"there is a hierarchy of classes, and the manners and traditions learned by each class in childhood are not only different but generally persist from birth to death...It is very difficult to escape, culturally, from the class into which you have been born" amzn.to/3qUTdKh
Gatsby: “The only respectable thing about you, old sport, is your money. Your money, that's it. Now I've just as much as you. That means we're equal.”
Tom Buchanan: “No. We were born different from you. It's in our blood. Nothing that you do or dream up will ever change that.”
Pierre Bourdieu posited the concept of “ease.” When you grow up in a social class and come to embody it, you represent its tastes and values so deeply that you exhibit "ease" within it. Impossible to learn as an adult. Bourdieu, like Fitzgerald, says you must be born into it.
"Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history. To interpret history from this viewpoint is historical materialism; standing in opposition to this viewpoint is historical idealism."
—Mao Tse-tung, Cast Away Illusions, Prepare for Struggle (1949)
Historical materialism is an idea from Karl Marx that the way societies are organized results from material conditions (e.g., economic forces) rather than ideals. Interesting considering the power of this very idea has had on the course of many societies marxists.org/reference/arch…
Mao's quote suggests that one has the ability to oppose his claim of historical materialism ("stand against"). Which means he believed ideals do in fact play some role in human affairs. Undermines his own ideology
Looks like at least 20% of Americans who grow up rich become working class or poor. Surely there must be some stories about these people and their experiences out there nytimes.com/interactive/20…
"people with dark personalities are more likely to broadcast or feign victimhood, perhaps to gain sympathy and other rewards, while also getting others to excuse their transgressions. Does Tony view himself as a victim? He does." unherd.com/2021/06/tony-s…
Zodiac's comment somewhere in the back of my mind as I wrote this
But that comment isn't totally right. When Dr. Melfi referred Carmela to her colleague and mentor, Dr. Krakower, he was blunt in his advice to Carmela to take the kids and leave Tony
More recent example is Kurt Cobain spreading the myth that he slept under a bridge as a teenager. Real story is he ran away from home for a while and slept in apartment buildings
Would estimate 80% of ppl in creative professions who claim hard luck stories (especially those who attended top colleges) had rich parents who could easily have bailed them out of any serious situation
"you must play a complex guessing game in which you act as though attending your Ivy League school were a Shameful and Horrible Secret, while simultaneously making it obvious which Ivy League school you attended...it’s about subtle class signaling." washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/…
Nick Carraway telling the reader, "I graduated from New Haven in 1915" is an early example of this
Buried signals communicate information only to intended recipients. Only those "in the know" would understand "Boston" is coded language. This allows the speaker to identify other insiders while not attracting unwanted attention or being seen as a snob