Social Norms In The Great Gatsby

-Significant Quotations: 1.) “He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance … seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor… believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself” (Fitzgerald 48). The primary importance of this statement from an outsider’s point of view is to understand the social persona/perception and charisma of Gatsby, as well as that of many socialites within the novel. Regarding such, the weight of his importance as a person (not narratively) would make one feel chosen or temporarily significant, and that this reassurance could be reflected unto oneself; however, Nick comments on how this only appears to be the case, as he determines that this demeanour is likely to appease a conversation and that Gatsby is simply performing his role, a veneer common amongst those placed in that position and possible from the gossip he has heard. Furthermore, despite the purpose/general effect of the smile to be that it makes one cheered or encouraged, Nick appears to avoid this entirely, which can be factored into by considering his lower view of himself later in the novel/his self-doubt, thus describing that this lifestyle/Gatsby himself could only have such an effect on someone seeking optimism already, somewhat of an implication of Gatsby’s more disastrous activities and also subtly shares the belief of one’s own self-optimism and confidence that allows

In The Great Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald shows how the upper class is met with minimal consequences for their actions and decisions, and this is shown through Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby's behavior and actions. Throughout the novel, Tom is able to slip away unscathed from his poor behavior and irresponsible actions, especially with his affair with Myrtle. In The Great Gatsby, Tom is an exceptionally wealthy man who comes from generations of old money. He ends up marrying Daisy, a sweet and beautiful woman from a well-off family, and together they move to West Egg in New York, which is where many old money families preside. They live lavishly and happily in West Egg, and they even decide to start a family and have a daughter.

During the 1920’s social norms began to change. Drinking was becoming more socially acceptable, women’s roles in society changed, and relationships and family values changed as well.The novel, The Great Gatsby presents the 1920’s as a loose society with fewer boundaries, but also a corrupt one with a decline of morality. When social norms change, people struggle with new ideas and old ones, causing morality to become gray.

In section 1 the urgent part is when nick sees Mr. Jay Gatsby. He additionally meets Jordan, which is who he has associated with.

The 1920s is the important transition in U.S. that American economy began to recover rapidly, as American Dream provided most lower classes the chance to move up social levels, therefore, many people believed in hard work can achieve personal success. F. Scott. Fitzgerald uses George Wilson and Jay Gatsby, who come from the same class level, to explore the different backgrounds result the different achievements.However, comparing their different actions, which showed American Dream actually was a phony process, and how honest you were determined how futile you would become. In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys the conflict between the “old wealth”-- the rigid class divisions before WW1 and the newly rich class that emerged in the

My reading of American literature is concerned with this passage by Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy. It explores variety within gender roles and the American dream of the times. This is explored when social divisions are highlighted in the text in the phrase ‘would have assumed at once belonged to this world.’ The worlds that are shown to us are old and new in The Great Gatsby, as there are many that are striving to achieve more wealth to belong to the new world where all the industrial wealth is increasing in rates never seen before. The verb ‘belonged’ suggests the social status of women in those times, as men were the superior and women were to follow behind as ‘belongings’, and the reader has to understand that men had the power and dominance over women. The noun ‘world’ suggests the divisions between the East side and the West side as they are portraying

The “Roaring Twenties” indeed did roar. The decade, all at once spilling over with wealth and bursting at the seams with change, was experiencing an identity crisis. The nation had run out of the frontier that so romantically characterized it for its entire history, and was fresh out of a bloodier, different kind of war. America was in the middle of a vast reinvention, of its economy, its social classes, and its “American Dream.” In the midst of the chaos was writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, a cultural apex in and of himself, and his crowning achievement: The Great Gatsby, a brief novel glorified by historians and teachers alike. Gatsby contains more substance than a mere love story; it is a criticism and very real description of the schism that arose in the 1920s: a sudden appearance of a relatively new social class, one characterized by hard-working, ladder-climbing, sometimes-bootlegging American dreamers. This new-money status was mirrored by the American aristocracy,

Throughout the novel, Gatsby is constantly trying to gain the affection of Daisy. If he were to win back Daisy, he would in a sense, achieve the American Dream. Yet he can’t because he belongs to a different social class, Gatsby is new money, while Daisy is old money. While talking about Daisy to Nick, Gatsby says. “Her voice is full of money...It was full of money — that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it”(Fitzgerald Chapter 7). While Daisy has been wealthy for year, Gatsby has only recently acquired his newfound riches. The difference is shown very explicit in nature as it becomes the barrier for Gatsby and Daisy and overall their happiness. Gatsby and his party goers, or new money, is described as irresponsible, self-made, and ostentatious. While Tom and Daisy, or old money, is described as elegant, refined, and established wealth. The stark difference in the end leads to the tarnishing of the American Dream for all those involved, as they no longer have hope for a better future. Angela Hickey explains in her analysis of The Great Gatsby, “ Gatsby can never hope to obtain Daisy because he doesn't have the right kind of money”(2). Hickey explains the way that social divisions cause Gatsby to never reach true happiness in order to achieve the The American Dream. In this case, the social differences

The American Dream coincides with wealth and status rather than happiness or family. In the novel, Gatsby is an example of “New Money.” Although he makes a lot of money in a brief period of time, he is still unaccepted by the upper class, which helps to prove that The American Dream is unachievable for him even though he has wealth and is successful (Fitzgerald 65). In contrast, Daisy is an example of “Old Money” since her safety and privileges are guaranteed by her wealth. This is shown as she marries Tom, regardless of her affection towards Gatsby, and ultimately chooses to stay with him at the end of the novel (75). This proves that upper class women in the 1920’s did not have much freedom to make their own choices as divorce was a controversial topic at the time. Similarly, Gatsby’s description of Daisy as being born wealthy demonstrates how he believes her voice is “full of money” (120). Such a metaphor enhances the

Fitzgerald, in his sarcastic novel The Great Gatsby, frequently shows how racism and classism seriously influence the possibilities of achieving American dreams in obscure methods. The novel details Gatsby’s achievements and dream including Daisy, and makes comparison with other people in different races and classes indirectly but visibly. The fact that, though Gatsby is much wealthier than those in East Egg, he has never achieved the American dream, never owned Daisy truly and never acquired respect, but rumours, due he isn’t born in high class and makes money through bootleg. To some extent, the miserable end of Gatsby is the reflection of the disparity of classism. Gatsby’s mansion reminds people of the feasibility of making the American dream come true. However, his unexpected death that is not caught by police, but killed by Wilson, a white man in mid class, proves that it is related to races and classes closely. Fitzgerald takes us into the suffering of Gatsby to show us that the American dream is like a shell company, which makes everyone look forward to their future with great expectations, but only certain people can truly reach it because people are not standing on the same starting line.

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s use of exposition to illustrate the superficiality and flaws within Gatsby and Daisy conveys his disapproval with classism, and the letter to his daughter extends his hope for societal reform. When Gatsby insists that Daisy leave Tom to marry him, Daisy firmly postulates, “Rich girls don’t marry poor boys” (Coppola). Fitzgerald elucidates the social stratification in West Egg through Daisy’s love for materialistic items and her reluctance to marry Gatsby. Daisy is a token of the social trend to gain material and represents the twentieth century misconception

One of the major topics explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce,

The culture of the upper class, illustrated by Tom and Daisy’s lifestyle, was a closed society that individuals such as the Wilsons had seemingly no chance of achieving. Tom and Daisy represented the old wealth which will cause conflict in between the society in their time when the book stated, “I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors eyes; fresh, green breast of the new world; the trees vanished where they made way for Gatsby’s house” (Fitzgerald 176).This proves that in the 1920s there was a destruction of nature to make way for the rich which represents how in the time of destruction there was a drastic change where everyone now lived in cities than farms. The 1920s was a corrupt time period, which led to many downfalls to many individuals in the upper and lower class. The upper class did not lose anything unlike the lower class who lost everything, shown when George Wilson lost his beloved wife Myrtle Wilson. In the late 1870s people would inherit wealth by working hard and not cheating the system when Magidson said that “Cornelius Vanderbilt was an American tycoon, businessman, and philanthropist” claiming that he “built his wealth in railroads and shipping” (Magidson). The

The social hierarchy is influenced by the amount of money one owns which determines whether one can attain their dream. By creating apparent social classes within ‘The Great Gatsby’ – old money, new money and no money, Fitzgerald strongly suggests that American society is intensely stigmatised. Daisy, Tom and Jordan represent the elite social class of society where despite their problems and failures they are always protected and immune by their wealth. Tom refers to Gatsby as ‘Mr Nobody from nowhere” and a “common swindler who would have to steal the ring he put on her finger” as he boasts about his hereditary wealth compared to the other distinct elite group of society who acquire their wealth through business deals, which are sometimes corrupt. Although Fitzgerald mainly attacks the rich, by making them look judgemental, superior and selfish, evidently the lower class of society are vulnerable within American society. This is shown where so many, like Myrtle,

Fitzgerald conveys the idea that, even though in the 1920’s many individuals arose in the “newly rich” class that seeked the American Dream, the “old wealth” class still did not accept them, as shown through James Gatz’s aspiration to live out his idea of Jay Gatsby and his failure to achieve Daisy.