The Great Gatsby and Social Class

Abstract

Fitzgerald has scarcely been analysed as a serious social critic. In some ways, the reasons for this are obvious. His social circle in the 1920s and his background of wealth seem to have disqualified Fitzgerald from being considered in the same category as writers such as Jack London, Upton Sinclair and John Steinbeck. These were writers whose socialist commitment was matched by a range of experiences demonstrating their closeness to labouring people. Steinbeck, for example, is often associated with the Depression, with Oklahoma, or with the fruit groves, canning factories and casual labour of California. Fitzgerald (who considered Steinbeck a ‘phoney’), is usually associated with cosmopolitan glitter, and almost always characterized as a writer obsessed with glamour (Fitzgerald, 1963, p. 581). One of the most widely known anecdotes about Fitzgerald and Hemingway is centred on two short stories, Fitzgerald’s ‘The Rich Boy’, and Hemingway’s ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ (1936). Introducing Anson Hunter, Fitzgerald’s narrator writes that the rich ‘are different from you and me’ (Fitzgerald, 1987, p. 110). In ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’, an anonymous character provides a reply: ‘Yes, they have more money’ (Hemingway, 1961, p. 23). Hemingway’s slight prompted a reply from Fitzgerald. (It should be noted that in the original magazine version of the story, Fitzgerald was actually named; in the book version, the name ‘Julian’ is substituted.) Fitzgerald, hurt at this characterization, pointed out the misunderstanding evident in Hemingway’s view: ‘Riches have never fascinated me, unless combined with the greatest charm or distinction’ (Fitzgerald, 1963, p. 311).