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Choosing Money Over Happiness in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzigerald

Decent Essays

“I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love.” – The Beatles. The Beatles would choose happiness over money, would you? Most people would probably not think about it and choose money, but a few would choose happiness. In this theme paper, Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and Daisy Buchanan show us that dissatisfaction and the want for more can lead to worse things.

Jay Gatsby was one of the richest people in West Egg. He had everything that he could ever ask for, but he still wasn’t happy. Jay Gatsby thought that he had to be rich to be with Daisy, but he was wrong. He told Daisy that he wanted to make something of himself before they got married. Well, Jay ended up going to fight in the Great War. Jay made a mistake by not marrying her in the beginning. She didn’t want to wait for Jay to make something of himself and ended up marrying Tom Buchanan. On page 65, it says, “After that I lived like a young rajah… trying to forget something very sad that happened to me long ago.” When Jay says, “something very sad”, he means not marrying Daisy. After Daisy married Tom, Jay bought a house across the bay from Tom’s. He also threw huge parties in hope that Daisy might one day come to one of them. It is very clear that Jay wants Daisy, and that he is willing to do anything to get her back. On page 98, it says, “James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it…at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career.” James Gatz was not

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