The Great Gatsby

A detailed Summary of The Great Gatsby


Man dreams of living the life of the elite social class and of the power and admiration inherent within. F. Scott Fitzgerald comes to terms with this American dream in The Great Gatsby, a novel about social life in the 1920's. The social hierarchy of the times plays a very important role in this novel. Here Fitzgerald illustrates three specific social classes: old money, new money, and lower class, with old money and new money taking center stage. Gatsby himself personifies new money; he made himself into a rich man through shady dealings. Tom Buchanan, on the other hand, represents old money. He received everything he has on a silver platter. He earned nothing but his inheritance. At the time, it was extremely desirable to be old money, because people looked at new money as vulgar and uncivilized. By illustrating social-economic class differences, Fitzgerald depicts the illusion of the corrupted American dream.


The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Old money's highly discriminating nature allows its members to attain superiority, while this self-serving superiority further enhances their American dream. The attempts of new money to imitate old money remain futile. For example, although Daisy truly loves Gatsby, he represents new money. Despite his attempts to become old money, the old rich have never embraced him. Daisy cannot be with him because he is not and never will be of her class. Gatsby even offers to take the blame for a murder she committed, yet she will nott even leave her husband for him. "'Was Daisy driving?' 'Yes,' he said after a moment. 'but of course I'll say I was.'" (p. 151). Daisy allows Gatsby to take the blame for her without showing either remorse or gratitude. In this way, Fitzgerald shows that although old money people count themselves rich monetarily, they show a lack of morality and account

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 624
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics

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