When Pride and Prejudice comes across with the Great Gatsby?

       Pride and Prejudice is a book that obviously reflects the Old World that Gatsby pursued. The story was based on 19th century Britain when traditional aristocracy was greatly celebrated. The social milieu was class divisions between nobility and commoners, which one’s family connections and career affected one’s status. P&P talks about the middle-class Bennet family which have five unmarried daughters. Mrs. Bennet is anxious on their marriages and urges them to marry rich men. Her wish comes true when two of the main characters, her daughters Jane and Elizabeth marry two young gentlemen, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, although people around，especially their powerful relatives strongly protest on breaking the underlying social rules：nobles shouldn’t degrade themselves, which means they need to marry people from the same class.

The Bennet family

The Great Gatsby and P&P have some common themes, which most significant are the role of class and materialism. Meanwhile, these two elements are also factors that affect the main characters’ consideration for their marriages. For example, Elizabeth in P&P afraid of being gossiped by others of marrying a higher class; Daisy in the Great Gatsby married Tom just because he is relatively affluent. This shows the importance of keeping sublime status of nobility by avoiding intermarriage with commoners and having a comfortable life with abundant wealth in the past.

Under the feudal hierarchy, the British society was ruled by wealth and power. People strived to attach to the dignitaries to gain more benefits. Mrs Bennet is interested in letting one of her daughters to marry Mr. Bingley just because she heard he is wealthy. She knows nothing about his characters. 

``What is his name?''

``Bingley.''

Mr Bingley in the movie(Simon Woods as Mr Bingley)

``Is he married or single?''

``Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!''

``How so? how can it affect them?''``My dear Mr. Bennet,'' replied his wife, ``how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.'' (p.6,P&P) This shows Mrs.Bennet is actually wanting her girls to marry to money. Mrs.Bennet wants her children to improve their social status or just to give others the impressive that they are from the high society. Also, the Bennet’s estate is entailed, which means her daughters will have nothing when Mr.Bennet dies.

In order to meet Mr. Bingley, they went to the Netherfield Ball. It is a social event that both nobilities and middle class participated. Mrs.Bennet forced her daughters to participate to meet gentlemen. It is an only way for women to speak to men they want to know in the conservative society. 

the Netherfield Ball

                 “The evening altogether passed off pleasantly to the whole family. Mrs. Bennet had seen her eldest daughter much admired by the Netherfield party. Mr. Bingley had danced with her twice, and she had been distinguished by his sisters. Jane was as much gratified by this as her mother could be, though in a quieter way. Elizabeth felt Jane's  pleasure.“(p.13,P&P) 
Mrs. Bennet is happy that Jane is admired by Mr.Bingley who is well-off because she thinks Mr.Bingley is possibly going to marry Jane such that Mrs.Bennet relieves on Jane’s life. A good marriage can decide a woman‘s life. Whether it will be prosperous or suffering depends on their husbands as women rarely work at that time. 

In the Great Gatsby, the vogue of marrying to the wealth exists too. Daisy’s marriage is a perfect example. She is reluctant to marry Tom. Tom acts as her safe path to keep her honor and quality of life because he is rich. 

“She began to cry – she cried and cried. I rushed out and found her mother’s maid, and we locked the door and got her into a cold bath. She wouldn’t let go of the letter. She took it into the tub with her and squeezed it up into a wet ball, and only let me leave it in the soap-dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow. “(p.76 GB) 
She is drunk because she is unhappy and confused. She reveals herself on indecision on the wedding day when she sees the letter from poor Gatsby. She is still in love with Gatsby. Her heart is separated into two parts: a part tempting her to follow her strong feeling to Gatsby, another part urging her to be realistic by marrying Tom to keep superior social and financial status. At last she chose the later action. This reflects that Daisy is in love with money more than Gatsby.

Gatsby and Daisy in the movie(obert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan.)

While Daisy gives up Gatsby due to his poverty, even when Gatsby becomes very wealthy, he is still being disdained. 

"I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out […] 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.”(p.130 GB) 
It is so sarcastic when Tom looks down upon Gatsby because of his impoverishment and class, not of having a relationship with his wife. This indicates that he cares more his high status than his wife. Daisy is just a complement and a performance tool in his rich life. Wealthy people get the most beautiful and ascendent women. He also describes discriminately the difference of classes as the difference between races, which demonstrates the solid concept of aristocracy dominance in the wealthy world. Gatsby’s new money earned from the New World is regarded as nothing. He gains no reputation or power, such that he is called Mr.Nobody.

While GB and P&P have common themes, their settings were completely different. GB is based on the US just after the Progressive Era and post WWI. There was a crash between conventional feudalism and the rising of newly rich people who are motivated by the American dream. People strived to improve their lives by creating possibilities through hardship and fortune. They had more financial freedom, i.e. earning money from the stock market and buying on credit. Pre-war values like hypocrisy and utilitarianism were overlooked. On the other hand, P&P is based on the old feudal society. There was clear class gradation. People from the lower class could hardly climb the social ladder. This formed a vicious cycle of poverty for the large population of the poor. One’s Social status depended on the number of lands one had. The King granted lands to the nobles and then the nobles hired the serfs to plant on the lands.

More information.

Pride and Prejudice concise book analysis:http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pridprej.html

The culture in the Old World(in Pride and Prejudice author,Jane Austen's period):http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.
Austen,Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Bantam Classics, 1983. Print.