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Differences in Social Class in The Great Gatsby

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” (Page one)
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(Journalist Nick
Gillespie)
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org/book-review-the-great-gatsby-by-fscott-fitzgerald/ - Book Review: ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F
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Ø Here, Nick is saying that money isn’t the only thing that some people are
born to
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’ Nick implies that some people
are born to lower classes while others are born to the higher classes and
that this is ‘parceled out unequally at birth’ (Page one)
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Fitzgerald
uses repetition to imply that the upper classes are repetitive; they never
do anything outlandish or different, or anything that will set them apart
from other people
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‘Snobbishly’ shows the
reader the differences of the social hierarchy as detailed in the novel
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Gillespie talks
about the ‘breakdown of class difference’ (Gillespie, 2013) and the impact
this had on the American society
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Even though the
monetary value that people of 1920s America had was reducing in
difference the people of, in this case, the East Egg believed themselves to
be of a higher class status than the people of the West Egg
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Gillespie
talks about meeting ‘ever-changing consumer needs’ and Fitzgerald
exploits this in that he shows that people are never content with what
they have and, as in the case of Nick’s father, ‘snobbishly’ believe that they
have been given the position they were due to their favour with God
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‘Just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the
advantages that you’ve had’
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It is also a reflection
on the hollowness of a life of leisure
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theguardian
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He didn’t
have to worry about when his next meal would come, or anything like
that
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Wealth can be distinguished from class: it is possible to achieve great
wealth without being accepted into the elite class, and it is also possible to
be part of the elite without having great wealth if you had the wealth at
one point
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The
Guardian states that the novel is very much like Romeo and Juliet in that it
is a tragic love story, and yet it is not just a love story, but also a story on
the ‘hollowness of a life of leisure’ (ThePinkElephant, 2013)
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Unlike Daisy,
who is in love with her money, Nick believes that he should live his life
the way he wants to and not the way society thinks he should
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3
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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
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https://witness
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com/user/LordJimbo - The Great Gatsby -
LordJimbo – 2013
Ø Gatsby may be low-class, and Nick has been taught not to associate
himself with those sorts of people, but Nick still manages to see
something good in him anyway
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The idea of ‘new money’ and ‘old money’ is one that
stretched back as far as the Eggs do, with ‘new money’ living in the West
Egg and ‘old money’ living in the East Egg
...
LordJimbo states ‘Fitzgerald explored the emptiness at
the core of American life…’ (LordJimbo, 2013) and Jay Gatsby is a prime
example of this
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Daisy couldn’t wait for him to
return from the war and make up his money so she went for the safe,
powerful Tom Buchanan
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LordJimbo states ‘the faceless participants at grandiose parties with their
endless questions about how Gatsby came to make his money
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Many of his guests only turn
up to his parties because everyone who is anyone goes and Gatsby does
not care
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4
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http://www
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com/book/show/4671
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The ‘Duke’s of Buccleuch’ (Page 4) were from around 1685
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Due to his protestant
upbringing, Monmouth did not believe that the Catholic James II should
be on the throne
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This is similar to
the people of the East Egg, who believe that they are better than the
people of the West Egg because the East Eggers come from ‘old money’ as
opposed to the West Eggers ‘new money’
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5
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She’s a Catholic, and they
don’t believe in divorce
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The novel is a
product of its generation--with one of American literature's most
powerful characters in the figure of Jay Gatsby, who is urbane and worldweary
...
about
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htm -
‘The Great Gatsby’ Review – James Topham – 2011
Ø Fitzgerald uses hyperbole in this quote to exaggerate how Myrtle feels
about marrying Wilson
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She thinks
that she is higher on the social hierarchy than she is due to her affair with
Tom when in actuality Tom would never leave Daisy for Myrtle, as shown
by the elaborateness of the lie he tells her as to why he and Daisy cannot
get a divorce: “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart
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” (Page 23)
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Wealth is fundamentally what separates Gatsby
from his love, as Daisy’s ‘voice is full of money’ and she would never

Differences in Social Class in The Great Gatsby
consider marrying a man of a lower station than her
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–
http://books
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co
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Gatsby uses this phrase often to
not only prove his high-standing class but also to sound more regal
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He is not actually as well-bred as he is spoken given
that he comes from ‘new money’ rather than ‘old money’ and the
connotation ‘old sport’ reflects his desire to be accepted with the likes of
Tom, Daisy and Jordan
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’ Gatsby
changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby in order to make himself
sound more refined and posh
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He uses ‘old sport’
because it makes himself sound richer and he thinks that if Daisy believes
he is from a rich background, she will come back to him
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’ He wished to seem as arrogant and
harsh as members of the higher parts of social hierarchy, such as Tom,
Daisy and Jordan, and he bought a flashy car and a massive mansion in the
hopes of impressing Daisy
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After a while, however, she decided that she could
wait no longer and went for money over love
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7
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Wilson
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After the Great War, the Great Prohibition began
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From our perspective today, the time is played at a fast speed, and we
know the people of the time were headed toward catastrophe at the end

Differences in Social Class in The Great Gatsby
of the decade
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wordpress
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She believes that he feels a tiny sliver of guilt for his
affair and that he would not wish for her to mention his wife’s name
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He can get whatever he wants,
whenever he wants; this applies to women also
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Myrtle is just a mistress,
she is nothing to him, she is not even worthy to utter his wife’s name
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Patricia Zick states that the 1920s were an age of
‘lawlessness in dress and decorum’ but that they were ‘headed towards
catastrophe at the end of the decade’ (Zick, 2013)
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The shocking violence
of the incident where Tom breaks Myrtle’s nose is calculated and
underscores a nastier side of life that most people would like to ignore
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Although most people associate good times and carefree
abandon with the reverie of the 1920s, Fitzgerald suggests a much darker
side
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“Tom pushed the unfamiliar gears tentatively, and we shot off into the
oppressive heat, leaving them out of sight behind
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Ø The most explicit comes at the end of the book, where Nick states that
Daisy and Tom will use their money to cover things over and live
apparently happy lives ever after
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It seems
hard to escape a feeling that Fitzgerald was also condemning the lifestyle
of the rich as shallow and self-serving
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physics
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edu/~prewett/writings/BookReviews/TheGreatGatsby
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Scott Fitzgerald – Geoff Prewett – 2009
Ø Fitzgerald uses periphrasis in order to emphasize the heat of the day and
Tom’s annoyance and anger at Gatsby
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It’s ironic how
Tom reacts considering he too is having an affair
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Tom and Daisy let other people pick
up their messes rather than them doing it themselves
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Tom feels betrayed by Daisy, which is ironic considering he was
also having an affair, but in the end Tom will end up with Daisy and, as
Prewett states, they will ‘live apparently happy lives ever after’
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’ Tom and Daisy are both ‘shallow and self-

Differences in Social Class in The Great Gatsby
serving’ in that they never think of other people or put other people first,
and as soon as things get tough, they leave East Egg together to live their
lives somewhere else, somewhere where no one has heard of Jay Gatsby
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“‘I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr
...
Well, if that’s the idea you can count me
out…’” (Page 82)
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The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for
the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time
when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the
national obsession,” – http://books
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com/GreatGatsby/F-Scott-Fitzgerald/9781451689433 - The Great Gatsby -
simonandschuster - 2013
Ø Fitzgerald uses irony to emphasize Tom’s hypocrisy
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The ‘Mr
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Simonandschuster state that ‘gin was the national drink and
sex the national obsession’ (Simonandschuster, 2013) and they imply that
most of the younger generation were loose in this period of time because
the war had just ended and the younger generation was rebelling against
their parents
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Gatsby
describes her as having a voice ‘full of money’, which is true in many
aspects as Daisy would never consider leaving Tom and the wealth he
represents, for Gatsby and ‘new money’
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“A breeze flew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the
other like pale flags like pale flags, twisting them up towards the frosted
wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-coloured rug,
making a shadow on it as wind does the sea
...
’ -
http://www
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com/The-Great-Gatsby-F-ScottFitzgerald-2
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The
‘frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling’ (Page seven) implies that, although
their life is pure, which is shown by the whiteness, their wedding bliss has
now ‘frosted’ over and is love-less
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The whole room is bathed in white, which shows purity and the
‘pale flags’ show the innocence of the inhabitants: Daisy and Jordan
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The word ‘rippled’ sounds calming,

Differences in Social Class in The Great Gatsby
like ‘wind does the sea’ and makes it seem like a serene and tranquil
place
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It
is like life passing through like wind flows through one window and out
another
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Just as “the only completely stationary object in the
room” was a large piece of furniture, Tom himself is afraid and unsure of
the concept of permanence and possibly even commitment
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Gatsby is a mysterious and secretive character
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Nick
knows of Gatsby’s love for Daisy and this leads him to getting into dodgy
deals with Meyer Wolfsheim in order to raise a lot of money quickly
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Now he was a sturdy strawhaired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner
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Not
even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous
power of that body
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-
http://www
...
com/books/2012/jun/10/great-gatsbyfitzgerald-jay-mcinerney - Jay McInerney: why Gatsby is so great – Jay
McInerney – Sunday 10 June 2012
Ø Fitzgerald uses imagery in the novel in order to make the story ‘extremely
gripping’, ‘unpredictable and interesting’, as theguardian book reviews
states
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By painting Tom, the most recurrent
old-wealth character in the book, as an extremely shallow and
contemptuous person, Fitzgerald is implying that the whole upper class is
guilty of these transgressions
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These
clothes, described as possessing an “effeminate swank” brings the
imagery of silk garments to mind
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Tom purposefully exposes
the “power” of his body to show that he is a better physical specimen, yet
another sign of “social” superiority
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He knows that he is one of the
wealthiest people on Long Island and that gives him the courage to act
‘arrogant’ and ‘aggressive’
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Tom is ‘obscenely
wealthy’ in that he has more money than he knows what to do with
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If she knew that Gatsby
wasn’t a rich as he pretended to be, she would have never allowed herself
to fall in love with him and would have instead gone straight for the
‘obscenely wealthy’ Tom Buchanan
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“I lived at West Egg, the – well, the least fashionable of the two, though
this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister
contrast between them
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” (Page five)
Ø 1922: Long Island glamour disguises moral squalor
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Across the water at West Egg, home to the nouveau riche, is the vast
vulgar mansion of the shady millionaire, Jay Gatsby
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theguardian
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sense
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The Eggs are
classified as certain things; the East Egg is the more ‘fashionable of the
two’ (Page five) while the West Egg was much less so even though the
amount of money displayed by both was almost the same
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That is part of the
reason why so many uninvited people frequent Gatsby’s house on the
nights of his parties
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Sally Beauman states ‘Long Island
glamour disguises moral squalor’ (Beauman, 2005)
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Even though Nick lives in the ‘less fashionable of the two’
the grandeur of the West Egg surpasses anything Nick had ever seen
before
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13
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” (Page five / six)
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- http://www
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co
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Fitzgerald says ‘…colossal
affair by any standard ’ (Page five) which implies that the mansion was
not only massive, but also ugly, disagreeable and oversized
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That was the reason
he bought the mansion across the bay from her and the reason that he
bought one so big
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He may live in a small house, but Nick felt privileged in being able
to live near millionaires for ‘eighty dollars a month’ (Page five / six)
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Vincent Doyle says ‘Gatsby’s longing for Daisy is symbolic of the pain…’
(Doyle, 2013)
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He is determined to get her back and will do
anything to achieve this aim
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14
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”(Page 18)
Ø Because of his wealth, he is arrogant and condescending, especially
towards those who are newly rich (like Gatsby)
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The sense of entitlement that money gives Tom also
leads him to treat Daisy with contempt - his infidelity began on their
honeymoon! - and it's only when he senses competition from Gatsby that
Tom reawakens his interest in Daisy
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mrsclaassen
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za/275312/117964
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Those words
are often used by lovers when coming up with secret meeting places and
Tom is no different when he does not allow Myrtle to sit in the same
carriage as them on the train because he does not want to offend those
other ‘East Eggers who might be on the train’
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Tom,
because he is of a higher station than Myrtle, believes that he can boss
her around and tell her what to do
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The fact that he comes from ‘old money’ puts him – at least in his

Differences in Social Class in The Great Gatsby
eyes – above even Gatsby
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He feels that it is
well within his rights to ‘treat Daisy with contempt’ but it is only when he
is close to losing Daisy to Gatsby that he begins to pay more attention to
her
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Myrtle is of a lower station
than Tom and, at least in Tom’s eyes, she is seen as little better than
property, easily dispensable, and therefore she is only referred to as ‘his
girl’ rather than Myrtle
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“’That dog? That dog’s a boy
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” (Page 19)
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-
http://reading
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edu/reading_project_06/gatsby/documents/Ram
os
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‘His eyes flashing about
restlessly’ (page seven) is one prime example of this
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Tom
is able to say something and nobody will dare to correct him even when
he is obviously wrong
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His position as an upper-class gentleman gives him an
air of confidence that cannot be seen in anyone else, and this gives him
the courage to determine things that are obviously wrong
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Tom looks down on him because he is of a higher class
and does not wish to be associated with those of a lower class, with some
exceptions, such as Myrtle and Nick
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The ‘established
rich’ in this environment is people belonging to the East Egg, or ‘old
money’
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Tom is so
used to getting his own way because of this that he feels he is able to
determine the sex of the dog without being fought against

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