Social Class In The Great Gatsby

The book we are reading is The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald. The topic that we researched is social class. Social class is groups of people in a certain social and economic ranking. Tom and Gatsby were wealthy so they would be in a higher social class than Nick. Nick was raised around wealthy people all his life most of the people went to Yale and are in the bond business. That’s why I think Nick is so used to being around rich people. Nick, Gatsby, and Tom are all in their own level of wealth, Tom was born into wealth And is still has a business, Nick was always surrounded by wealthy people but he isn’t as wealthy himself, And Gatsby Became Wealthy on his own with his business of bootlegging.
In the Great Gatsby Social classes plays a big role in showing the characters in many different ways. One way in showing social classes In the book is how they describe New York as West egg and East egg. West egg would be for the lower class and East egg is for the higher class. Nick wasn’t as wealthy as Gatsby and Tom Nick considered his home as an eyesore. “I live at the West egg-Well the
less fashionable of the two”(Fitzgerald pg.5). Nick wasn’t as high in social classes as Tom and Gatsby but he still lived close to Gatsby. Nick lived right on the border line of west egg and east egg so he still saw Gatsby everyday even if he wasn’t so high in the social class. l, In this novel Fitzgerald first takes shots at the rich people basically portraying them as lawless hooligans doing whatever they want. Fitzgerald was stereotyping rich people, throughout, the novel. One he acted like it was normal for rich people to have an affair, it says here “The fact that he had one [a mistress] was insisted upon wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomever he knew.” (Fitzgerald 28). He is making it clear that everybody at that table knew that it was a normal thing for that house. That’s a stereotype that a lot of low class people don’t have.
Status and wealth have an immense connection with both social class and The Great Gatsby.
In the first paragraph, Nick reminisces about what his father had once told him. He states “ Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” (Fitzgerald 1). This is important because Nick gets told to not let his status get to him. Nick thinks about this when he’s talking to people of lower status than he is because he remembers it closely. While discussing Gatsby, one lady noted “He‘s a bootlegger… “One time he killed a man who had found out that he was nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil.”( Fitzgerald 61). This shows how people perceive Gatsby and how many different stories there are about him. The only thing they know about him is that he’s rich but they don’t know about his
journey.
Overall, social status connects with “The Great Gatsby” significantly. This is the main topic in “The Great Gatsby”, because throughout the novel we see two sides of the city life. We see the rich goodlife and then we see Nick’s life with going to school and owning a shabby house compared to Gatsby’s mansion. Social status could be earned in many ways, some can inherit wealth and others work to earn all that they have. The book stretches that idea by presenting Gatsby as a bootlegger. Many people see importance in their money and how others think of them. Anybody can get successful overnight but it takes real skill to stay on top in status. Lastly, The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald is an amazing book to read.