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6. The Value/Danger Of Wealth. These Few Words By John

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6. The value/danger of wealth These few words by John Chrysostom “Nothing is more fallacious than wealth. It is hostile comrade, a domestic enemy.” after reading The Great Gatsby. During Twenties, the nation’s wealth doubled. Was wealth the greatest “happiness” to pursue? The impact of wealth can display one’s true identity. In The Great Gatsby, wealth directly reflected the success of a person, but the pursuit of opulence twisted foundation of the American dream by resulting in greediness. Money enticed people into accomplishing a directive due to its great worth, which could potentially result in good consequences or bad consequences. Wealth can bring about high values and through those high values it could pose the threat of…show more content…
This is experienced in the book when Gatsby’s father was touring the house “his pride in his son and his son’s possessions was continually increasing” (Fitzgerald 172). That through his son’s money this was bringing him happiness, but this source of happiness was not the case for Gatsby. The value of wealth here accentuated the great danger of temporary happiness.
Gatsby was known as one of the wealthiest men in this book. But how did he gain all of his money? Throughout the book, Gatsby’s history is revealed. Before his wealth, he was a soldier in the war, which provided a low income. Daisy, who was Tom’s wife and had a previous relationship with Gatsby, left him because of his lack of wealth or income. Daisy was pursuing happiness through money. Her pursuit for love was based on how much money one had. Gatsby experiences a broken sense of happiness through Daisy’s marriage to Tom driven by her desire for wealth. In The Great Gatsby there was two different ways that wealth was gained - either inherited, the East Egg, or made, the West Egg. Many rumors pointed toward Gatsby gaining his wealth by being a bootlegger, a person who illegally smuggles drugs. At one of Gatsby’s parties, a group of people were gathering and talking about Gatsby and how “’He’s a bootlegger’” (Fitzgerald 61). It was later confirmed by Tom Buchanan that Gatsby
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