While both the men are exceptionally wealthy they came into money very differently. Gatsby had to lie and cheat for his money in his later years of his life and Tom was born into prosperity. Tom makes it very clear to Gatsby in the novel that wealth is “in his blood,” causing Gatsby to work even harder to win back Daisy. Gatsby is a very friendly and
The True American Hero In James Fenimore Cooper’s novel Deerslayer, he illustrates the idea of an American Hero and shows the qualities that this person must acquire. Through the figure Deerslayer, Cooper creates an archetypal American Hero who depicts the many facets of Cooper’s ideas. Throughout the story Deerslayer always acts properly and bravely in the situations he faces. A figure that illustrates Cooper’s ideas of the ideal American Hero always stands up for justice, though he does not fight when one shouldn’t. Also, Deerslayer exemplifies this mentality by always doing the morally best things for society as a whole.
The boss only demands respect through how much money he has, and how he appears. More deeply, the boss represents the upper class of society working to keep the lower class in their place. Furthermore, Slim is described as: “He held a crushed Stetson hat…Like the others he wore blue jeans and a short denim shirt…His authority was so great that his word was taken on by any…” (pp. 33). Slim demonstrates the kind of man or god-like figure that the men would love to be.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald connects his characters to how American business works and makes his readers question what they find important. Jay Gatsby’s love for Daisy is a mask for his true love of money and social status, which ultimately leads to his lonely death. The extreme desire and belief that Gatsby has to better himself economically proves he not only looks to accomplish the American Dream but he is a symbol of the American Dream. Even from an early age, money was on Gatsby’s mind. The schedule he makes for himself, “General Resolves: No wasting time at Shafters or [a name, indecipherable].
However, the wealthy are simply pursuing more material gains. The old money people have never had to work for their wealth, they were born into it. The new people, however, started at the bottom and worked to achieve the financial luxuries that they enjoy. Many of the old money people earned their wealth through the accepted rules and devices of the American dream; whereas some of the new money people have attained their wealth through illegal means that have led to a corruption of the original idealistic American Dream of the past.
Augustus seems to rule with his wealth and influence over the people, and those in government positions. In my opinion he is more focused on keeping the Aristocracy happy, for as according to Crone in her examination of pre-industrial societies, the holders of wealth are the key to maintaining leadership and order. Michael Haukaas made an excellent statement as well saying “Himself being wealthy is not enough, as evidence by the war following the death of his father at the hands of Brutus et all”. This statement shows how Augustus also had control over the soldiers as well as the power of his wealth. Just like the podcasts mentioned, Augustus was a powerful man due to his financial stability and the fact that he had made a lot of loyal and close friends with the men of elite
He appears to feel that he is loving and the "most important man" in their lives, although the audience can see that at different stages throughout the play, he was uncaring to both of them. Gerald Croft represents Capitalism. He’s from a wealthy background so he treats women uncaringly because his focus is on money and social status rather than emotional feeling. From the start of the play, Gerald is presented as having capitalist believes. We see this demonstrated when he agrees with Birlings treatment with Eva Smith.
Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby requires a basic understanding of the social classes; this includes their status, which pertains to their wealth, leading to their popularity among true peers. The narrator, Nick Carraway, personally realized that even with all the wealth and all the popularity in the world, discrimination and prejudice due to social status would never completely fade away. Yet, to the opposing extreme, one with all wealth and highest social status would not achieve true bonds with one another. “…I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.” (Fitzgerald 17). In other words, basic respect and appreciation for one another is, naturally, distributed unevenly, the richer the more honored, the poorer the more prejudice.
Max Weber – Argued that owning property, such as factories or equipment, is only part of what determines a person’s social class. Social class for Weber included power and prestige, in addition to property or wealth. People who run corporations without owning them still benefit from increased production and greater profits. Prestige and Property Weber argued that property can bring prestige, since people tend to hold rich people in high regard. Prestige can also come from other sources, such as athletic or intellectual ability.
However, the development of new types of values, such as individualism, introduced changes throughout the Victorian Era. The idea of the self-made man became dominant in the middle class and the idea was that “if they work hard enough, all men can become wealthy”. And some people from the middle class did get rich and even joined the elite family. Middle- classes Victorians were also very prudish, and they believed that people could be easily tempted to stray from proper behavior. They were also extremely materialistic.