Social Stratification In The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” is a novel that tells of social stratification through categorizing the people of West Egg and East Egg. It is a story of great success and terrible misfortune. The Great Gatsby is a novel in which the roles of social class and society are key themes. Wealth is key to being successful in society but Gatsby could not have done it without the help of Dan Cody. Nick uses a metaphor to show Gatsby's vision of the world: “ To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world”(100). Dan Cody represented everything that Gatsby wanted to be. Gatsby had already envisioned what he could be but Dan Cody is the one who made it possible. Nick explains his memory of Dan in the portrait “ I remember the portrait of him up in Gatsby's bedroom, a grey, florid man with a hard, …show more content…

When Nick explains how Gatsby has “natural decencies” by saying “ Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book was exempt from my reaction-Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn” (2). Nick overcomes Gatsby’s flaw for loving money and sees good within him. On the other hand there is Tom and Daisy who have the same flaw as Gatsby but did not have any other qualities that Nick found intriguing. All they were and all they would ever be is careless people who wanted to be on top of society. It is worthy to note that “ They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” (179)because the Buchanans do not have to answer for their actions and they ignore consequences of what they do. Gatsby and the Buchanans were successful in society but what Gatsby did not realize is that the Buchanans didn't ever have to care or worry yet gatsby cared to much and in the end it costed his

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