Selfish People

“I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultiv” -Dalai Lama

The Great Gatsby is set among wealthy, educated people, who have lots of leisure time, and they don't care about anybody else that don't meet their social standards. In this novel, nobody is concerned about politics or spiritual matters, everyone just cares about their social lives and what everybody thinks of them. Those in the middle class and below, envy those who are rich and have everything that they wish and don't have.

Jay Gatsby, the wealthy man in the novel, cannot fake education or social behaviors that only come with "old money." The novel's two main locales, West Egg and East Egg, are distinguished also by class. East Egg represents "old money" while West Egg represents the wealthy and very rich people. East Eggers consistently look down on West Eggers for precisely this fact. Class and wealth play a big part , but if a person lacks education, then he is clearly not part of the upper class people.