In the novel The Great Gatsby, the titular character, Jay Gatsby, is obsessed with earning the affections of a wealthy woman, Daisy Buchanan, he had met five years before the beginning of the novel. He therefore adopted a luxurious lifestyle after having met and become infatuated with Daisy. Gatsby’s futile quest to be romantically involved with Daisy is also a quest to legitimize his wealth. Conversely, Not Sidney Poitier chooses to be romantically involved with Maggie Larkin without telling her that he is wealthy; however, she uses him to distance herself from her family because he does not appear wealthy and well-connected to her due to his skin color and lack of relations.
Jay Gatsby’s desire for Daisy, a wealthy woman he had met five years before the beginning of the novel, is based on her status. She grew up in money and privilege, and experienced what she refers to as her “beautiful white” girlhood (Fitzgerald 22). Daisy is therefore the perfect example of a woman from a family with “old money.” Members of families with “old money” tend to marry one another in order to consolidate their wealth and power. Tom and Daisy Buchanan “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 191). Gatsby is white, so he is capable of dealing with bootleggers and gamblers in order to become a relatively renowned member of the Nouveau Riche. However, wealth and racial privilege are not satisfactory. He wants to become a full member of the Vieux Riche (Old Money), the people with the greatest social and political capital. However, “Old Money” must be passed through generations, and “his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” (Fitzgerald 105). Hence, he throws elaborate parties for Daisy, a symbol of money that he believes will attract her. However, it becomes clear that Gatsby’s infatuation is one-sided. Gatsby watches the light at the end of Daisy’s dock each night (Fitzgerald 99). Daisy, however, does not even attend one of Gatsby’s parties. She only meets with Gatsby when Nick, a well-established member of her well-established family, invites her to tea at his home without mentioning Gatsby’s presence (Fitzgerald 86). Jay Gatsby is ultimately drawn in by the prospect of being a part, even an elicit part, of a family that would provide him with the status he so craved. He is rejected for the same reason that he is attracted to this dream, because he can’t feign his own status in the face of Tom Buchanan, who values antiquated ideas of “purity” that help him to maintain his “elite” status that cannot be worked into. He publicly lashes out against Gatsby, claiming that “nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white” (Fitzgerald 138-139). While Gatsby might be able to feign a position as a member of the Vieux Riche, his race and lack of established family members make his dream an impossibility.
Contrastingly, Maggie’s parents assume that he is not good enough for their daughter upon first being introduced to Not Sidney. Maggie uses the notion that Not Sidney is of improper social status in order to push herself away from her wealthy, well established family. However, Not Sidney is actually more established than Maggie is, as he possesses a large portion of his wealthy and well-known connection, Ted Turner’s fortune. Not Sidney is wealthy: wealthy enough for Maggie’s parents to want her to be with him once they find out about his wealth (Everett 145). While they had made racially charged comments about Not Sidney, calling his name “ghetto nonsense” (Everett 131), and had made passive aggressive comments toward Not Sidney about his race. In order to establish dominance over Not Sidney, Ward responds to Not Sidney’s comment that “[he] thinks hunting is stupid” with “hunting is a demonstration of man’s primacy in the order of nature” (Everett 132). In spite of not having the hunting experience he would need to claim this “primacy” for himself, Ward manages to posit the fact that he has never hunted as proof of his racial supremacy, slyly mentioning that “[he has] no desire to visit Africa,” and then asking if Not Sidney does (Everett 133). However, when Ward and Ruby find out that Not Sidney is rich, they decide to appeal to him so that he will continue to date Maggie. Ward tells Agnes that he “wants [her] to be nice to that boy upstairs” (Everett 145). Although Ward wishes to reap the benefits of Not Sidney’s wealth and social connections, his use of the demeaning and racially charged term “boy” in reference to Not Sidney indicates that he still views Not Sidney as an inferior. Although Not Sidney is wealthy and has valuable social connections, his skin color is still a societal barrier, especially when he interacts with those who don’t know of his financial status.
Jay Gatsby is rejected from the Vieux Riche once it is revealed that he does not have valuable social connections attached to his wealth, while Not Sidney is assumed to be low on the socio-economic ladder until it is proven otherwise. Both characters will never be fully accepted due to the narrow definition of “elite” used to keep very specific members of society in this “elite” role. However, Not Sidney’s race is more visible than Jay Gatsby’s lack of established family. While Gatsby can throw parties when various members of the Nouveau and Vieux Riche, Not Sidney’s race put him in increased danger of assault and discrimination outside his niche social circle.
%MCEPASTEBIN%