The Great Gatsby Pgs. 1-12

So, I started reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Right off the bat, I'm feeling definite parallells to The House of Mirth. Both of these books seem to be centered around the wealthy of New York, and seem to take place within a gap of close to 30 years. I'm wondering what else was going on in New York at the time, or even better yet, the rest of the United States. I feel like we are getting a fairly narrow view of the time, because we are focusing primarily on the wealthy. I think it would be nice to see the struggles of the poor at the time, or how the working class was getting through the period. That being said, Gatsby does seem to read more easily than Mirth. I like that the diction of Gatsby is more easily comprehended, and that it seems to move with more purpose. F. Scott Fitzgerald does a great job with imagery in this story. One quote that I found reads, "The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house" (Fitzgerald, 8). I am enjoying the story and wondering where it will lead me.