The Great Gatsby: Differences in Social Class in American Society in the 1920's
A central theme in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the developing consumer culture in America and its expression of social class divisions in society. The book is set in the 1920s, an era rules by the generation which in the 1920s had enjoyed all of the benefits of good economic times without developing the character necessary to adapt to the coming changes. Fitzgerald recognized the emptiness of the upper class of the time even as he, like his central character, was drawn to them and their world. In this novel, differences in social class in American society are made central as the outsider Gatsby yearns to become an insider with the wealthy and socially acceptable families of the East coast. Fitzgerald was especially interested in the effect of class distinctions in American life, and he is also concerned about the loss of value in American life. Certain aspects of consumerism reflected such a loss in values, including the commodification of human beings and human life that was entailed in the process. Gatsby yearns for what the upper class has without understanding what that class has lost in the way of values. In one sense, Gatsby represents the consumer seduced by advertising, a type that would become more
an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again (6). Nick is the only character with sufficient sensitivity to see the failure of both the West Eggers and Gatsby to uphold American social values. Gatsby has illusions about the American social structure, the meaning of wealth, the virtue of belonging to a certain social class, and a number of other questions. The cynicism of the age is evident in Carraway himself for he says that what he sees in Gatsby "represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn" (6). Nick lives in a rather run-down house in the lesser part of the region, but he is more real than the East Eggers and so sympathizes more with Gatsby. Gatsby appeals to Nick because his illusions are at least based on a concept of the ideal and not merely on privilege and entitlement, which is what infuses the illusions of the West Eggers. Gatsby is in many ways a man living outside of his proper time, being a romantic in an age of cynicism. In truth, even the reader never really knows Gatsby the way one would know a character whose consciousness the reader shares. In the early part of the novel, Fitzgerald uses uncertainty about Gatsby's background to create a sense of mystery, but once Gatsby's background is explained, the people of West Egg believe they know him and can categorize him. Gatsby believes that buying the right house and wearing the right clothes puts him the right class, but this is not the case. The relationships among the characters are depicted in the settings in which they live and interact, with locale reflecting a mode of life such as might be used to sell products and ideas to the public. It is prohibited, and so it becomes what everyone wants. Daisy embodies this idea for Gatsby, who encountered her in the past and idealized her so that she exists on a pedestal to him.
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