What Is The Conflict In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an American Literature classic, and F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered to be one of the greatest American novelists of all time. His novels and short stories leave impacts on all who read them. One of his most influential novels is The Great Gatsby. This novel covers key issues the people faced during the 1920s, when a person’s worth was determined by their wealth, who they married, and how they fit into society. This novel has many conflicts, but the most important conflict has to be that of man versus society. No matter where a person comes from, there is always a tendency for that person to always want more than he has. This is never more apparent than in the life of Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby epitomizes this conflict of man versus society by his fixation with

This shows Gatsby’s desire for material goods and how naïve and short-sighted he is, in the sense that he expects wealth to be valued highly in society, without regard to the other aspects and social norms of the upper class lifestyle. Gatsby did indeed attend Oxford, but not for long and people tend not to believe him. An Oxford man is someone who is more reserved and respected, someone of the old money society, not someone with the new money who throws lavish parties and has flashy shirts and fancy cars. The fact that people do not believe that Gatsby went to Oxford shows that he is not accepted into their circle, yet Gatsby does not see this. Through Gatsby’s big and elaborate parties, fancy clothes and cars, and trying to prove that he went to Oxford this shows his obsession with materialism. Gatsby faces the conflict of man vs. society because no matter how much wealth he acquires, the old money part of the upper class does not accept him, nor do they value