F. Scott Fitzgerald : " Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me "

Sexual decadence at the top of society is no surprise to American socialists even a century ago . Some great American writers got a whiff of it and this made vivid scenes in their novels : [ “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different. ” ] F. Scott Fitzfgerald. The tragedy of trying to be one of THEM is the main theme of Theodore Dreiser's classic " American Tragedy " .