Author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby during the 1920’s, a time when the differences between social classes was taken to the extreme. The Great Gatsby is a novel that depicts this throughout its entirety. The novel revolves around our main character, Nick, as he traverses through this new world he finds himself in. It's during this time where Nick explores the new locations he finds himself in, as well as meeting the new people he finds himself being introduced to. It's through Nick’s story that a lens of Marxism appears. A Marxist lens explores how social classes are represented by the settings, clothing, and character interactions in the novel. The different locations of the novel contrast one another in a manner that highlights …show more content…
“I lived at West Egg, the-well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them” (Fitzgerald 5). As described, the two Eggs are a gorgeous landscape, but, despite their perfections, West Egg is the lesser of the two. Despite their differences, the eggs are symbols of great power and wealth in a physical form. This is in complete contrast to the Valley of Ashes, This is a valley of Ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally,with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerlad 23). The Valley of Ashes is described as a palace burned in the aftermath of industrialization and the scraps of the elite. The Valley of Ashes is a place suffocated by the ashes while workers are described as working through powdery air. The two locations are complete opposites in the way they are described, as well as what they represent. The two eggs represent the upper class as they are spotless and glamorous in nearly every …show more content…
Tom bought such an extravagant outfit to convey a message to the world that he was of higher status and power. While it may not have been worn to attract women, it was certainly worn to show off. While clothing is a powerful tool to convey status, the interactions between different social classes is one of the greatest representations of difference in society. Interactions between different social classes are shown throughout the books as certain characters act in different manners towards one another, especially if characters are in two different social classes. “At any rate, Miss Baker’s lip fluttered, she nodded at me almost imperceptibly, and then quickly tipped her head back again-the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fight” (FItzgerlad 9). During the first meeting between Jordan and Nick, it is described that Jordan slightly nods her head at Nick but quickly returns to his old position. Jordan knows little about Nick at this time, but concludes that he must have some type of status in order to be at the Bucheans house. She acknowledges Nick’ status with her little head shake, but she still perceives him as less compared to
The novel’s use of contrast between East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes begins to explore the differences between social classes. East Egg houses the most wealthy and aristocratic members of the nearby area. It contains many “white palaces” (Fitzgerald 10) that are quite “fashionable” (Fitzgerald 10). This description paints an image of purity and untouched standards of wealth that are translated into the book’s time period. Due to the pristineness of the village, the homes “[glitter] along the water,” (10) further supporting the idyllic qualities East Egg appears to have. West Egg, on the contrary, is home to people of near equal affluence, but of less social establishment. It is described by the narrator as “less fashionable,” (Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel, the Great Gatsby, during the 1920s. This decade was characterized by economic and cultural change. With the growth of a new class of new money, Americans began to grow tired of the different social standards of the each social rank and attempted to move into a higher class. Fitzgerald focused on this disparity between classes and several class issues, specifically class mobility. In the year 2005, several journalists wrote and published a group of essays known as Class Matters. These essays discuss modern social and economic class structure and associated class issues. An essential theme in each of these novels is class mobility. The Great Gatsby and Class Matters both explore the differences between classes and the lack of class mobility in order and bring attention to the class imbalance.
Chapter 1: Chapter one introduces the reader to the narrator Nick Halloway and most of the other other characters of the story. Including his cousin daisy, her husband tom and their friend jordan - the golfer. Nick comes from a wealthy family; however, doesn’t believe in inheriting their wealth. Instead he wishes to earn his own wealth by selling bonds in the stock market. Chapter one also talks about the separation of the rich. Where the east egg represents the inherently rich whereas west egg represents the newly rich. The people in the east also seem to lack social connections and aristocratic pedigree. Whereas the people in west egg possess all those qualities usually lacked by people in the east.With nick living
For most people, a certain colour may represent something meaningful to them. While in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the colours used in the novel are meant to represent something. The novel’s setting is in East and West Egg, two places in New York. Our narrator, Nick Carraway, lives in the West Egg. Along with living in West Egg is a friend of Nick’s, Jay Gatsby; a character that is in love with Daisy Buchanan. Unfortunately, Daisy is married to Tom. As the plot unravels, the reader notices the connection between certain colours and their importance to the novel. The use of colours within The Great Gatsby symbolizes actual themes, as grey symbolizes corruption, blue symbolizes reality, and green symbolizes jealousy and envy.
The Great Gatsby displays how the time of the 1920s brought people to believe that wealth and material goods were the most important things in life, and that separation of the social classes was a necessary need. Fitzgerald’s choice to expose the 1920s for the corrupt time that it really was is what makes him one of the greatest authors of his time, and has people still reading one of his greatest novels, The Great Gatsby, decades
The Great Gatsby “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored.
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald writes about the distinctions between the social classes and status during the twentieth century. Fitzgerald's novel takes place in the 1920's after World War 1, which was a time of excess and wealth. The "roaring '20s" set a perfect stage for Fitzgerald to use setting to explain the differences between the three social classes in his book.
In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald criticises the increase of consumerism in the 1920s and the abandonment of the original American Dream , highlighting that the increased focus on wealth and the social class associated with it has negative effects on relationships and the poorest sections of society. The concept of wealth being used as a measure of success and worth is also explored by Plath in ‘The Bell Jar’. Similarly, she draws attention to the superficial nature of this material American Dream which has extended into the 1960s, but highlights that gender determines people’s worth in society as well as class.
Benjamin Franklin once said “Money has never made man happy, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness." This is arguably one of the most cliché quotes of all time. If money cannot provide happiness, then what exactly can it do? The characters of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan open a door to a world in which money was the sole motivation for their success and the only reason for their power. When the reader uses a Marxist critical lens during chapter four of F. Scott 's Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, the social hierarchy reveals how Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan utilize the importance of money and social power to manipulate others in their lives.
Since the beginning of mankind, there is no doubt that society was broken down into millions of groups, otherwise known as social breakdown. Segregation, not only by skin color, and religion, but wealth as well, plays a vast part in the socially broken down society of the past and present. Likewise, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the environment as a whole is socially broken down economically. First and foremost, the two neighborhoods of East and West Egg play a central role in this division of wealth throughout the story, especially in comparison to Nick, the main character, and Mr. Gatsby, who lives next door to Nick. Also, the criticisms Nick faced of his small fortune are expressed several times throughout the story such as
On one level The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald comments on the careless gaiety and moral decadence of the period in which it was set. It contains innumerable references to the contemporary scene. The wild extravagance of Gatsby's parties, the shallowness and aimlessness of the guests and the hint of Gatsby's involvement in crime all identify the period and the American setting. But as a piece of social commentary The Great Gatsby also describes the failure of the American dream, from the point of view that American political ideals conflict with the actual social conditions that exist. For whereas American democracy is based on the idea of equality among people, the truth is that social discrimination still exists and the divisions among the classes cannot be overcome. Myrtle's attempt to break into the group to which the Buchanans belong is doomed to fail. Taking advantage of her vivacity, her lively nature, she seeks to escape from her own class. She enters into an affair with Tom and takes on his way of living. But she only becomes vulgar and corrupt like the rich. She scorns people from her own class and loses all sense of morality. And for all her social ambition, Myrtle never succeeds in her attempt to find a place for herself in Tom's class. When it comes to a crisis, the rich stand together against all outsiders.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald took place in the 1920’s when the nation was undergoing rapid economic, political, and social change. Looking through different literary lenses the reader is able to see the effects of these rapid changes. The marxist lens reflects the gap between rich and poor while the feminist lens showcases the patriarchal society.
Rags and Riches, Socioeconomic Status in The Great Gatsby. The infidelity and death of the multimillionaire’s mistress and the events following the suicide murder are connected to the character's socioeconomic status and social separation in The Great Gatsby. The story is set in New York and follows Nick Carroway as the narrator after he moves to pursue the bond business where he meets the mysterious millionaire Gatsby, who is known for his lavish lifestyle and large parties. Gatsby attempts to reunite with his past love and integrate himself into an old-money lifestyle during the 1920s Jazz era, these events later result in him dying alone and being buried with few friends and family, symbolizing the disillusionment of the American Dream. The role of socioeconomic status and the resulting characters' fate in The Great
“‘Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.’” Phineas Taylor Barnum. Money is something that everyone wants in life; money can be a good thing but also a bad thing. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a middle-aged man named Gatsby is trying to reconnect with his long-lost love from past years. Fitzgerald, the author, shows how money can affect a community and how it can shift social standards for a town/city.
The "American Dream" supposedly allows everyone to climb the "social/economic ladder," if they wish to do so. Anyone that works hard is supposed to be able to move to a higher class. However, society often prevents social mobility. Social classes dictate who moves to a higher class and who does not. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this issue was especially prevalent. The rigidity of classes was often an underlying theme in many novels during this time period. For example, The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby both feature the exclusive nature of social classes as a motif. In both The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby, the rigidity of social classes and the desire for social mobility leads to the downfall of several