Social class is a critical theme explored in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. Can a person improve their social class by increasing their wealth? Or is class “a sense of the fundamental decencies [that] is parcelled out unequally at birth.” (The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald, 7) Stereotypes and themes are used along with rich details to portray the characters of the novel and their differences in social class. The main characters of the novel were mostly of the upper social classes, however there are significant differences between them, particularly their behaviours. For example:
Tom and Daisy Buchanan
Tom Buchanan is considered uppermost class due to his family name and large inheritance. As a member of the upper class station, Fitzgerald has employed some traditional stereotypes to describe this character. For instance, Tom is portrayed to have a snobbish, superior, hypocritical, and exceptionally unlikable personality. He believes that he can do no wrong; that everyone should agree with him, do anything for him; and that he should always get his way.
Daisy Buchanan was raised in a traditional manner for a daughter of an extremely wealthy, upper class family in the early 1900s. She was taught to behave as though she was not smart, and to marry into a wealthy family to achieve her American dream; the dream of not having a care in the world. With her marriage to Tom Buchanan, she was able to realize this dream and live carelessly. As Nick puts it, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness… and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” (Fitzgerald, 170)
Nick Carraway
Similarly to Tom, Nick inherited his upper class wealth from his family name. Also like Tom, Nick enjoyes his wealth. He says, “I bought a dozen volumes … and they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew.” (Fitzgerald, 10) Unlike Tom, Nick does not take as much for granted from possession of money. He says about his house, “the house, a weather-beaten cardboard bungalow at eighty a month.” (Fitzgerald, 9) This shows that, however similar the two men may be, their difference in social class is evident in their lives.
Gatsby
Jay Gatsby was born James Gatz to a poor farming family in North Dakota but aspired from a young age to take advantage of the American Dream, to change his name and improve his social status. He is presented as a presumptuous, aspirational, and rich man in his early thirties. He throws huge weekly parties with many attendees, but has next-to-no friends; no one knows anything about him or how he came by his money and he does not seem inclined to share this information with anyone. At the end of the novel when Gatsby dies, there are exactly two people at his funeral, his father and Nick Carraway. This shows the shallowness that Fitzgerald found in people and how Gatsby was admired for his wealth and how almost no one actually cared about him. This presents the idea that Gatsby was tolerated by the upper class because they enjoyed his parties, but that he was never fully accepted by them.
Myrtle and George B. Wilson
Living in the lower class area known as the valley of ashes, Wilson and Myrtle are members of the middle class. This is not only indicated by the place in which they live, but also reflected in their behaviours, attitudes, mannerisms, and speech. Stereotypes are also used; for instance, Wilson is described as, “so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive.” (Fitzgerald, 29) This is a typical stereotype that members of upper classes give to lower classes. They want to believe that they cannot relate to them, so they label them as uneducated.
Social class is a crucial theme throughout the entirety of the novel and is explained and explored in a variety of ways. Even in the song sung by Klipspringer class stereotypes are portrayed, “One thing’s sure and nothing’s surer; The rich get richer and the poor get – children.” (Fitzgerald, 92) This shows how wealth and class are almost unperceivably intertwined and how there are stereotypes about the ability each class has to generate change and live the American dream.
Tom and Daisy Buchanan
Tom Buchanan is considered uppermost class due to his family name and large inheritance. As a member of the upper class station, Fitzgerald has employed some traditional stereotypes to describe this character. For instance, Tom is portrayed to have a snobbish, superior, hypocritical, and exceptionally unlikable personality. He believes that he can do no wrong; that everyone should agree with him, do anything for him; and that he should always get his way.
Daisy Buchanan was raised in a traditional manner for a daughter of an extremely wealthy, upper class family in the early 1900s. She was taught to behave as though she was not smart, and to marry into a wealthy family to achieve her American dream; the dream of not having a care in the world. With her marriage to Tom Buchanan, she was able to realize this dream and live carelessly. As Nick puts it, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness… and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” (Fitzgerald, 170)
Nick Carraway
Similarly to Tom, Nick inherited his upper class wealth from his family name. Also like Tom, Nick enjoyes his wealth. He says, “I bought a dozen volumes … and they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew.” (Fitzgerald, 10) Unlike Tom, Nick does not take as much for granted from possession of money. He says about his house, “the house, a weather-beaten cardboard bungalow at eighty a month.” (Fitzgerald, 9) This shows that, however similar the two men may be, their difference in social class is evident in their lives.
Gatsby
Jay Gatsby was born James Gatz to a poor farming family in North Dakota but aspired from a young age to take advantage of the American Dream, to change his name and improve his social status. He is presented as a presumptuous, aspirational, and rich man in his early thirties. He throws huge weekly parties with many attendees, but has next-to-no friends; no one knows anything about him or how he came by his money and he does not seem inclined to share this information with anyone. At the end of the novel when Gatsby dies, there are exactly two people at his funeral, his father and Nick Carraway. This shows the shallowness that Fitzgerald found in people and how Gatsby was admired for his wealth and how almost no one actually cared about him. This presents the idea that Gatsby was tolerated by the upper class because they enjoyed his parties, but that he was never fully accepted by them.
Myrtle and George B. Wilson
Living in the lower class area known as the valley of ashes, Wilson and Myrtle are members of the middle class. This is not only indicated by the place in which they live, but also reflected in their behaviours, attitudes, mannerisms, and speech. Stereotypes are also used; for instance, Wilson is described as, “so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive.” (Fitzgerald, 29) This is a typical stereotype that members of upper classes give to lower classes. They want to believe that they cannot relate to them, so they label them as uneducated.
Social class is a crucial theme throughout the entirety of the novel and is explained and explored in a variety of ways. Even in the song sung by Klipspringer class stereotypes are portrayed, “One thing’s sure and nothing’s surer; The rich get richer and the poor get – children.” (Fitzgerald, 92) This shows how wealth and class are almost unperceivably intertwined and how there are stereotypes about the ability each class has to generate change and live the American dream.
This picture shows the differences in social class, even those that are fairly similar.
The tall man on the far left represent the upper class; he is extremely self-assured, relaxed, well-dressed, and confident, much like Tom Buchanan.The man in the middle represents the middle class. He is also well dressed, in a similar style, but looks less confident and self-assured than the man on the left. The man on the right represents the lower classes. He is dressed in contrast with the other two men and is looking to them for indication of expected behaviour.