Social Class Distinction in The Great Gatsby Assignment 106

Social Class Distinction in The Great Gatsby

After World War I was over, many American writers began to write about the allure of modern life, as well as the great criticism of materialism, Americans’ hypocrisy, public consciousness, and lack of art appreciation. 1920s writers showed their talent in this widespread literary tradition, in which new sounds and rhythms emerged as well as innovations in style and form. Writers felt the need to respond to the evils and disappointments they saw in their environment and felt in their own world through art and literature. Fitzgerald is one of the writers who reflect on the situation of America as well as he reflects the love and human relationships. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby portrays America after the first world war in the 1920s and sums up a critical portrait of class struggles and the disappointment in the American dream. 

 It disintegrates society and its ideals then a gap develops between the poor and the rich as a result. Fitzgerald's work was based on social realism and The Great Gatsby is a novel that illuminates American culture in the 1920s and the values, beliefs and dreams of America at that time. The American dream can be interpreted differently by everyone. For some, the American dream is about freedom of class, race, or religion, and for others, choosing clothing, food, or what they want to be. “There is a general understanding by readers of The Great Gatsby that it is a commentary on the American Dream and not simply a documentary on the Jazz Age. It is a criticism of the American experience not only of our manners but of our basic historic attitude toward life. The theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American Dream. The dream is essentially anti-puritanical(to go from rags to riches and therefore from rejection to acceptance)” (Pidgeon). F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 tragic novel The Great Gatsby, represents differences between social classes clearly illustrated and are embodied by characters, each representing a different social class.

 

The novel takes place on Long Island during the prohibition period when alcohol was illegal. The Great Gatsby is narrated from the perspective of Nick Carraway, a member of the middle class and cousin of Daisy Buchanan. When Nick decides to move to West Egg, LongIsland to learn about his business, he comes across Jay Gatsby. Gatsby fell in love with Daisy Buchanan but began to love her platonically because Gatsby belonged to the lower class and felt that he could not afford Daisy’s financial desires. 

This love caused him to change his destiny, he wants to gain socioeconomic status and wealth to acceptance by the upper class. Gatsby became a millionaire illegally, Gatsby's only desire in life is to be with Daisy Buchanan. But Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan. The life of the mysterious millionaire Gatsby, who in the foreground dares to mingle into the glamorous parties and glamorous realms for the woman he loves and the tragic events that happened to Gatsby is depicted, In the background, the fake lives of a small and wealthy minority of the 1920s, far from moral and sincerity are depicted.

 The social and material differences between the classes are clearly stated in The Great Gatsby and differences are embodied by characters who each represent a different social class. When the relationship between the upper class and the lower class is demonstrated in the novel, the distinction between classes becomes noticeable. The 1920s were a difficult period due to the inequality in Americans’ income, increasing immigration and unemployment in the United States, and the events that took place. Besides, the recovery process people started after World War I. Many people came to America in search of freedom, wealth and building a life of prosperity. 

The Great Gatsby depicts in detail the cultural and class-based changes that took place in America during the 1920s and show us the differences between both the imagined American dream and the real American dream by referring to the class distinction. Fitzgerald reveals how people ignore ethical and moral values when it comes to achieving rich status. Throughout the novel, the feeling of greed and the need for materialist substances were expressed. Each character degenerates with the desire to achieve the status they desire and give up values they believe in in the hope of being accepted by the classes. Fitzgerald accomplishes the American dream but problematizes the American Dream by adding the illegal side to Gatsby's success. Gatsby's success depends on his failure to comply with society's rules. “In stressing the corruption at the heart of Gatsby’s dream, as well as exposing, in the revelation of Daisy’scharacter, the tawdriness of what the dream aspires to, Fitzgerald clearly intended a fundamental criticism of the ‘American Dream’..”( Millgate). Although Gatsby pretends to be a gentleman and has a wealthy status, he does not have the same social status as Buchanan. The difference is not how they behave like a gentleman or lady, but where they come from and their family background. “He went to her house, at first with other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone. It amazed him – he had never been in such a beautiful house before” (Fitzgerald). 

Gatsby was shocked when his first visit to Daisy’s home, Fitzgeraldemphases the difference in social class between them. Gatsby hides his past to be accepted from upper-class society and lies to be part of this class. “I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.” He looked at me sideways – and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase “educated at Oxford” or swallowed it or choked on it as though it had bothered him before “(Fitzgerald). 

Gatsby's narratives are actually a lie, and by telling these lies he confirms the social distinction between him and the Buchanan family. Despite Gatsby's wealth, he needs to pretend to look like them and an Oxford graduate to be accepted by the Buchanans. Gatsby, spent excessively to influence daisy. AlthoughDaisy was affected by Gatsby, she continued her marriage to Tom. “They weren’t happy...and yet they weren’t unhappy either” because their marriage guaranteed their continued membership into the exclusive world of the rich” (Fitzgerald).

 We understand that her commitment to the class they belong to is stronger compared to their relationships with each other. Fitzgerald reflects a divided society by separating it into West Egg and EastEgg. Fitzgerald illustrates their socioeconomic situation by citing examples of residents of both the East and West Egg. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are East Egg residents, rich and devoted to freedom, always playing polo and so on. While Gatsby is a resident of west egg, represents the opposite of the Buchanans, with his own wealth and not wealthy family support. Fitzgerald criticizes the upper class with the character of Tom Buchanan, making Tom look selfish and immoral, he has a relationship with one of his employees the mechanicWilson's wife, Myrtle. We can see this as a critique of the behaviour of upper-class people towards lower class people.

 Moreover, Myrtle is a character similar to Gatsby, who disregards morality and pursues wealth. Myrtle and her husband George are working-class people trying to improve their way of living. Myrtle and Tom Buchanan have an illegitimate relationship. Despite being married, Myrtle maintains a relationship with Tom, just to live a rich life. Myrtle behaves immorally because of her materialistic desires. She reaches her own American dream as Tom's mistress, where Fitzgerald again shows how bad the American dream was, not as good as it seemed. Unlike most of the characters in the novel, we can understand that Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, is innocent and mild-mannered compared to hedonistic elites. Despite his interest in New York's entertaining lifestyle, he thinks this lifestyle is detrimental to people and just makes people hedonists. Nick thinks that pursuing pleasure and fast living is caused by the moral degeneration that lies in all this pursuit of getting rich.  

When Gatsby died, people, he met at house parties did not come to his funeral. This shows that gatsby is not accepted by the upper class even after all his efforts to get rich. While people could join Gatsby’s parties and have fun, they did not design to attend Gatsby’s funeral, we can see how hypocritical and selfish society is. The unresponsiveness of Tom and Daisy to the deaths of Gatsby, Myrtle, and her husband Wilson, reveals that there is an unequal society. Nick is disappointed that his cousin Daisy continues her life as if she forgets what happened. He stops meeting with Daisy and Tom because, in Nick's eyes, they are cruel and deceitful people who use people as objects to their advantage.

 In conclusion, in The Great Gatsby  Fitzgerald shows the differences between the middle class and the upper class in the view of society in 1920s America by demonstrating the distinction between classes through characters. The Great Gatsby was written to express the hopes and dreams of the desired lifestyle of that era, as well as the cultural elements that led to the collapse of the community. Throughout the book, concepts such as morality, love, relationships, and materialism are discussed to accurately reflect people's thoughts. Although the American dream sounds ambitious, Fitzgerald revealed the truth behind it and revealed that it was only about clashes between wealth and social classes. In this novel hypocrisy was exposed, and the noble class was accused of falsehood. The hedonistic perspective of the Jazz Age was criticized. The Great Gatsby, where American myths were destroyed, and materialism was denigrated; describes a nightmare rather than the American dream. Although the Great Gatsby is a tragic love story, Fitzgerald portrays the class diversity of that period as a satire and critique of the American dream. The conclusion that we readers draw is that one's achievement of his ideals and a respectable place cannot be achieved by material wealth. Honesty and dignity cannot be bought with money.

Work Cited:

Bloom, Harold. “The  American Dream .” Ed. Blake Hobby New York, Bloom’s literary criticism. 2009.

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby,  Penguin Books, 2018

Millgate, Michael. “ A Corruption of Character”. Johnson 79-73. 2008.

Pidgeon, John A. "The Great Gatsby." Modern Age,  vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 178-182, 2007."  The Corrupted American Dream English Literature Essay." ukessays.com. 11 2018