Halliday 1

Caitlin Halliday

Mr. Smith

Junior ELA (A)

10 January 2023

Wealth and Success in The Great Gatsby

Many have grown up under the impression that wealth and success was the only way to

live a happy life. The Great Gatsby tackles this narrative in a perception of the Jazz era, the

1920’s. A time period known for its social divide over financial positions; the wealthy’s flashy

events and the poor’s industrial stance. All leading to the stock market crash known as the Great

Depression in 1929. In the novel The American Dream is represented by wealth and success as

Fitzgerald presents a pessimistic view due to the character's social class; he displays this through

the exaggeration of their domicile and the overall lack of happiness.

Fitzgerald shows a contrast between the social classes when depicting the Eggs and

Valley of Ashes for their appearance and ability for success. When Nick, the novel’s narrator, is

going with Tom to meet Myrtle, he describes the valley as, “a fantastic farm where ashes grow

like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and

chimneys and rising smoke”(Fitzgerald 20). In comparison, at his home in West Egg, he

describes that “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along

the water” (Fitzgerald 7). In juxtaposing the Valley and West Egg, Fitzgerald highlights the

disparity in achievement. Fitzgerald's choice of words to describe the valley of ashes symbolizes

a gloomy, dirty, and poor city. This is interconnected to the blue collar working class making

minimum wage for their hard labor. These people struggle to get by, only wishing to live the

American dream. The Eggs, alternatively, symbolize advantageous wealth. This advantageous
 Halliday 2

wealth is gained by illegal activities that are harmful to the average person. This idea of the

social classes, shown in the novel, is taken from the real life 1920’s wealth divide . In an article

from American Experience, “Writer Willa Cather said that for her, the world broke in two around

1922” (The Jazz Age). During the 1920’s social classes were largely separated by wealth and

success. There was almost no middle class as everyone was living in either poverty or riches.

This meant that the lower class had no opportunities to become successful as the restriction

between the classes was unchangeable. Fitzgereld represents this throughout the book through

the depictions of the Eggs and Valley of ashes. When comparing the texts, Fitzgerald highlights

the historical context that Cather discusses; there was a great divide between the social classes

that impacted ability for success. In the novel, Fitzgerald depicts the world in extremes for both

the rich and poor, further emphasizing their ability for success.

Despite the great divide between the social classes at this time, the novel shows that

people from both classes were unhappy. Rupali Mirza, in her article about the failure of wealth

providing happiness in The Great Gatsby mentions that, “It was majorly this overwhelming

influence of the Jazz Age Culture which leads to the unfulfilled wishes and tragic lives” (Rupali).

Despite the idolized happiness that comes with wealth, characters from the upper class along

with lower ended up unhappy. We see this with Tom and Daisy Buchanen as they both mourn

their second lovers, and try to repair their broken marriage. We also see this despair in the Valley

of ashes with Myrtle and George Wilson as they both died from tragic deaths. Fitzgeleld paints a

pessimistic ending for all characters, despite their status. This is demonstrated with Jay Gatsby as

we learn through the book he was never truly happy. Following Gatsby's death, Nick states that,

“He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he

could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him” (Fitzgerald 138).
 Halliday 3

Gatsby geared his life towards his goal of getting Daisy back. He focused on getting wealthy,

buying a mansion right across the bay, and throwing grand parties to impress her. Within all that

time, he was saddened by her missing presents in his life. Despite eventually being so close to

forever with her, he was killed, leaving his life unfulfilled. He had spent his life with the

glamouring material items but was missing what really mattered to him. When comparing Rupali

and Fitzgerled’s texts, they both discuss the idea that no one was truly happy in the novel. Both

the wealthy and poor are depicted to feel unfulfilled by their lives. During the 1920s, the great

divide between social classes was gilded, as neither were truly happy. Shown in the novel

through various characters in both classes.

In the novel, Fitzgerald shows life during the 1920s’; the contrast between the social

classes and how success and obtaining the American Dream doesn’t equate to happiness. The

novel seems particularly relevant due to the later coming Great Depression in 1920. This novel

was ahead of its time as the stock market crash caused everyone to lose money, including the

rich. The extravagant era of the 1920’s came to a fast halt as the world changed completely.
 Halliday 4

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Wordsworth Editions, 2019.

Rupali Mirza | Assistant Professor | Research Scholar | Integral ...

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rupali-Mirza-2.

“The Jazz Age.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/monkeytrial-jazz-age/.
 Halliday 5

Skill Not Foundational Proficient Advanced

Yet
Identifies a topic Appears in first Thesis establishes a
paragraph complex claim

Thesis establishes a
topic and a claim

Comments:
Thesis

Includes two or Includes evidence Includes specific,

fewer sources from scholarly and meaningful, and
informational well-chosen
Some evidence sources that connect evidence that relates
relates to the thesis to the novel and to the thesis
support the thesis

Evidence

Comments:

Summarizes sources Explains how Explains well-

evidence supports selected points of
topic sentence of comparison among
individual sources and
paragraphs evidence and their
connection to the
Analysis Explains how details thesis
in the novel are
significant in
regards to context,
character, plot, or
theme
 Halliday 6

Comments:

Little connection Explains how the Clearly explains

between texts; texts/sources are relationships among
difficult for the related, though texts (how they
reader to see how points could be confirm or challenge
the texts are related more selective or each other, build on
better developed each other, provide
Synthesis differing
Includes multiple perspectives, etc.)
sources in each body
paragraph

Comments:

Some elements Heading is correctly No errors in MLA

missing or some formatted format
errors in MLA format
Pages are numbered

In-text citations are

correctly formatted

Works Cited format:

hanging indent,
MLA Format double-spaced,
alphabetized, starts
on a new page

Works Cited: each

source entry is in
correct MLA format

Comments:
 Halliday 7

Shows evidence of Most quotes are All quotes are

basic proofreading correctly integrated correctly integrated

Follows essay Shows evidence of

Conventions organization careful proofreading

Shows evidence of
proofreading

Comments:

Caitlin,
I know this was a particularly difficult essay for you, and you put some solid work into it. I think,
overall, that the argument is not perfectly sound (as in there are some issues with the overall
logic), but you did some solid work in collecting evidence and analysis, particularly relating back
to the overall claims. Writing goal for next time: make sure to fully understand the prompt, and
your view on the prompt before really committing to the drafting process.

Grade: A-