfect image of the 1920s: lavish parties, showy cars, and a false illusion of the attainment of the American Dream. Despite Gatsby’s newfound wealth and success, he never fully accomplishes his dream: to get Daisy. Gatsby’s final act for the sake of Daisy has no impact on her feelings towards him. When Gatsby claims that he crashed into Myrtle and killed her, Daisy carelessly lets him do so, which ultimately results in his death. To make
By meeting Gatsby Nick has changed for the better. His ideas and actions. all start to change. He becomes very genuine. Sometime after the party Nick says "I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. " Gatsby, p. 41. said this because most of the people at Gatsby's parties were just invited. themselves. This is the time when Nick's character is showing some.
To explain the basis behind their relationship; Gatsby first met daisy at a party at her house that her parents were hosting for young army men in hopes that their daughter would find that could be a suitable husband. Soon after they became so close and fell madly in love. Daisy came from old money and gatsby had no money at all which made their relationship come to a halt when Gatsby asked to marry Daisy. With a breaking heart Daisy had to turn him down because she couldn’t marry someone that couldn’t provide what she needed...fabulous wealth. Many years past as Gatsby went to war, came back to war, and got a job helping Dan Cody on his voyages. After Gatsby7 was denied the money that Dan Cody wanted to inherit to him he got into the business of bootlegging which made him filthy rich. Everything he did over the course of the years was for Daisy so he could finally get to be with her. Sadly Gatsby later found out that Daisy had gotten married to a man named Tom Buchanan leaving Gatsby torn that Daisy did not wait for him to get rich. All gatsby had now was hope and a love so strong for Daisy that it made his heart ache. Tom narrates, “But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic
Like his house, Nick is not showy, this characteristic allows people to easily trust him, which supports his role as the narrator of the story. Despite the fact that everything revolves around him, Nick is never actually involved in the events of the story, he simply acts as a vehicle for the other character’s wants and needs. Nick describes his house as "an eyesore” (Fitzgerald 11) compared to the mansions around it and say that “it had been overlooked" (Fitzgerald 11) in the presence of such glamorous homes. Similar to Nick himself, his house is strangely out of place among the mansions that are beside it, but is small enough that people overlook how much it does not fit in. Fitzgerald uses Nick 's house in order to show how Nick fits in, in Gatsby’s world, similar to his home, he is overlooked in the presence of such wealthy people. Nick 's House serves as a meeting place where Gatsby and Daisy meet up. Parallel to how Nick serves as an object that allows Daisy and Gatsby to reunite. Nick is unfamiliar with the world of the extravagantly wealthy, though he begins to adapt throughout the novel, he is generally out of place in the world of the rich, and blends in to the
What is later revealed is that Gatsby’s wealth and luxurious lifestyle is all in the name of getting Daisy, Tom Buchanan’s wife, to fall in love with him. But in the end, even with all his money and power, Gatsby is not able to get the girl. What this brings to light is, was Gatsby’s money truly worth anything? “I love her and that 's the beginning and end of everything” (The Great Gatsby, Chapter ) This quote from Jay Gatsby shows that his entire life is centered around Daisy. That his only motive for the things that he does, for the massive parties that he throughs, for working to become incredibly wealthy, is to have Daisy fall in love with him. Gatsby’s life is one that is incredibly lavish. It is full of expensive amenities many would only dream of having. But Jay Gatsby is not living this fabulous lifestyle for himself. He is living it for Daisy, and only for Daisy. Gatsby’s only desire in life is to have Daisy be in love with him, and he chooses to live the way he does because he believes that is what she wants. Gatsby spends money at wild abandon simply to make an effort to impress Daisy. He throughs incredibly immense parties, with hopes that Daisy and Daisy alone will be impressed. But what is troubling about Gatsby is that, unlike most books, he doesn’t get the girl. Gatsby is, despite his entire life being dedicated to getting the one thing
Gatsby tries to buy Daisy's love throughout the book. In the first part of the book Gatsby throws a number of large parties, hoping Daisy will come to one of them so he can pursue her. Unsuccessful, he manipulates Nick into arranging a meeting between himself and Daisy. Nick has Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby to tea. Subsequently, Gatsby invites them to go for a ride with him. Thereafter, Gatsby tries to drive a wedge between Daisy and Tom, but though she claims to love him, her love is as superficial as the image Gatsby has created with his money. Money itself is neither moral nor immoral, but the use Gatsby puts money to involves moral issues about the sanctity of marriage that go far beyond the mere fact that he is rich and uses his money to gain want he wants.
Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, there is a constant theme present: social class. Fitzgerald makes a connection between the theme of social class, and the settings in the novel for example The Valley of Ashes which is described as a “desolate area of land” (p.21) and a “solemn dumping ground” (p.21) which is where the poor people live. The Valley of Ashes is situated between West Egg and New York, West Egg being the place where the aspiring classes are situated, which is the “less fashionable of the two” (p.8), this is where Gatsby lives. West Egg is the place of ‘new money’, Fitzgerald shows this by the idea of the main character Jay Gatsby, rumoured to be selling illegal alcohol (prohibition) which means he is quickly making vast amounts of money.” Who is this Gatsby anyhow? Some big bootlegger?”(p.86) Gatsby shows off the amount of wealth he has by his fabulous parties and oversized mansion. “There was music from my neighbour's house through those summer nights. In his enchanted gardens, men and girls came and went like moths, among the whispering and the champagne and the stars.”(p.33) Fitzgerald uses the word ‘enchanted’ to paint a visual picture of what the house and the scene looks like, a magical and enchanted castle, with elegant furniture. This is in comparison to East Egg where Tom and Daisy Buchanan live, in a house where “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside” (p.10). East Egg being the place of ‘old money’ which is made from the inheritance of their past generations, the people who live it East Egg are mainly well educated, historically wealthy and live quite elegantly, but they are also quite ‘snobbish’. Gatsby’s background does not fit into the social standards of East Egg...
However, it is mainly the fact that Gatsby does not have much contact with people and thus is not very good at handling such confrontations.... ... middle of paper ... ... Details like these are not commonly shared when meeting someone for the first time, especially with the intentions that he has.
The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is one of constant lies, and deceit. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy before he goes to the Army as a young man, and Daisy fell in love with him too. Yet Daisy is very materialistic and Tom, a very rich man came into place and Daisy married him instead of waiting for Gatsby like she had promised. Gatsby waited for Daisy but she did not wait for him, and instead married Tom just for his money. This shows how there relationship has been riddled with lies since the very beginning of the story.
Knowing from their different circumstances, he could not marry her. So Gatsby left to accumulate a lot of money. Daisy, not being able to wait for Gatsby, marries a rich man named Tom. Tom believes that it is okay for a man to be unfaithful but it is not okay for the woman to be. This caused a lot of conflict in their marriage and caused Daisy to be very unhappy.
When Gatsby finally reconnects with Daisy, he starts acting differently. “He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room” (94). After spending much time alone with her, he attempts to persuade her to leave her husband. Gatsby doesn’t want to believe that Daisy has a life without him in it. “After his embarrassment and his unreasonable joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence.
When Daisy is finally reunited with her long lost love, Gatsby, she only truly seemed to be intrigued when she saw everything he owned and the wealthy life that Gatsby had created for himself. Not to mention, Daisy is always doing things without thinking them through and always second guessing herself. In the novel, Daisy had confessed to her current spouse, Tom, that she did not have feelings for him, but then as soon as Gatsby had done something that Daisy did not like, Daisy changed her mind and ran back to Tom. She did this, while not considering the feeling of the people around
F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates, in the classic novel The Great Gatsby, how the Americans class systems were divided during the 1920’s. In all, there “old” rich, “new” rich, and “not” rich. In each class, Fitzgerald shows the concept of each class wanting to reach the American dream and struggles to remain secure. Tom and Daisy both shares the “old” rich lifestyle.
PORTRAYAL OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN THE GREAT GATSBY At the turn of the 20th century, there were big changes happening in the society of the United States. Industrialization and capitalism opened the doors for a larger mass of people to accumulate more wealth. This accumulation of money meant that suddenly a bigger group of people belonged to the upper class. Consequently, the old classification was not distinguishable enough anymore.