Assignment Paper :-106 (The Twentieth Century Literature: 1900 to World War II)
Name :- Aarti Bhupatbhai Sarvaiya
Batch :- M.A. Sem. 2 (2022-2024)
Enrollment N/o. :- 4069206420220027
Roll N/o. :- 01
Subject Code & Paper N/o. :- 22399 Paper 106: The Twentieth Century Literature: 1900 to World War II
Email Address :- aartisarvaiya7010@gmail.com
Submitted to :- Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English – Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University – Bhavnagar – 364001
Date of Submission :- 31 March, 2023
'Class Conflict' in 'The Great Gatsby'
Introduction :-
OPENING QUOTATION
Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!"
-THOMAS PARKE D'INVILLIERS
Social Conflict and The American Dream are two main themes of the novel. Characters of this novel are divided into two classes as per their class they are living. For e.g., East Egg and West Egg. All the characters of the novel are having a dream to be rich. Class conflict is mainly described in this novel.
About the Writer :-
F Scott Fitzgerald, in full Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, American short-story writer and novelist famous for his depictions of the Jazz Age (the 1920s), his most brilliant novel being The Great Gatsby (1925). His private life, with his wife, Zelda, in both America and France, became almost as celebrated as his novels.
During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
Notable works :-The Beautiful and Damned,
The Great Gatsby,
All the Sad Young Men,
Tender Is the Night
About the Novel :-
The Great Gatsby, Third novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925. Set in Jazz Age New York, it tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth. The book is narrated by Nick Carraway, who recounts the events of the summer of 1922, after he takes a house in the fictional village of West Egg on Long Island. There he lives among the newly rich, while across the water, in the more refined village of East Egg, live his cousin Daisy and her brutish wealthy husband, Tom Buchanan.
Fitzgerald considered The Great Gatsby to be his greatest achievement at the time it was published, but the book was neither a critical nor commercial success. The novel gained popularity in the 1950s, soon becoming a standard text of high-school curricula, and is now considered a masterpiece of American fiction. There have been several film adaptations, notably a production directed by Jack Clayton in 1974, starring Robert Redford as Gatsby, and one in 2013 directed by Baz Luhrmann, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Characters of the Novel :-
Jay Gatsby :- The protagonist who gives his name to the story. Gatsby is a newly wealthy Midwesterner-turned-Easterner who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. His quest for the American dream leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved and, eventually, to death.
Nick Carraway The story's narrator. Nick rents the small house next to Gatsby's mansion in West Egg and, over the course of events, helps Gatsby reunite with Daisy (who happens to be Nick's cousin). Nick's Midwestern sensibility finds the East an unsettling place, and he becomes disillusioned with how wealthy socialites like the Buchanans lead their lives.
Daisy Buchanan Beautiful and mesmerising, Daisy is the apex of sociability. Her privileged upbringing in Louisville has conditioned her to a particular lifestyle, which Tom, her husband, is able to provide her. She enraptured men, especially Gatsby, with her diaphanous nature and sultry voice. She is the object of Gatsby's desire, for good or ill, and represents women of an elite social class.
Tom Buchanan Daisy's hulking brute of a husband. Tom comes from an old, wealthy Chicago family and takes pride in his rough ways. He commands attention through his boisterous and outspoken (even racist) behavior. He leads a life of luxury in East Egg, playing polo, riding horses, and driving fast cars. He is proud of his affairs and has had many since his marriage. Myrtle Wilson is merely the woman of the moment for Tom.
Jordan Baker Professional golfer of questionable integrity. Friend of Daisy's who, like Daisy, represents women of a particular class. Jordan is the young, single woman of wealth, admired by men wherever she goes. She dates Nick casually, but seems offended when he is the first man not to fall for her charms. Although she is savvy, she comes off as somewhat shallow in her approach to life.
Myrtle Wilson Married lover of Tom Buchanan. Myrtle serves as a representative of the lower class. Through her affair with Tom she gains entrée into the world of the elite, and the change in her personality is remarkable. She conducts a secret life with Tom, wherein she exhibits all the power and dominance she finds lacking in her everyday life. She eventually suffers a tragic end at the hands of her lover's wife.
George Wilson Myrtle's unassuming husband. He runs a garage and gas station in the valley of ashes and seems trapped by his position in life. Eventually, he finds out about his wife's double life and his response to it helps drive her to her death. Distraught at what happens, Wilson becomes Fitzgerald's way of expressing the despair prevalent in the seemingly trapped lower-middle class.
Meyer Wolfsheim Gatsby's business associate and link to organised crime. A professional gambler, Wolfshiem is attributed with fixing the 1919 World Series. Wolfshiem helped build Gatsby's fortune, although the wealth came through questionable means.
'Class Conflict' in 'The Great Gatsby' :-
Social class is a critical theme in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald as it focuses on life during the 1920s in the Roaring Twenties era. The author sets up the novel into distinct social classes – upper class, middle-class and lower class. Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald makes a connection between the setting presented in the novel and the theme of social class to illustrate different viewpoints and attitudes toward life during the Roaring Twenties.
The Great Gatsby's characters represent the wealthiest members of 1920s New York society. Despite their money, however, they are not portrayed as particularly aspirational. Instead, the rich characters' negative qualities are put on display: wastefulness, hedonism, and carelessness,the novel also suggests that wealth is not equivalent to social class. Tom Buchanan comes from the old money elite, while Jay Gatsby is a self-made millionaire. Gatsby, self-conscious about his "new money" social status, throws unbelievably lavish parties in hopes of catching Daisy Buchanan's attention. However, at the novel's conclusion, Daisy chooses to stay with Tom despite the fact that she genuinely loves Gatsby; her reasoning is that she could not bear to lose the social status that her marriage to Tom affords her. With this conclusion, Fitzgerald suggests that wealth alone does not guarantee entrance into the upper echelons of elite society.
Through the characters Fitzgerald describes the class Conflict. In this novel there is two places East Egg and West Egg in which the people were leaving as per their class.Firstly, East Egg is known as the place where all the wealthy people such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan and Jordan have inherited their money from generations before as it is known as ‘old money.’ They live luxurious lifestyles and look down upon anyone who is of West Egg, also known as new money, and have a different attitude toward life in this time period.
The people of West Egg, also known as ‘new money’ were born into the middle-class or a poor family and worked their way up to being wealthy by working hard to achieve the American Dream.
The author mentions the area between the East Egg and the West Egg known as ‘The Valley of Ashes.’ This area is described as a “desolate area of land” which represents the lower class and the people left behind in the pursuit of the American Dream. Nick describes this area as “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke… with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air”. This portrays the hopelessness of the setting as the author depicts the lower class during this time period of the Roaring Twenties and their daily struggle to simply get by. In addition, George and Myrtle Wilson are among the people who live in The Valley of Ashes and they are clearly looked down upon by the upper class – specifically Tom. When Tom visits Wilson’s garage, he is disrespectful to Wilson because he feels superior to him because of his social status and therefore mistreats him to make himself feel powerful. To add to the point, Wilson’s garage is symbolic of the isolation of the people who lived in this area as well as the selfishness of the upper class. While their isolation is a product of the East Egg, Tom makes no effort to be kind and generous to them as he continues to look down upon the lower class because of their social status. Therefore, Fitzgerald’s connection between the Valley of Ashes and social class further illustrates the attitudes toward life during this time period.
At the end of the novel, all the characters who are innocent,who doesn't commit any kind of illegal things but than also they are killed. Tom have a extramarital affair with myrtle and Daisy is also loves Gatsby but because of the social structure she married with Tom,a wealthy man. At the end of the novel, myrtle is killed by Daisy but she saved with the use of money and Jay is blemmed as a murdered and then as a result George kills Jay and this is how all the lower class's characters are killed and Tom ,Daisy both are criminal but they release innocently.
Conclusion :-
To conclude, the author makes various connections between the central idea of social class in the novel and the various settings discussed. Fitzgerald illustrated the different behaviours and attitudes from the different social classes presented in the novel – East Egg, West Egg and The Valley of Ashes to describe how people were seen in the Roaring Twenties based on their social class.
Work Cited :-
"Social Class in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." UKEssays. ukessays.com, November 2018. Web. 19 March2023.<https://www.ukessays.com/essays/literature/social-class-in-the-great-gatsby.php?vref=1.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby: Readers Edition. United Kingdom, Wildside Press LLC, 2021.
Britannica, The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia. "The Great Gatsby". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/facts/The-Great-Gatsby. Accessed 19 March 2023.
Doe, John. "Online Citation Generator". Pen and the Pad, 15 Oct. 2023, https://penandthepad.com.
Word Count :- 1893
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