Social Mobility in The Great Gatsby

595 Words2 Pages

This essay discusses the role of social mobility in The Great Gatsby. It argues that not all people can reach the highest social class, this is a class you must belong to from the beginning of life or marry in to. However, the characters are living the American dream which makes social mobility to the other social classes available. The essay addresses the American Dream, the difference in social class between the main characters and how some social mobility is unreachable. There are two frames of values for social mobility in The Great Gatsby. One is the old values where origin is the most important feature for social mobility, this will be discussed with the theorys of Pierre Bourdieu. The other is the new values that the American dream where whoever can work its way up the social ladder, this will be discussed with help of Gwendolyn Foster. The origin of wealth is a key factor for deciding which social class each character in The Great Gatsby belong to. Jay Gatsby is the character who made the greatest social mobility. The other characters use him for his parties and hospitality but they do not consider him as an equal. This is something that is evident particularly on page 66 in the novel when Gatsby tells his story to Nick Carraway, the novel's narrator, and Nick describes Gatsby's phrases as so threadbare they lack credibility. No matter how much money Gatsby makes he is never going to be good enough for either Daisy or the other characters. Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan these are the three main male characters. These men hang out a lot in the novel, even though they are not from the same social class. Tom Buchanan comes from a socially solid old family and he is very wealthy. Nick Carraway'... ... middle of paper ... ... at the world, something that comes so naturally that you do not even think about it. In conclusion, in The Great Gatsby social mobility can to some degree be achieved by everyone. The highest social class cannot be reached by outsiders. This a class that you must belong to or marry in to, you cannot work your way up to it. Works Cited Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction- A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984) Fitzgerald, F.Scott. The Great Gatsby (London: Alma Classics, 2012) The Great Gatsby first published in 1925 Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. Class-passing : social mobility in film and popular culture (Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 2005). Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/american-dream/students/thedream.html accessed on 12 December, 2013. (n.a)

Show More
Related

  • Economy and Social Class in the Articles "Class Matters" and in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Does Myrtle Use Social Class In The Great Gatsby

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the book Great Gatsby there are many examples of society and social class, many are shown to us as the book progresses. Some are shown to us very up front while, others are hidden in the text. Society and social class play a critical part in this book such as how people interact with the lower classes, to how the rich live their lives. When we look deeper into on how the Great Gatsby handles sociality and social class, which puts the characters in the positions they are in.

    Read More

  • Friendship in The Great Gatsby by F. Scoot Fitzgerald and The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

    2522 Words  | 6 Pages

    To begin with, social class has always been of great importance in society, more money means more power and more respect. Friendship and acquaintances are based purely on whom someone is in contact with and how much fame and money they have. In the “Great Gatsby”, Fitzgerald presents two distinct types of wealthy people. First, there are people like the Buchanan’s and Jordan Baker who were born into wealth. Their families have had money for many generations; hence they are "old money”. The “old money” people, Daisy, Tom, Jordan and their social class, are considered the elite group; the societies highest. They are judgmental and superficial failing to look at the emotions of the people around them and sometimes them selves. “It’s a b****’, said Tom decisively. ‘Here’s your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it”(Fitzgerald, 30). Tom is very aggressive verbally and nonverbally, he thinks he’s always right and likes bossing people around, to show them that he has power over them. All the “elite” are superior and never questioned as with their influence they can do anything. Second there are people like Gatsby who are from a l...

    Read More

  • The Rich and The Poor in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Money and Happiness in The Great Gatsby

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Money Equals Happiness in The Great Gatsby Throughout history many societies have had upper, middle, and lower classes. The classes formed separate communities of diverse living and never crossed social barriers. In the book, The Great Gatsby, instead of streets and communities separating each class, there was a sound. On West Egg, the rich received their money not from inheritance but from what they accomplished by themselves.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of The American Dream In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    1582 Words  | 4 Pages

    It’s been ingrained into the fabric of society that to be truly happy in life, one needs to be wealthy. The characters in The Great Gatsby show this is not always the case, and that wealth is not always as important as one would believe. Society has always placed a significant importance on being rich, being wealthy. It makes one believe that being wealthy is the only true way to live a happy and fulfilling life. With this in mind, many readers are going to look at the characters in The Great Gatsby, such as Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, and fantasize about one day living the lifestyle that they live. While many characters in The Great Gatsby would appear from the outside to be living the American Dream, it what lies underneath this image of

    Read More

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby is a symbolic novel of the disintegration of the American dream in an era of extraordinary prosperity and material excess. On the surface, we see that it is a story about the love between a man and a woman but the overall theme is the collapse of the American dream in society. We find that every character in their own way is searching for their American dream but as a result, their desire for wealth and pleasure, caused them to find themselves lost in the corruption of the aristocrat society.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Themes And Motifs

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    Book Analysis F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of "The Great Gatsby," reveals many principles about today's society and the "American dream. " One of the biggest fears in today's world is the fear of not fitting into society. People of all age groups and backgrounds share this fear. Many individuals believe that to receive somebody's affection, they must assimilate into that person's society. In the story, Jay Gatsby pursues the American dream and his passion for being happy only to come to a tragedy and total loss.

    Read More

  • Social Commentary in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby and Today

    1573 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. The.

    Read More

  • Moral Corruption In The Great Gatsby

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald explores the idea of the American Dream as well as the portrayal of social classes. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct social groups but, in the end, each group has its own problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious place the world really is. By creating two distinct social classes ‘old money’ and ‘new money’, Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism underlying and moral corruption society. The idea of the American dream is the ideal that opportunity is available to any American, allowing their highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. In the case of The Great Gatsby it centres on the attainment of wealth and status to reach certain positions in life,

    Read More

  • Class Structure in The Great Gatsby

    1941 Words  | 4 Pages

    Class structure in the 1920s was synonymous to prejudice. The 1920s was known as a period of wild excess and great parties with excitement arising from the ashes of the wars in America’s history. It was a period in history where rapid materialism and narcissistic ideals grew uncontrollably, and it was the days where Jay Gatsby, illegally, rose to success. Having social classes was the same as segregation, except it was through economic standings, the two both instil injustice within social standards. Class structure was used to describe the difference between the new money and old money. The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, written during the 1920s, emphasizes the division between the social classes and the reasons behind why they are separated; the novel also emphasizes on the daring tasks in which— the bottom of the social class is willing to take in order to climb the ladder. The poor are daring enough to involve in illegal acts to gain success. However, even with success they are still not ultimately complete. Class structured is portrayed in this novel through Myrtle who is the poor, Gatsby—new money, and the Buchanans—old money. These characters are divided through wealth; the poor lacked money while the old money were born into it. However, the difference between the old and new money is that the new money must work in order to achieve the wealth, this is the reason why it is so difficult to climb the social ladder.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Society And Class In The Great Gatsby

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    The theme of society and class was evident throughout The Great Gatsby. The novel goes into great depth about the theme of society and class and the divisions of rich and poor. It is apparent that the author, Scott F. Fitzgerald, believes that the “American Dream” has been corrupted into a yearning for money and materialistic items. With that said, Fitzgerald uses the theme of society and class to show society that the idea of the “American Dream” is unattainable.

    Read More

  • Social Class In The Great Gatsby

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gatsby believes in the aforementioned "American Dream." Thus, Gatsby believes that money alone will allow him to enter the upper class. However, the unspoken truth of the "American Dream" is that class mobility requires money and the culture typical of the upper class. Gatsby becomes wealthy, but his lack of this culture prevents him from fulfilling his goal of social mobility. Writer Andrew B. Trigg discusses Gatsby 's inability to climb the social ladder: "culture provides a barrier to entering the top echelons of the leisure class" (Trigg.) Throughout The Great Gatsby, Gatsby 's lack of taste is evident, which leads to the upper class 's rejection of him. Gatsby repeatedly displays his wealth in excessive ways. Gatsby throws extravagant parties, buys flamboyant clothes, and purchases an opulent car and mansion. Throughout the novel, these displays of wealth are met by criticism from those that Gatsby is trying to impress. Tom Buchanan, Daisy 's husband, and a man of inherited wealth, detests Gatsby. In Chapter seven, Tom frequently criticizes Gatsby for his gaudy displays of wealth. First, Tom criticizes Gatsby 's car: " 'Come on, Daisy, ' said

    Read More

  • Examples Of Marxism In The Great Gatsby

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    The lower class citizens throughout the entirety of the world are hardworking and do what they can to survive; the same cannot be said for the wealthier classes. While reading The Great Gatsby, this type of social class inequality is found everywhere throughout the text, and is seen in most of the main characters, especially when looking through the perspective of a Marxist. From a Marxist lens, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals the insignificance of the proletariat through his unnamed servant-class characters in The Great Gatsby.

    Read More

More about Social Mobility in The Great Gatsby

Open Document