“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 179). This quote captures the advantages the upper class has because of their money. Tom and Daisy’s actions left three people dead, yet they received no punishments .They put all their baggage on the lower class, and left them to pick up the pieces. In The Great Gatsby, the theme of social class is very significant in the book. Scott F. Fitzgerald used the theme of social class to show the reader that it plays a much bigger role in life.
Therefore, he surrounds himself with important people and tries to fit in with these people. Though when in reality he is a very awkward person. In the book, when Nick first goes to Gatsby’s party, he just shifts from one group
Nick’s father also established morals in Nick that parallel his, to never judge a person based off of first impressions because you don’t know what that person has been through. Nick began to break away from his family traditions with World War I. Following his graduation, Nick participated in World War I, unlike his great-uncle as he sent a substitute to the American Civil War. With a hesitant, but supportive family, Nick sought to move east to New York and try his hand in the
Also further explores the topic of social class as it relates to Gatsby. Nick’s description of Gatsby’s early life reveals the sensitivity to status that spurs Gatsby on. His humiliation at having to work as a janitor in college contrasts with the promise that he experiences when he meets Dan Cody, who represents the attainment of everything that Gatsby wants. Acutely aware of his poverty, the young Gatsby develops a powerful obsession with amassing wealth and
With Nick having a unique character the story is narrated differently as he has no biased opinions and his morals are all positive and of the
Throughout the course of the book, Nick starts off open-minded, but gradually becomes disgusted with everyone he meets. Nick saw mostly everyone only thinking of themselves and trying to pursue "The American Dream", a staple of the 1920s. The one person Nick liked was Gatsby, because
His difference in upbringing and lifestyle is evident from his acute moral compass that is showcased time and time again. He begins the novel by narrating the advice given to him by his father: "'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.'" Whether or not he actually was able to follow this advice fully is not of importance, such level headed upbringing and origins sets him apart from everyone else and he becomes a man of “fundamental decencies" . An early indication of that is when Nick “had been actually invited” to Gatsby's party instead of just showing up without invitation as the others did. At the actual party, upon arrival Nick “made an attempt to find [his] host” whereas the others “conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks, sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all” .
If Nick wasn’t this way Nick would’ve seen this coming a long time ago, and probably would’ve acted the same way himself. Previously, Nick did not believe people could be this careless, but he was wrong. People with this mindset tend not to respect anything but themselves. For example, Donald Trump tweeted a threat to north korea, “...I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is much bigger and more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby has love taken from him because of society’s rule of staying within one’s social class. Gatsby falls in love at a young age with a girl named Daisy. She likes him back and for a while, everything about their relationship is going smoothly, until the realization occurs that they live in different social classes. Gatsby is poor and he knows that unless he lies about his social
The way that Nick influenced the events that transpired in The Great Gatsby isn't immediately obvious, for the simple reason that there was only one major moment that Nick influenced, at least directly. Nick claimed he "reserved all judgement" which is only true in a sense that he did not communicate his judgements often, and being a 'nonjudgmental' person, Nick did not influence many things because he never spoke up about anything; speaking up would mean he had made a judgement. However,
The desire for love and companionship has the ability to help shape one’s sense of self, but Gatsby’s drive to fulfill that longing in Daisy became his sole focus in life and distracted him from reality. Instead of enhancing his true character, he completely lost his identity in an attempt to pursue Daisy, changing his entire life when he left “James Gatz” behind and put on the persona of Jay Gatsby. Refusing to accept his past, he lost his identity, and his sense of self was reduced to a “career” trying to be someone else (Fitzgerald 98). He spent his whole life trying to acquire money simply to fulfill the desire for Daisy’s love, since he knew “he had no real right to touch her hand” as a “penniless young man without a past” (Fitzgerald 149). Gatsby’s aspiration for love took over everything he did, as the text notes he “took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously” to try to become wealthy and satisfy his desire for love (Fitzgerald 149).
The temptation of wealth and love drives him to chase unrealistic and misguided dreams: “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night” (Fitzgerald 180). The more Gatsby tries to recapture his past, the further he is taken away from what is real. Throughout The Great Gatsby he moves further into this dreamland he has created of his perfect life with Daisy, trying to escape the social class he was born to that once separated them. There is also irony in that Gatsby continuously tries to distance himself from his past and the lower class lifestyle, yet he spends the entirety of his life trying to rewrite his past with Daisy until he sees that she isn’t someone truly worth his love.
In the history of America, the social class ladder has more or less defined the individuals of the United States. It seems as if social classes define people for who they are, but really it does not. In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, social class structure plays a big role in the characters and the novel. Throughout the book, social class structure is present and seems to define the characters for who they are.
Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their social statuses. Gatsby ends up resorting to crime to make enough money to impress her, and materialism to match his lifestyle with hers. Yet the division between the two different classes causes major conflict. The aristocrats, such as Daisy, are born with an advantage; they have had money all their life. They know how to bribe their way out of trouble, while the people without the same privileges are left to suffer.
Nick is a unique yet good narrator because he has many positive characteristics, is associated with the plot, not directly involved with the other characters’ affairs, and the story is told strictly through him. Nick possesses many qualities that make him a great narrator. First, he claims that he does not