Examples Of Social Stratification In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is story that presents the development of social stratification. Social classes were created such as old money, new money, and no money. This created social boundaries that society was to uphold. People who were born into old money did not need to work and did whatever they wanted. New money were still not considered that high in the social class because they did not have money for that long. No money were obviously the underprivileged people. One class issues I seen brought up in the short films were one was considered an indigent if they were not born into old money. This is made clear when Daisy tells Gatsby she did not wait for him because, “Rich girls do not marry poor boys.” even though he now had money, she still could
not be with him. Another issue was how Myrtle seemed to be fine with the fact that she was having an affair with Tom, since she felt this was going to help her climb the social ladder. In the end though, the “old money” people still did not except her into their group. During this era people believed all that mattered was their social standings in society and being materialistic, instead of chasing the American Dream.