Class In Great Gatsby Essay

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the theme of class in The Great Gatsby as a strong role throughout the story. He starts off the book, not even the story, with a poem in the beginning that demonstrates the theme of class. There is a wealthy man that is trying to astound a woman by drawing attention to him, while looking foolish doing it. Of course, the woman falls for the man and his money. Money is everything to the upper class. Without money, they think theyre lives are nothing. The wealthy also lack many morals. Nick grew up believing he was better than everybody else and looks down on people who are not as wealthy as his family is. Nick said: As my father snobbishly suggested and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth (6). Nick said this and it gave the readers the immediate thought that class was an important role in the story. Nick tried to be humble about his wealth and in the first page of the story said, Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all people in this world havent had the advantages youve had (1).

Tom Buchanan is a man in the story who demonstrates a strong hate for the less wealthy. He uses his mistress, Myrtle, for sex. Tom broke Myrtles nose when she mentioned Daisys name at a party, showing that he obviously has no respect for her because she is from a lower class. However, Tom does show Daisy, his wife, respect because she is of the same class. If people are from the same class then nobody in inferior to the other. Tom also shows his ways towards others when he talked about how white race is being overrun and the book he read. Daisy made fun of him greatly but he did not hurt her like he did to Myrtle because she is from his class level.

Class becomes a huge role when Daisy hits Myrtle with a car. Instead of taking responsibilities for her actions by killing Myrtle, she has Gatsby take the consequences. Gatsby eventually dies because of this incident. Because Daisy is upper class, people have always picked up after her and taken the blame for her. In this situation, however, Daisy does not know how to clean up her mess. Fitzgerald appropriately says that people like her go around messing things up and leave the rest of the world to clean up their mess for them.

The location and geography of this story also helps with the theme of class. East Egg and West Egg are only separated by a small amount of water; however, they are separated socially by a lot more than that. East Egg is known as old money where people there have grown in with money their whole life. These people never worked to get money; it was purely inherited to them. These are the people with no respect for others of different classes, such as Nick to Myrtle. Jordan was always known as having her nose turned up to others, her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall. If she saw me out of the corners of her eyes she gave no hint of it indeed I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for having disturbed her by coming in (13). This is also where Daisy is from, which she is known for having a voice full of money. West Egg is known as new money where people worked for their money somehow. This is where Gatsby was born, and although he did not properly earn his money the right way, it was not just given to him either like it is in East Egg. East Egg is described as the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them (9). When wealthy people came to West Egg they had reactions such as: "She was appalled by West Egg... by its raw vigor that chafed... and by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand." (113). The valley of ashes is known as the place of the poor class. It is between East and West Egg. This is where Myrtle and George Wilson live. It is described as About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashesa fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens (35).

Gatsby uses his wealth for his own purpose, which happens to be to grab Daisys attention. Gatsby hires somebody to cut Nicks lawn when there is an arranged date for Gatsby and Daisy there. He wants everything to be perfect for Daisy. He throws special over-the-edge parties for Daisy, too. He doesnt care about anybody at the parties except for Daisy. Gatsbys parties show the theme of class. There is always a lot to eat and drink and always many people from all the wealthy areas attend. People were not invited they went there. They got into automobiles which bore them out to Long Island and somehow they ended up at Gatsbys door. Once there they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks. Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all. (45). This shows that most of the people at Gatsbys parties did not even know him, they just showed up and Gatsby didnt care. Gatsby never drank at his parties with his guests nor did he socialize. He simply observed everything going on and continued trying to impress Daisy. However, Daisy never seems impressed so Gatsby stops throwing parties. One party that really shows Gatsbys wealth was when a girls dress was totally ruined at one of his parties and so he just bought her a totally new one. The dress was expensive but Gatsby had nothing to worry about economically. He just wanted to impress Daisy with his money and that never ended up working out. This demonstrates how money cannot buy everything.

Tom and Myrtle throw a party of quite a bit less elegance than Gatsbys. There are lower class people there and no decorations, appetizers, or fancy drinks. Drinking still took place, though. Most of the people at this party knew each other and all socialized together. They feel comfortable around each other and excited to be there. Even though Tom and Myrtle dont have as much money as all of the upper class, wealthy people in this story, they are easier to make happy and have a good time. This just shows that money does not buy happiness or love.