The Role of Social Status during the 1920s in America. Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" as a Representative Literary Work

Alexandra Warter

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Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2, , language: English, abstract: Next to b...

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Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2, , language: English, abstract: Next to being a source of entertainment, novels also offer insights into the culture and the values of the affected society, thereby stimulating critical thinking in the reader about certain features. In the case of "The Great Gatsby", the features that call attention are, amongst others, the relationships between the individual characters in relation to their social background, which, apparently, seems to be very important during this era. Therefore, the purpose of the following paper is to examine the role of social status, connected with wealth, prestige, and reputation, during the 1920s in America. In order to provide an overview of the time in which the story of "The Great Gatsby" takes place, the first chapter will give a brief introduction about politics, culture, the economy and the changes of the 1920s. Afterwards, the representation of class in the novel will be analyzed, thereby having a look at the relationships between the different characters, and, additionally, at the different settings that appear in the plot and serve as a representation of social status and wealth. Another part of the analysis of the occurrence of social status in the novel is the use of symbolism. In examining the symbols, the meaning of the first lines of the novel, consisting of a poem, as well as the green light that appears various times in the story, will be taken into account. The last part of the paper consists of several quotes taken from the novel, which represent both the self-made millionaires of the 1920s and the old aristocratic families of New York s society. The importance of social background and status in the society and the resulting impacts on the characters will thereby be a central theme.