Social Classes In The Great Gatsby

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Bob Marley once said, “the greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.” The Great Gatsby, by F.Scott Fitzgerald, is perceived as a masterpiece of its time regarding the day to day life of American citizens and the issues surrounding the social classes in the United States. The role and the significance each class plays in the novel creates the commonly seen aspects of the Roaring Twenties. The Great Gatsby demonstrates the brutality and inequity social classes posed on the normalities of life in the 1920’s and the fraudulent conduct of those in power. In order to be considered part of the upper class one must be born into it or have amassed great …show more content…
At one point in the book Tom slaps Myrtle for bugging him about Daisy which would be seen as a crime to any other class (Fitzgerald). Tom and Myrtle’s situation shows the desire and recklessness the different social classes impose on everyday people. Myrtle is completely focused on material possessions and pretends to play the role of a rich woman when she is with Tom Buchanan (Lehan “Sugar Lumps”). In the same manner, she leaves her husband devastated after her death when he figures out about her and Tom’s relationship (Verderame). George Wilson’s life dreams have been depleted, and he had nothing to live for after she died. Tom constantly bullied him throughout the book and it was a constant battle between a man with money and a man with no dreams (Lehan “The Rood”). The treatment can be summed up in the dog Tom buys Myrtle. Myrtle wants a dog and wants it to be a nice one. This dog is not a dog that upper class women would get but Tom buys it for her to please her. “How much is it? ‘That dog?’ He looked admiringly at it. ‘That dog will cost you ten dollars.’ The Airedale changed hands and settled down into Mrs. Wilson’s lap… ‘Is it a boy or a girl?’ She asked delicately. ‘It's a girl, here’s your money, go buy ten more with it.’ said Tom” (Fitzgerald …show more content…
The social classes had their own set of rules by which people were pressured to obey. Fitzgerald’s masterpiece brings together the social issues of the time and places them into one novel itself that captures the struggles of all aspects of life in the Roaring Twenties. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, sees beyond the misery of Gatsby’s death and realizes that Gatsby passing away had a stronger and deeper meaning. John Galbraith, a famous economist once said, “In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power
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