Mobility

Throughout F.Scott Fitzgerald’s, “The Rich Boy”, we observe as Anson Hunter moves in and out of such a title-- in other words, we observe shifts in his maturity, his economic means, and his social tendencies.  As we see in the following passage, Fitzgerald’s story suggests a mobility between classes and social dimensions:

“ Meanwhile, he plunged vigorously into all the movement and glitter of post-bellum New York, enticing a brokerage house, joining half a dozen clubs, dancing late, and moving in three worlds-- his own world, the world of young Yale graduates, and the section of the half-world which  rests on one end on Broadway. But there was always a thorough  and infractible eight hours devoted to his work in Wall street, where the combination of his influential family connection, his sharp intelligence, and his abundance of sheer physical energy brought him almost immediately forward. He had one of those invaluable minds with partitions in it; sometimes he appeared at his office refreshed by less than an hour’s sleep, but such occurrences were rare. So early as 1920 his income in salary and commissions exceeded twelve thousand dollars.” (Fitzgerald, 161)

We see mobility in several different ways in this passage. Firstly, there is the notion of existing in “three worlds”.  Not only does this stress that Anson is not pigeon-holed into one place in the system as Paul was in “Paul’s Case”, but it is interesting to note that the following list of worlds includes a “half-world” and a world vaguely labeled as “his own world”. By calling the “Broadway” world a half-world, Fitzgerald is suggesting that Anson does not consider that to be necessarily a real part of his life, or a part of his life that can have consequence on other parts of his life. However, as the story progresses, we see that it does in fact ultimately affect his relationships, and who he is as a person. Additionally, by not adding a specific description to “his own world”, Fitzgerald suggests that Anson’s “world”, or in other words his place in the infrastructure, is not something that can be clearly defined or pinned down.  

Another place where we see mobility is in the description of Anson moving forward in his job. The mere fact that he is going somewhere indicates mobility. However, there is also the reason’s why he is moving up-- reasons that are various and not completely connected to birth. Also, there is the final mention of his salary, a device that we see Fitzgerald use throughout the story as an indicator of where Anson is in “The Rich Boy” scale. 

The question that I pose for discussion is: How do the different parts of Anson’s life affect each other, and what message is Fitzgerald trying to convey with this idea of multiple worlds?