Monday, May 26, 2014

What quotes are there to describe the "hollowness of the upper class" in The Great Gatsby?

Certainly you have identified one of the major themes of
this novel as it depicts the infamous "jazz age" of the 1920s that only really the
wealthy were able to enjoy in all its hedonistic decadence. A great place to start if
you are trying to identify quotes that support the theme of the hollowness of the
upper-class is Chapter Three, that details the first of Gatsby's parties that Nick
attends. Key to this description is Nick's opinions of these wealthy upper-class
individuals:


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Once there they were introduced by somebody who
knew Gatsby, and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of
behaviour associated with an amusement
park.



Clearly this indicates
the riotous behaviour that the guests (half of whom invited themselves) engaged
in.


You also might like to consider Daisy's famous quote in
Chapter Seven:


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"What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?"
cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty
years?"



Clearly this points
towards her own sense of emptiness and futility in her life as she tries to fill it in
whatever way she can. According to Nick, of course, upper-class individuals like her
only "smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their
vast carelessness..." and this again points towards the essential hollowness at the
heart of the upper-class that Fitzgerald so competently
dissects.

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