Unfortunately, there will always be a class system. People are constantly judged by the material things they own or are simply judged externally. The company has finally accepted being ranked and aspires to first place. No matter where we go, people seem to form classes or cliques, which begs the question of why we feel the need to constantly categorize ourselves according to society's standards. Novels are good representations of these rankings, because then you can examine this silly idea from the outside. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald examines class distinction in the 1920s and how it affects a person's rise to higher social classes in order to achieve the American dream. In The Great Gatsby, one of the settings we are introduced to is the Valley of Ashes, which is located between East and West Egg. There you will find Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan's mistress, as well as her husband George, owner of the gas station where Nick first met them. There is a great representation of the American dream in Myrtle. Myrtle has a very strong personality and she knows what she wants in life. She strives to be upperclass like Tom and Daisy, but this is unattainable. She pursues the “American dream” to the point of obsession. The first thing she does when Tom takes her to their house in town is change her dress and buy the town gossip magazine (Fitzgerald 31). Myrtle wants to be Daisy, she wants that position in life. She changes her clothes to try to fit this mold because she is greedy and dissatisfied with her life. On the other hand, her husband, George, is very happy with his situation in life. He is very naive in thinking that Myrtle is faithful and happy. When Nick repeatedly asks what Wilson ...... middle of paper ...... y, but he is unable to accept the past with its multitude of hope, which symbolizes his tragic flaw. The American dream cannot be achieved, it symbolizes the impossibility of the 1920s. There was so much dissatisfaction, unhappiness and lack of hope among most, except Gatsby, that the American dream was just a dream ; no one could understand it as a reality. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Collier Books, 1992. Print.King, Noel. "In the cinema and with 'The Great Gatsby', it's high class or class war." Walk. Marketplace, May 9, 2013. Web. February 25, 2014. Powers, Liza T. “Epic Grandeur and Gatsby.” Epic grandeur and Gatsby. Np, and Web. February 26, 2013. Roberts, Jonathan and Monica Wheelock. “The Not-So-Roaring Twenties.” Depression pre-depression. Np, November 18, 2008. Web. February 26. 2014.