Final answer:
In 'The Great Gatsby', Nick Carraway seeks to understand the wealthy elite through parties, while Tom Buchanan uses possessions and social gatherings to assert and affirm his superior social standing. Both characters showcase the significance of wealth and possessions in establishing social status in the 1920s.
Step-by-step explanation:
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the characters Nick Carraway and Tom Buchanan reflect the importance of social status achieved through possession and gatherings. Nick is new to the East and is fascinated yet repulsed by the ostentatious display of wealth and conspicuous consumption that defines Tom's world. For Nick, attending lavish parties is a way to fit in and understand the lives of the wealthy elite, although he often remains an observer rather than a participant in the social stratification that Tom represents.
Tom Buchanan, on the other hand, wields his wealth and possessions as evidence of his superiority. The grandeur of his home, his social circle, and his public affairs all serve to solidify social bonds among the wealthy class and distinguish his high social standing. He uses his possessions and power not only to define his place in society but also to exert control and to ensure his ongoing dominance.
Both characters illustrate how social status in the 1920s was intricately linked to displays of wealth at public gatherings and through ownership of expensive commodities. Social standing was leveraged by characters such as Tom to maintain a lifestyle far removed from the strife of the working classes, creating a segregated society by class.