Social Status In The Great Gatsby

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In New York in the 1920s social status determined important aspects of people's lives. For example, how much money a person had controlled whom they were associated with and how they portrayed themselves to others. F.Scott Fitzgerald lived much like the characters he created in the novel The Great Gatsby. The author depicts the importance of social status and money through the characters lavish lifestyles that was so vital to the people during the 1920s. Social status plays a significant role in the characters’ lives and in what happens to them and how they are seen by others. Jay Gatsby, dreams of success because he believes it will win him Daisy, the love of his love. Social status was extremely important in the lives of the characters Tom …show more content…
In the 1920s, materialistic objects mattered more than love and personal connection. Because the things around them were changing in the 1920s, they decided to change as well. At the time the people thought that possessions mattered more than the genuity of relationships. Daisy married Tom, “with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before. He came down with a hundred people in four private cars, and hired a whole floor of the Seelbach Hotel, and the day before the wedding he gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” (4.135) Daisy did not care if she loved Tom or not, she cared about how others would think of her if she married Tom. She cared about the compliments she would receive for her beautiful string of pearls and beautiful house. Daisy only married Tom so that her image would be better, not so she could be happier. This relates to people in the 1920s because Zelda only married Fitzgerald for image as well. Zelda did not marry Fitzgerald because she was afraid of her status being ruined by him not being wealthy. Worst of all, she tried to marry him after he became rich and he fell for it. The lack of love was only a symptom of the fragile and fake
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