INTRO: An important function of literary text is to make social comments and this can include issues such as gender and class. This is illustrated in the iconic novel The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald who explores notions of class in America in the 1920's. Through the corruption of the American Dream, contrasting characters and settings, Fitzgerald does indeed reinforce the idea that class is a dividing factor in society.
CONTEXT The novel is regarded as a brilliant piece of social commentary, offering a vivid insight to American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald establishes distinct groups leaving a powerful reminder that class is a dividing factor. By creating distinct social classes Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism running throughout every strata of society.
BP1: Set during the Jazz Age and a time of great economic prosperity, the ideal of the ''American Dream'' and all that it encapsulates was considered both a reality and a right. The American Dream describes an attitude of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfilment of human wishes and desires. The American Dream is attached to capitalism meaning everybody has the opportunity to create their own wealth. In the novel the American Dream plays a fundamental role and through it we can see what happened to it during the 1920. During the 1920's America was a class society and Fitzgerald exposes that people are not yet treated equally and that social discrimination still exists. This is reinforced with Daisy's comment on the 'coloured people', "We've got to beat them down", showing that class is a dividing factor in society. Despite what the ideology of the American dream purports, in actuality this is not played out as the text suggests through the construction of Gatsby.
BP2: Gatsby is the medium through which the idea that class being a dividing factor, is showcased. Jimmy Gatz was a rural farm boy growing up in North Dakota without connections, money, or education, He had a...