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The division of social classes has been an issue since before recorded history. From the revolts against the upper class in the French Revolution, to the more recent Occupy Wall Street movements, people are almost always trying to improve their social standings. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the clash between social classes in the 1920’s, mainly the areas of West Egg, East Egg, and the Valley of Ashes, is a pivotal theme in the book; driving the characters’ actions and goals throughout the course of the novel.
West Egg is where the “middle class” live. Residents are wealthy, but they’re much rowdier than their East Egg neighbors. They throw loud, eccentric parties and “they conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks” (45). Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are both residents of West Egg. Their homes, however, are completely different in size and grandeur. Nick described his house as “. . . an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor's lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month” (9-10). The neighbor, later revealed to be Gatsby, is of higher class than Nick, even though they live in the same region due to the size of his home, and his riches. The citizens of West Egg, like Nick and Gatsby, don’t come from wealthy families. Their “non-pedigree” status stops them from getting what they want. For example, Daisy gets tired of waiting for Gatsby to get back from war and acquire wealth, and she marries Tom, a very rich man with family history, instead. The residents of West Egg are stuck between the poverty they escaped and the status they want to achieve, this ...

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... marriage is falling apart because Myrtle wants more of a life than George has given her. She despises him, and yet he is too in love with her to see it. Myrtle constantly tries to act like she’s of higher class, "’I told that boy about the ice.’ Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. ‘These people! You have to keep after them all the time’” (36). Her statements actually make her seem more vulgar and crass, which brings her low social standing to light. People are always trying to get out of the valley. Myrtle even dies trying to raise her social standing,
The clash between social classes consistently affects the plot of the novel. It affects each character's interactions with each other, and puts many barriers up for the characters as they try to achieve their goals. Without this central theme, the story would fall apart.