A Literary Analysis

of The Great Gatsby

By Javi
Social Class in The Great Gatsby
Throughout the novel, “The Great Gatsby” By F. Scott Fitzgerald, there can be
seen a lot of references to social class from beginning to end mainly because
this novel took place during the “Roaring 20s”. A time that contains
glamorous and exuberant changes in the culture for the life of many
americans, the economic boom and also the past lost by people who fought
in the Great War. Through the elements of symbolism, characterization and
setting, the novel shows the economical and cultural change that were part
of this era in the United States. One example can be seen through the
elements of setting that shows the struggle of the lower and also the
extravagant life of the upper class.
 “About half way between West Egg and New York
the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs
beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away
Setting of the valley from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley
of ashes — a fantastic farm where ashes grow like

of ashes wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens;

where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys
and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent
effort, of men who move dimly and already
crumbling through the powdery air.”(chapter II, pag
23)

The valley of ashes is the industrial look of the

1920s, it shows the reader the second and less
beautiful side of New York. A place full of the
color grey which represents the sadness, the
depression and also the lack of hope that some
people covered in with this color has for instance
Mr. Wilson.
 “There was music from my neighbor’s house through
Setting of Gatsby’s the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls
came and went like moths among the whisperings

parties and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the
afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower
of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his
beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the
Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam.”
(Chapter III, page 39)

This is the beautiful and bright side of New York

in the 1920s. Luxury, wealth and glamour can be
seen in this magnificent event that gathers the
attention of every single rich person whether is
part of the “old money” or “new money”.
Symbolism behind “He smiled understandingly — much more than
understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles
with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you
Gatsby’s smile may come across four or five times in life.”
(Chapter III, page 48)

Gatsby, a mysterious person who has the money

and thus the opportunity to achieve his dreams,
transmit this feeling of optimization and
prosperity through his smile, a smile that gives
the feeling of hope and that makes Nick feel that
it does not matter what future plans Gatsby has in
his hands, he will fight for it until he achieves it.
Characterization of “...when we walked out of the room, the pearls were
around her neck and the incident was over. Next day

Daisy at five o’clock she married Tom Buchanan without so

much as a shiver, and started off on a three months’
trip to the South Seas.” (Chapter IV, page 75)

Daisy is the one of the representations of the

American Dream. She got marry to Tom Buchanan
,a man that possess a solid economical
background that could give her a wealthy lifestyle
and secure her social status, instead of waiting for
her true love. She decides to go for the safe most
of the time and she at some points is
manipulative to achieve what she wants.
 “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long

Characterization of Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of

himself. He was a son of God — a phrase which, if it
means anything, means just that — and he must be
a young Jay Gatsby about His Father’s business, the service of a vast,
vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just
the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy
would be likely to invent, and to this conception he
was faithful to the end.” (Chapter VI, page 91)

The young Gatsby is the perfect representation of

many young people who are trying to achieve the
American Dream which is be in the upper class of
the social status. This may also corrupt the
persona, his ideas and beliefs, that individuals
have in life.
Symbolism of the
“I went with them out to the veranda. On the green
Location of the Sound, stagnant in the heat, one small sail crawled

mansions slowly toward the fresher sea. Gatsby’s eyes followed

it momentarily; he raised his hand and pointed
across the bay.

“I’m right across from you.”

“So you are.” “(Chapter VII, Page 118)

Both houses are owned by people with money
located in opposite sides of the bay, this means
rivalry and also it means the difference between
the “old money” that is the people from East Egg,
and the “new money” who are the people from
West Egg. What difference them is that the people
from West Egg did not have the same manners as
the one from the East.
Characterization of “ I stared at him (Wilson) and then at Tom, who had
made a parallel discovery less than an hour before —
and it occurred to me that there was no difference
Wilson and Tom between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as
the difference between the sick and the well.”
(Chapter VII, page 124)

Both characters are well known at this point of

the novel, Tom Buchanan as part of the upper
class and Mr. Wilson the representation of the
lower class, even though both of them go through
the same struggles of life such as sickness and
love, what sets them apart is among each other is
the money that they have which cannot always
solve the situation but it can ease the struggle.
 Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic
future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded

Symbolism of the us then, but that’s no matter — to-morrow we will

run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one

green light fine morning ——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne

back ceaselessly into the past. (Chapter IX, page
180)
The green light symbolizes the hope and also the
dreams of Gatsby. Even though he has all the
money in the world, he feels empty without his
love. He always had the hope to reach his final
dream that is something that cannot happen
anymore, something that was really distant from
him, something that led him to his own tragedy.
Social Class corrupts the
feelings and beliefs of
individuals.
A Final Word...
The Great Gatsby is a distinctive and unique novel that express more than
just what is written through each page. It represents the life of the author
and also the life that was lived by many americans during the 1920s. There is
a big meaning behind the actions and words used by the characters making
the novel perfect by just looking more in depth of what is being shown. The
novel in conclusion gives that end of the story in a high note without having
the necessity to end it in a happy tone that we as readers are alway use to.