Class - the Great Gatsby and the House of Mirth

THE GREAT GATSBY EXTENDED ESSAY

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view." This is a line from Harper Lee's renowned novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which I believe also applies to the understanding of a society and its sub-groups. This has proven to be evident in two particular novels which have enhanced my comprehension of the privileged class during the early 1900s of America. The House of Mirth, written in 1905 by Edith Wharton who originated from a distinguished family herself, follows a twenty-nine year old woman named Lily Bart and her pursuit for a lifestyle of luxury through a worthy marriage. The narrative observes her interactions with potential rich partners within a wealthy circle as she dismisses her feelings for her true love interest. On the other hand, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1926, is set during the Roaring Twenties, a time of greatly increased consumerism and materialism. It tells of the young millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and his passionate quest to regain his romantic relationship with Daisy Buchanan by taking advantage of his newly acquired wealth. Both these texts feature the wealthy society's ideology: that money defines all. It encompasses the beliefs that money provides influence, power and security. This ideology is outwardly expressed through the privileged class's cultural lifestyle of materialistic priorities, pursuing their wants through monetary means and a lack of appreciation for human relationships. Fitzgerald and Wharton demonstrate this culture and ideology through their use of setting, character and conflict within their texts which has enhanced my understanding of this group of people, allowing me to despise such beliefs and recognise the shallow nature of their lives.

To begin with, Fitzgerald utilises setting to illustrate the cultural behaviour of pursuing desires through financial methods within American upper class society during the early 1900s. In turn, it reflects the ideology that money defines all. The Great Gatsby highlights this cultural behaviour well, especially as we observe the residencies of Gatsby and the Buchanans. The latter's is described as "white palaces" which "glittered along the water." Its "lawn started at the beach and ran towards the front door for a quarter of a mile." The metaphorical comparison of the mansion to the palaces constructs the idea that the Buchanans are like royalty, representative of their class. This is reinforced by the verb "glittered" which likens the place to expensive jewels and the use of colour imagery in the description of "gold" also has symbolic associations with prosperity. It is clear that the Buchanans indulge in an extremely expensive way of life as seen in the setting, though it seems that the reason for this is more than just for comfortable luxury. The first thing that Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband, is noted saying is "I've got a nice place here... and turning me around by one arm, he moved a broad flat hand along the vista." Tom's dialogue and body language provides a sense of showing off, which I personally think is quite arrogant and egotistical, as if he is trying to establish some sort of superiority through the money he has, which had bought such a colossal property. The ideology that money defines all is evident here as in this case, his wealth is an indication of his place in society as well as used as a ways to influence and impress Nick, the narrator. Even Gatsby's home demonstrates shallow motives as the place has "a tower on one side... a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden... music rooms and Restoration Salons... the library.... dressing-rooms and pool rooms, and bathrooms.... a toilet set of pure dull gold." The listing of so many different rooms and leisurely accessories is most certainly excessive, reflective of the frivolous spending habits at the time. These indulgences are superfluous as there is only one person who lives there: Gatsby. However, ultimately all the opulence was attained in hopes of attracting Daisy to him and to win her back, which is evidently shown as he wants "Daisy to come over to my house... I'd like to show her around... do you like it?" His dialogue, particularly the question, demonstrates that he simply wants to impress Daisy as he believes his home would allure her back to him. This is certainly a superficial perspective, where material goods and the size of a person's home is the basis for achieving an individual's approval, demonstrating how money truly does define all in their eyes, even love and relationships, which is really quite disappointing in my eyes. These ideals have in turn influenced the culture of these members of the privileged society as they use their money for insincere reasons such as status, dominance, influence and love. This is all done through the use of the narrative technique; setting, which has given me a deeper insight into the ideology of wealth defining all, shared by America's early 1900s upper class.

Fitzgerald and Wharton also employs character construction to further my understanding of the ideologies and culture of America's privileged class in the early 1900s. The monetary ideology, I believe, is strongly portrayed in Daisy's character. She descends from a very affluent background and it is clear that this value of money has been handed on to her as Gatsby describes in his dialogue "her voice is full of money." The metaphorical description is suggestive of her prosperity that is so great that even the words she speaks provides evidence of this. However, this dialogue also sheds light on her materialistic nature too; that all she talks and cares about is money. This is more clearly displayed when Gatsby is showcasing his mansion to her, where he throws all of his pricey shirts in her direction. After a while "she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. 'It makes me sad because I've never seen such-such beautiful shirts before.'" Her emotional response and body language, clutching these tops, implies how object-orientated she is. She gets so dramatic over such petty things like shirts rather than being impressed by Gatsby as a person himself. This lack of engagement in relationships seems to be a consequence of this superficial nature as she even treats her own daughter as some distant being: "I suppose she talks, and eats and everything." There is no emotional attachment in her words, as in my eyes, all of her indulgences have gone towards all the money and goods which she values above everything else. This cultural consideration for wealth and the lack of it in proper relationships is also observed in The House of Mirth and very distinctly