Essay about Money: A Privilege or a Curse? Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby shows the dehumanizing nature of wealth by creating a contrast between the rich and the poor. The point of this contrast is to illustrate the class struggle that was occurring in the country when Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby. The comparison between rich and poor is first developed in the beginning of the book when Tom and Nick are driving to New York. Fitzgerald further elaborates on the gross differences between rich and poor when Gatsby manages to avoid a speeding ticket. Fitzgerald also uses popular songs from the time period, “Aint’t We Got Fun”, to build his case of the class struggle between the rich and the poor. Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby to try and illustrate the issues that were facing the poor

In the beginning of the novel, Gatsby is shrouded in mystery and all that is known about him is simple gossip. He appeared to be this complicated individual who threw glamorous parties and drowned in wealth and women. In reality, however, he is a lovesick young man who grew up in poverty, and became fabulously rich through organized crime, like selling

Ever since he was a boy his dream was to become rich, he had no other ambitions, he looked down on his parents (who were poor farmers); “His imagination had never really accepted them as his parents” (Fitzgerald 98). Furthermore, he believed in some twisted way that he was the son of God ; “Sprang from his platonic vision of himself. He was the son of God” (Fitzgerald 98) . When he is jobless and wandering the beaches, he sees a yacht , and the yacht belongs to Dan Cody a very wealthy old man. James “Jay” Gatsby sees this as an opportunity to leave behind his jobless and poor past and to start fresh, and this is the reason why he decides to warn him and save him, because he knew that if he did he would certainly receive a job and strike rich. Similar to Tom, he believed that if he showed Daisy his wealth and how much he really had that she’d run to him arms wide open, leaving Tom behind. Gatsby has a twisted view on his wealth and it makes him think much higher of

Wealth can develop a unique interpretation upon a person’s life and can impact their future. Wealth can be such a strong impact on someone that can determine whether they’re selfish or a given person. Wealth can definitely be overpowering and misleading, which could portray their true identity. In the historical fiction novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it shows us how misleading wealth can be in a person’s life.

Is your life revolved around how much money you have, what you can buy, or what you look like? In The Great Gatsby, the lives of the characters are revolved around the importance of money and the materials they own. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are two very important people that let their money control their lives, such as Daisy marrying Tom solely for is money so that she will be provided for her entire life. Gatsby is a prime example of all the wrong reasons of wanting to accomplish the American dream. He wanted to impress Daisy, so he lied and cheated his way to the top in order to prove to her that he was worth it, and now that he has money, he allowed it to take control of him and his true purpose. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald allows the

Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth. Ever since meeting Dan Cody, his fascination for wealth has increased dramatically. He even uses illegal unmoral methods to obtain hefty amounts of wealth to spend on buying a house with “ Marie Antoinette music-rooms, Restoration Salons, dressing rooms and poolrooms, and bath rooms with sunken baths.”

The sole reason Gatsby wanted to be wealthy was to win Daisy back. He did illegal things in order to gain his wealth, such as sell liquor during the prohibition. When he got wealthy, he had everything he could have wanted, except for

The world is full of powerful forces that control people from all corners of the globe, but one of the most powerful and far-reaching force is money. Money is something that controls multiple people's lives and their decisions, sometimes people revolve their lives around money. Just like in the real world, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, money is a large concept in the book and is a motivator for multiple characters. The Great Gatsby is about Nick as he follows the story of Jay Gatsby and his quest to gain money and uses theses riches to win over his past lover, Daisy. Gatsby is not the only character that uses money to get his way or is materialistic, as multiple

Now that he has Daisy, money no longer was a priority for him. Showing how money is idolized by humans but in reality it is not needed for us to achieve happiness. Gatsby, built up such a name and networth for himself because he thought having those would make it seem like his dream was achieved, but he really just wanted Daisy’s love. Since, he can't have her love he had just spent his entire life working towards what he was told was his dream but not achieving

Why is Gatsby untruthful and is he insecure about his past so he has to lie to convince others and himself that he is a very rich person and has alway been? Well from reading this line “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people- his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.” (Fitzgerald 98). This discomfort as a child could have lead Gatsby to be the very insecure person on the inside but on the outside he was falsely confident.

To impress Daisy and lead her heart back towards her one true love, Gatsby had to increase his wealth by any means necessary. Unfortunately, many people including Gatsby result to illegal methods when it comes to making a coin, and that's exactly what he did to suit her desires. Gatsby, out of love had to make risky sacrifices in order to achieve such a high level of wealth. He participated with the mob through various deals shown throughout the novel, and it was apparent that Gatsby had “connections” with some very important people such as Meyer Wolfsheim. His job was to traffic and distribute alcohol by illegal means. To prove to Daisy that he has the funds to be with her, Gatsby had to reach her social status through illegal means as he

His response here adds a lot to Gatsby’s character. First he says, “I lost most of it in the big panic — the panic of the war.”. As Nick asks him what business he is in, he quickly responds with “that’s my affair”. However, he then states “Oh, I’ve been in several things, I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I’m not in either one now.” Jay Gatsby’s wealth represents new money in the book. It embodies those who had humble beginnings and worked hard towards financial success. Tom Buchanan and Daisy represent old money, which includes people with large inheritances. We find out later in the book that Gatsby did not receive a large inheritance, and instead, he is involved in selling drugs. However, him stumbling upon his own words shows that he is trying hard to keep his image. By

Gatsby is introduced as a man who enjoys heyday of his power and success, and himself is purely driven by pleasure and expensive pursuits such as throwing grand parties, driving luxury cars and going out in his hydroplane. However, we rarely see how Gatsby work, only through those secretive phone calls and the gangster activity, people can infer that his wealth is based on some illegal activities such as criminality. Gatsby also seems to use a network of contacts in order to escape justice, as he presents a ‘name card’ to the policeman when he was caught

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

The clinging pursueing of his dream and the spirit of devoting himself exceeds the mundane love between man and woman. In order to revive an old dream, he thrown himself in a way of illegal means to get wealth with no hesitated. He is a bootlegger. Worse, he seems to hide other more sinister secrets. But then, he showed no interest in the wealth itself and never indulged in dissipation. How to explain this? From the beginning of this novel, the relater declared that he would never appraise someone easily, but he was assured and bold with justice when cryed that:"They are a rotten crowd, you're worth the whole damn bunch put together. " to Gatsby.This is just the key point to answer why Gatsby is so great. His soul is suffering, but he never regrets.