Social Hierarchy in the U.S.

Although many Americans like to think that there is no longer such thing as social class boundaries in our society, I would argue that there are definitely social classes in the U.S. In The Great Gatsby, social class is of huge importance. In the book, the two classes are broken up into 2 categories: the East Egg and West Egg of Long Island, NY. Because East Egg is primarily composed of people with "old money," or inherited money, it is a considered to be "higher class" than the West Egg, which is mostly people who have earned their own money or "nouveau riche."

One notable distinction I have noticed between the social classes in The Great Gatsby is the clothes that the East Eggers wear vs. the clothes of the West Eggers. I think F. Scott Fitzgerald purposely makes a visible distinction between the people from East Egg and the people from West Egg: "They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering..." (8). "The effeminate swank of his riding clothes...he seemed to fill those glistening boots..." (7). Because the people from East Egg were wearing white dresses and "glistening boots," it is likely that they did have a job with any sort of manual labor involved. Furthermore, by calling the boots "glistening," it is also implied that they have probably been polished or they are brand new, yet again portraying the people of East Egg as upper class. If a person of working class were to wear a white dress or glistening polo clothes, they would ruin or get them dirty.

Another distinction between the East Egg and West Egg in The Great Gatsby is the people. Basically, in order to be considered part of the high society in East Egg, one must be a W.A.S.P. (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant). When Mr. Wolfsheim, a Jew, is introduced he is described very anti-Semitically: "A small, flat-nosed Jew raised his large head and regarded me with two fine growths of hair which luxuriated in either nostril" (69). Because of the way Mr. Wolfsheim is portrayed by Nick Carraway, the narrator, shows that many people of the high society in the 20s were anti-Semitic and Jews were generally not part of the upper class in America.

How do you think social class has changed since the time of The Great Gatsby?