The Nature of Society in The Novel "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

In the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’, the author F.Scott Fitzgerald uses ideas to show the nature of society by dividing the characters into 3 different social classes: old money, new money, and no money. The author leaves a powerful reminder to the audience of how the society we live in is really a dangerous place that is likely to collapse by these classes of people.

The first group of characters are Tom and Daisy. These people own the ‘old money’ and lives in the upper class, the East Egg. They were born wealthy and have never worked in their whole entire lives, all they do is admire their money and look for things that satisfies them. In the novel, the Buchanans are not happy one minute, but when something goes wrong they pack up like nothing has ever happened and leave their mess for others to clean up. That is the society we live in. When Daisy hit Myrtle with her car and killed her, she had protection that the money and the upper class provided her to get her out of that mess. Instead, Gatsby took all the blame and ended up getting killed by Wilson.

In the novel Tom says: “An Oxford man!” he was incredulous “like hell he is! He wears a pink suit.” This quote illustrates about society and the class crashes between the old money and the new money. Gatsby wants to hang with the upper class people and stand proudly beside them but Tom not having it. Here this shows that the upper class people like the Buchanans do not care about equality among the lower class people. All they care about is money and themselves, this is the society that we live in. The ‘old money’ people do not understand the problems that the lower class goes through since they are less fortunate.

The second group of characters are Gatsby and Nick. These people own the ‘new money’ and lives in the West Egg. They started off being poor but has gained wealth in the future. Gatsby for instance, always held parties at his house and tired to look wealthy to bring back his American dream, Daisy. But at the end of the novel she chooses Tom instead of Gatsby and his American dream collapses. Gatsby had lots of stories and rumors going on between people, but no one really knew about him except for Nick. Even the people who attended to Gatsby’s parties did not know much about him. This shows how in society when we see people on social media, we can gain some knowledge about them by searching through their stream or status. But we will never know who that person really is until we actually meet them.

Another link to this can include famous celebrities and online stars. The majority of celebrities and online stars tend to have false stories and rumors about themselves made by people online. Other people who read these news tend to easily believe in them, even if they don’t really know much about them in person. As more and more rumors start to begin it eventually turns out to be a big gossip just like Gatsby in the novel. All the people who visited Gatsby were just selfish people who were only attracted by his wealth and the parties, not the actual man himself. This resulted in no one attending to his funeral except for Nick. At the end, all the lower class characters died and Tom, Daisy and Nick were the only ones who survived from all the mess.

The third group of characters are George and Myrtle. These people own ‘no money’ and lives in the Valley of Ashes. They lived poor for their whole lives and are in the lower classes of society. Myrtle for instance, is a character who is really obsessed with money. For Myrtle, wealth was the only way for her and her husband to escape from the poor life in the Valley of Ashes. That was the reason she continued the affair with Tom who provided her all the clothes, parties and apartment. In the novel, Myrtle comments: “I told that boy about the ice,” Myrtle raised eyebrows “These people you have to keep after them all the time.” This quote illustrates society and class because Myrtle thinks she’s much higher than the others because her lover Tom, is in the upper class. Myrtle’s American dream was to be wealthy and stand beside the upper class people which made her meet Tom. But for Tom, he only sees Myrtle as his toy and relies on her only for entertainment. This shows how the lower class people cannot get into the upper class’ boundary, even if they try. The author uses the character ‘Myrtle’ in the novel who represents the society of people today. Everyone tries and wants to become rich and live their life in the upper class. But like Myrtle in the novel, becoming one of the members of the upper class from the lower class isn’t that easy. Myrtle tried to earn the old money by Tom, but ended up getting killed by Daisy in the end.

Many people were, and still are, attracted to a higher class of living and everybody wants to become wealthy. People are yet still obsessed with the newest and most expensive clothes, technology, cars and music. The classes and society show how the characters in ‘The Great Gatsby’ ended up to save their dreams and money.