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Social class distinction in the great gatsby
Social class distinction in the great gatsby
American life 1920 in the great gatsby
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How does The Great Gatsby reflect america in the twenties? The 1920’s often perceived as a time of prosperity, victory, and the growth, but would you believe that the 1920’s was actually a time of change and confusion. The Great Gatsby was based on this time period with the new and old rich, taking place in the New York in the West and East Egg. The Great Gatsby reflected Americans in the 1920’s because it was a time of the new rich and the old rich, putting business over religion and post war disillusionment. Post war disillusionment was a major issue in the 1920’s. Millions of people dead in Europe, yet nobody seems to be phased, care and they think that there lives worse. For example, when nick was talking to his cousin she got mad because he didn't go to her wedding but when he tries to explain that he wasn't back from the …show more content…
The different kinds of rich in The Great Gatsby were the rich that just inherited their riches and was grown with a silver spoon in there mouth while the new rich just recently earned their money. They both have different lifestyles the new rich spent there money without a thought in mind the more useless expensive things they have the better and they loved to show off their wealth. While the old rich like they do the complete opposite of the new rich and only spent the money on necessary stuff. There the type of people that when you look at them you know there rich but they dont get over the top items. The first time Gatsby meet Daisy he invited her to his house and after awhile they eventually reached his closet and Gatsby wanted to show Daisy how many shirts he had. In the books it states after gatsby buried her in shirts when throwing them down to her and Daisy said she started crying because she hasn't seen shirts so beautiful before. In fact many believe that she started crying because she thought of how much money Gatsby spent and how much of a waste it
Despite the amount of property and money that Jay Gatsby acquired, he was not old money, thus, not worth Daisy risking her place in society.. Gatsby thought that having wealth would guarantee Daisy to be his again. His naivety about Daisy seemed childish, but in Gatsby wealth is hugely important to the characters. Despite the completely different settings of Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Great Gatsby, wealth affects the characters in many similar ways, including their happiness and success in their relationships. The relationships that the characters have are, despite not being based off of wealth, affected greatly by the lack or surplus of wealth.
Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth. Ever since meeting Dan Cody, his fascination for wealth has increased dramatically. He even uses illegal unmoral methods to obtain hefty amounts of wealth to spend on buying a house with “ Marie Antoinette music-rooms, Restoration Salons, dressing rooms and poolrooms, and bath rooms with sunken baths.” (88) His wardrobe is just as sensational with “ shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine fennel.” (89) Gatsby buys such posh items to impress Daisy but to him, Daisy herself is a symbol of wealth. Jay remarks, “[Daisy’s] voice is full of money.” (115). For him, Daisy is the one who is “ High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden gir...
Tom having an affair with a middle class woman was a huge class difference. Also Daisy will not leave Tom to be with Gatsby because even though Gatsby has money he is not seen as high class. Gatsby lives in West Egg not East egg so he is not as classy as Tom and Daisy. Daisy doesn’t care that Gatsby had changed from the poor man she once new because she thinks that Tom’s old money is better than Gatsby’s new money. The rich seem to be unified by their money. There are also several class differences. There are the characters like Daisy, Tom, and Jordan who were born into wealth. Their families have had money for many generations, hence they are old money. The novel portrays this because people of old money do not have to work, they just spend their time fascinating their selves. They impose a distinction on Gatsby where his life is not based on how much money he has, but where his money came from and when it was received. In Daisy, Tom, and Jordan’s eyes they think he can’t possibly have the same sensibility, taste, and refinement they have. Gatsby may have money now but in their eye he once was poor so he can’t possibly be anything like them. They believe the people with new money cannot be like the ones with old
The first example of Gatsby's belief that money can buy his happiness is when Nick Carraway describes the subdivision in which he lives, West Egg. The subdivision across the water is East Egg. The houses are very luxurious to say the least. On the other hand, there is a distinction between the two. The West Egg house are more recently built and are elaborately decorated, where as the houses in East Egg are still as big but very conservative in architecture. The two neighborhoods represent the division in the upper class at this time in America. During the 1920's, the conservative "old rich" despised the "new rich". A good example of an "old rich" family would be the Rockefellers, where as a "new rich" family would be the Kennedys. The East Egg represented the conservative money of the "old rich". For generations their money passed down giving them the belief that the "new rich" with their newly acquired wealth were still lower and not equal to them. The "new rich" liked to display their wealth in lavish ways that the conservative wealthy did not approve. In addition, the "new rich" often did not earn their money in legitimate ways; most earned their money from boot legging. Carraway in an ironic way is neither "new rich" nor "old rich". He lives in a rather modest house compared to Gatsby's huge mansion. Gatsby owns a huge house but is the only person living there besides some servants. Gatsby tries to use the house to win the happiness and respect from others. Another reason for the house is to hide the way in which he really makes his money.
In The Great Gatsby, there are several references that refer back to how society was in the 1920’s For example, the symbolism of a corrupt nation is very clear if you dig deep enough. Baseball was growing big in the 1920’s, with the addition of new things available after the first world-war, but society standards separated African American baseball players from playing, which is very similar to the way that the lower, middle, and upper classes of society were separated in The Great Gatsby. In the book, Nick states, “The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the World’s Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as a thing that merely happened, the end of some inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people—with the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe” (Fitzgerald 113). This show’s nicks uncertainty on society’s
Gatsby is a very rich young man who lives in the West egg and always throws big huge expensive parties. Gatsby is the main character of the story. Gatsby only cares about having Daisy and having money and material things. In the book Gatsby how Daisy his beautiful shirts Daisy cries of how beautiful they are she states that she has not seen nothing more beautiful than that ¨There are such beautiful shirts,¨ she sobbed, ¨It makes me sad because I've never seen such- such beautiful shirts before” (Great Gatsby 92).
Considered as the defining work of the 1920s, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published in 1925, when America was just coming out of one of the most violent wars in the nation’s history. World War 1 had taken the lives of many young people who fought and sacrificed for our country on another continent. The war left many families without fathers, sons, and husbands. The 1920s is an era filled with rich and dazzling history, where Americans experienced changes in lifestyle from music to rebellion against the United States government. Those that are born into that era grew up in a more carefree, extravagant environment that would affect their interactions with others as well as their attitudes about themselves and societal expectations. In this novel, symbols are used to represent the changing times and create a picture of this era for generations to come. The history, settings, characters, and symbols embedded in The Great Gatsby exemplify life in America during the 1920s.
Nick's neighbor Gatsby is a wealthy person, who spends a lot of money giving parties for strangers only to meet Daisy, the dream of his life. He is seen as representing "new money" because he has no good education and no family background over several generations, he is self-made, invented by himself. For this reason, he is not accepted as being dignified enough to enter the exclusive "old money" upper class.
...rom the elite rich, who possess old money. Tom also claims that Gatsby “threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy’s”, (142) and can be said to be using his false wealth to mislead and confuse Daisy and Nick into thinking he is someone of their standards, which shows that Gatsby is not recognised as one of their class. This undercuts the glamorous wealth associated with Gatsby, and the ideal of equality in the American Dream.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of a man of meager wealth who chases after his dreams, only to find them crumble before him once he finally reaches them. Young James Gatz had always had dreams of being upper class, he didn't only want to have wealth, but he wanted to live the way the wealthy lived. At a young age he ran away from home; on the way he met Dan Cody, a rich sailor who taught him much of what he would later use to give the world an impression that he was wealthy. After becoming a soldier, Gatsby met an upper class girl named Daisy - the two fell in love. When he came back from the war Daisy had grown impatient of waiting for him and married a man named Tom Buchanan. Gatsby now has two coinciding dreams to chase after - wealth and love. Symbols in the story, such as the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, the contrast between the East Egg and West Egg, and the death of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Wilson work together to expose a larger theme in the story. Gatsby develops this idea that wealth can bring anything - status, love, and even the past; but what Gatsby doesn't realize is that wealth can only bring so much, and it’s this fatal mistake that leads to the death of his dreams.
Here, the wealthy were seen as blessed and favored, while the poor were considered to be wicked, sinful, or even cursed. Mixing between the social classes was rare and looked down upon. Thus, springs the reason why Gatsby had to cheat his way to material wealth in order to win his real prize, Daisy’s love.
Gatsby is a dreamer, he dreams that one day he and Daisy will be able to be together once again. To achieve this dream Gatsby has made himself a rich man. He knows that in order to win Daisy back he must be wealthy and of high social stature. Gatsby becomes rich, has a beautiful mansion, nice things, things like shirts “They’re such beautiful shirts. . . it makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful clothes” (pg.98).Gatsby believes his dream will come true because of all the money and nice things he has. The way that Gatsby becomes rich is in a way the demise of his dream. Gatsby becomes wealthy by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. Daisy eventually learns about this and it is one of the reasons she will never again be with Gatsby. The other reason is Daisy a...
During the 1920's America was a country of great ambition, despair and disappointment. The novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of this decade, it illustrates the burning passion one man has toward his "American Dream" and the different aspects of the dream. Fitzgerald's work is a reflection of America during his lifetime. The Great Gatsby shows the ambition of one man's reach for his "American Dream," the disappointment of losing this dream and the despair of his loss.
The Great Gatsby can be regarded as a social satire and an observation of The American Dream. The Great Gatsby is observed as a social satire of the United States. in the roaring twenties, where Fitzgerald exposes the American Dream. as a flawed fantasy merely generated by over-indulgence. America was established in the conception of equality, where any individual could.
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