SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF "THE GREAT GATSBY"

Introduction

The Great Gatsby follows around the man of dreams and goal, Jay Gatsby, is the wonderful piece of work of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby orders elite life around on desire to get back with his lost love Daisy Buchanan. His life leads from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, and eventually to death. The Great Gatsby is a classic piece of American fiction. It is a novel of triumph and tragedy, noted for the remarkable way Fitzgerald captured a cross-section of American society.
Events of the novel took place 1920s in West Egg, Long Island.

Main characters:

 Jey Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson. 

Summary:

 Nick caraway, the narrator; start to unfold the story of Jay Gatsby. He remembers his upbringings and the lessons his family taught him. He was an educated and had sense of moral justice. The narration takes place many years after the incident happened. The story begins when Nick move from Midwest to West Egg, Long Island, to make his way as a bond salesman and to recapture the excitement and adventure he experienced as soldier in WWI. He starts living in the small house near the mansion which, it turns out, belong to Gatsby.
Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin, and her husband, Tom, live across the bay in the fashionable community of East Egg. Nick goes to visit Daisy, an ephemeral woman with a socialite's luminescence, and Tom, a brutish, hulking, powerful man made arrogant through generations of privilege, and there he meets Jordan Baker, the professional golfer and a girlhood friend of Daisy's. As the foursome lounge around the Buchanan’s estate, they discuss the day's most pressing matters: the merits of living in the East, what to do on the longest day of the year, reactionary politics, and other such shallow topics. When Tom takes a phone call, Jordan informs Nick that Tom's mistress is on the phone. Tom, known for his infidelities, makes no pretense to cover up his affairs. As Tom and Daisy work to set up Nick and Jordan, they seize the opportunity to question him about his supposed engagement to a girl back home. Nick reassures them there is no impending marriage, merely a series of rumors that cannot substitute for truth.
The next day Tom asks Nick to accompany him to the Yale Club. During the journey there was change in the course of the events and they leave the train and Tom went to his mechanic, George Wilson, to ask him about his car but he actually went there to invite mistress, George’s wife, Myrtle Wilson to get on the next train and meet him in his city apartment. On that evening it was the first time Nick got drunk and has no idea how he got back to his house.
The next day he got an invitation for one of the Gatsby’s extravagant parties he threw in which "men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." During the weekend, people flocked to his house for his parties, as well as to use his pool, his boats, his car, and so on. Nick went and it seems like he was the only one who got an invitation. Gatsby ask him for a favor to invite Daisy to his house for a tea. He later explained his relation and his lost love history with Daisy to Nick. Nick agreed.
After their first meet, they start seeing each other and make plans to live together in future. Daisy want to run away with Gatsby and leave her life. But Gatsby said to leave his husband and tell him that she never loved him. So they meet with Tom in the city and told him about his plans. So Daisy told him about what they discussed and that she never loved him. But Tom starts to make her realize how much he loves her and about the good time they had. Daisy start crying and Tom start to demoralize Gatsby that he is low life and that he can never be like him no matter how much money he will make. And at that moment Daisy was drawing further and further into herself and told Tom that she cannot stand it anymore. Tom tells them that why not they go home in Mr. Gatsby’s car. On the way back, Daisy was driving the car and when they cross by the Wilson’s garage Myrtle came out of nowhere. She mistook Gatsby as Tom as Tom was driving Gatsby’s car. Daisy ran over her. But they did not stop because Gatsby wanted to protect Daisy. When Tom came back and saw the crowd over there. He was keen to see what happened here so he found Myrtle was hit by Gatsby’s car. Tom tells Wilson that it was Gatsby’s car so Wilson replied; maybe he was the one with whom she was fooling around. Tom plotted the Gatsby as culprit saying “something ought to be done about a fella like that”.
Gatsby met with Nick and told him everything about the incident. Nick could not told him about what happened back there, all he manage to told him that he should  go away because he could be traced from his car. But Gatsby was sure that Daisy will call in the morning and they will go away together. The next morning Gatsby was in his lawn waiting for Daisy call but Daisy was long gone with Tom away from trouble. Wilson showed up at Gatsby’s mansion and killed him and himself, later on They pinned everything on Gatsby. The affair with Myrtle, the hit and run, everything, except the one and honorable fact, that nothing of it was true.
Nick tried to contact Daisy but all the means were blocked and he was told that they had gone away. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy .They smashed up things and people; and then retreated back into their money and their vast carelessness. He rang, he wrote, he implored, but not a single one of the sparkling hundred that enjoyed his hospitality attended the funeral. And from Daisy not even a flower.

                  SOCIOLOGOLICAL  ANALYSIS

GAME THEORY
CONFLICT THEORY
FUNCTIONLISM
LEARNING THEORY
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
LABELLING THEORY
STRUCTURAL STRAIN
SOCIAL EXCHANGE
CHAOS THEORY

Game Theory:

Game theory is a theory of social interaction, which attempts to explain the interaction people have with one another.
Elements of a Game:

The players.

1-Jay Gatsby   2-    Tom Buchanan

The strategies of each player.

Jay Gatsby: He threw large parties in hopes she would come here someday. He put Jorden to the task to help and convince Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy in Nick’s home. Then he showed his charm and wealthy ways to convince Daisy never loves Tom, it was Gatsby all along. He convinces to tell that to Tom and his marriage.

Tom Buchanan: while knowing the fact that Daisy was slipping through his hands, Tom made inquiries about Gatsby. He took them to New York where they had a conversation. He managed to put a seed in Daisy’s mind that Gatsby was mixed up with the Mafia and he wasn’t an Oxford man. After the death of Myrtle, he convinced Wilson that it was Gatsby in that car which hits her. And also Gatsby was the one having affair with her.

The consequences

Tom managed to win Daisy’s heart by making her feel safe. Gatsby was killed by Wilson and then he shot himself.

Conflict Theory:

Conflict theory emphasizes the role of coercion and power in producing social order. This perspective is derived from the works of Karl Marx, who saw society as fragmented into groups that compete for social and economic resources.

Social Stratification: (OLD MONEY -NEW MONEY -NO MONEY) 

In The Great Gatsby, there are two types of wealthy people. First, there are people like the Buchanan’s and Jordan Baker who were born into wealth. Their families have had money for many generations; hence they are "old money." As portrayed in the novel, the "old money" people don't have to work (they rarely, if ever, even speak about business arrangements) and they spend their time amusing themselves with whatever takes their fancy. Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and the distinct social class they represent are perhaps the story's most elitist group, imposing distinctions on the other people of wealth (like Gatsby) based not so much on how much money one has, but where that money came from and when it was acquired. For the "old money" people, the fact that Gatsby (and countless other people like him in the 1920s) has only just recently acquired his money is reason enough to dislike him. In their way of thinking, he can't possibly have the same refinement, sensibility, and taste they have. Not only does he work for a living, but he comes from a low-class background which, in their opinion, means he cannot possibly be like them.
People with no money convey a strong message. Nick, although he comes from a family with a bit of wealth, doesn't have nearly the capital of Gatsby or Tom. In the end, though, he shows himself to be an honorable and principled man, which is more than Tom exhibits. Myrtle, though, is another story. Daisy comes from the middle class at best. She is trapped, as are so many others, in the valley of ashes, and spends her days trying to make it out. In fact, her desire to move up the social hierarchy leads her to her affair with Tom and she is decidedly pleased with the arrangement.                                  

Feminist Theory:

 Feminist theory is one of the major contemporary sociological theories, which analyzes the status of women and men in society with the purpose of using that knowledge to better women's lives.
Many of the men in “The Great Gatsby” had served in WWI, and like their real-life counterparts, they returned from the war changed. They found the ideas and attitudes waiting for them at home to be representative of an outmoded way of thinking, and so they rebelled. The women at home, too, found post-war America to be too constrictive for their tastes. Many women had entered the workforce when the men went to war and were unwilling to give up the by-products of their employment — social and economic freedom — when the men returned from the war. In addition, the Nineteenth Amendment, enacted in 1920, gave women the right to vote, making their independence even more necessary.

Symbolic Interactionism:

The symbolic interaction perspective, also called symbolic interactionism, is a major framework of sociological theory. This perspective relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social interaction

Gatsby:

Gatsby values money above all.  Money and status is a symbol of getting everything in life. He spread rumors about being an Oxford man, explorer of Europe, War Hero, and that he belongs to a wealthy family.

TOM: 

 He was proud of his achievements and of his social status. He thinks of him greater than Gatsby because of his high class background.

Myrtle:

 She belongs from the low class background and for to move up to a better class of lifestyle she had an affair with Tom and she is decidedly pleased with the arrangement .She has distanced herself from her moral obligations and has no difficulty cheating on her husband when it means that she gets to lead the lifestyle she wants.                                                                                                                                                                

Functionalist Theory:

Functionalism interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole society. Society is more than the sum of its parts; rather, each part of society is functional for the stability of the whole society.
Like every story if there is a hero, there has to be a villain for story to be functional like in the great Gatsby apparently Gatsby played a negative role by being involve in the organized mob mafia and illegal activities and all his wealth came from wrong means and there is a tom who had inherited everything he had from his ancestors and living a peaceful life.
 Tom marriage is another example, tom got bored with Daisy and for marriage to be functional he had an affair with his mistress Myrtle. And with Gatsby’s involvement in their life made him realize that how much she means to him.                                                                                                                                          

Labelling Theory:

Labeling theory begins with the assumption that no act is intrinsically criminal. Definitions of criminality are established by those in power through the formulation of laws and the interpretation of those laws by police, courts, and correctional institutions.
When Myrtle got killed by Daisy by Gatsby’s car everybody suspected that it was Gatsby who was driving the car. In order to get rid of Gatsby he portrayed him as a bad guy who would stop at nothing to get what he wants. Tom convinced him that he was the one having an affair with his wife and that’s why he killed her, and that the world would be a better place without a man like that. After his death they pinned everything on him the affair, the murder.                                                                                            

CHAOTIC THEORY: 

Chaos theory aims to find the general order of social systems, and particularly social systems that are similar to each other. The assumption here is that the unpredictability in a system can be represented as overall behavior, which gives some amount of predictability, even when the system is unstable.                  

Butterfly effect: 

The idea that even the slightest change in the starting point can lead to greatly different results or outcomes.
When they decided to go to city, Tom takes Gatsby’s yellow Coupe. When he decided to re-fill Myrtle saw him in that Gatsby’s car. On their way back, Daisy was driving Gatsby’s Coupe, Myrtle took him as Tom and came in front of car from nowhere, and got ran over, which lead to series of misconceptions hence resulted in Gatsby’s and Wilson’s death.
World war can also be considered here as an initial change in the life of Gatsby and Daisy. If it wasn’t for War, they might have a life together.                                                                                                      

Personal Experience and Conclusion:

The Great Gatsby is a classic piece of American fiction. It is a novel of triumph and tragedy, noted for the remarkable way Fitzgerald captured a cross-section of American society. It gives us the insight of the true nature of people of how selfish they are. Everybody in this life is for himself .Emotions like love are outdated, all they care about is money and status and everybody is becoming materialistic and the things are mattered to them not emotions and feelings. They don’t care that if anybody is hurt as long as they are happy and they have everything for them. Rich people use poor as their pawn and don’t care for the collateral damage they are doing to them .And poor people use violence and illegal ways to fit in the society.
The Great Gatsby presents a harsh picture of the world he sees around him. The 1920s marked a time of great post-war economic growth, and Fitzgerald captures the frenzy of the society well. Although, of course, Fitzgerald could have no way of foreseeing the stock market crash of 1929, the world he presents in The Great Gatsby seems clearly to be headed for disaster. They have assumed skewed worldviews, mistakenly believing their survival lies in stratification and reinforcing social boundaries. They erroneously place their faith in superficial external means (such as money and materialism), while neglecting to cultivate the compassion and sensitivity that, in fact, separate humans from the animals