Money: Power or Happiness?

In chapter 8, Gatsby reveals to Nick what his life was truly like. While reading about Gatsby's past the read comes to realize how much he changed just for one person. Gatsby was actually born James Gatz, a man from a poor family who had fallen in love with Daisy. With the love that James had for Daisy he was willing to give her up to try and better himself for her. James had known that the only way he could be with her, was if he was wealthy. When analyzing this chapter, we truly see how much James had changed himself and left his family just so he could have money to be with the women he loved. Now it seems to be something romantic, however one should not to gain more wealth to be with someone. The reader will read more and find out that, however Jay Gatsby had actually bootlegged to earn more money. It seems to be that Gatsby had been worried about his social status just to have Daisy back.

One of the major topics that can be explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth. Fitzgerald uses physical location – setting- as a sort of short-hand for the various aspects of American society he wants us to care about. West Egg represents the newly wealthy, the gaudy and improper; East Egg represents the moral hollowness of old wealth, prim and proper but corrupt. New York stands for the pursuit of pleasure, while the Valley of Ashes represents the social and moral decay that has resulted from the unfettered greed and gluttony of society’s uber-rich. Gatsby was not ready and prepared for the corrupt world when he joined West Egg. He is constantly surrounded by evidence of the unhappiness that success can bring. Daisy and Tom’s marriage is an example for this symptom. It is full of deceit and lies and they are both looking for something different and greater. Gatsby is blinded by the fact that money cannot buy love. Therefore, there is a reason it is said that “money cannot buy happiness” - not that rich people aren’t still going to try in Fitzgerald’s novel. As a result, money is not everything, but for certain people it seems like materialism is. Daisy chose money over love when she chose to marry Tom over waiting for Gatsby. She ends up with a cheating husband and with all the money in the world, but no real happiness or sense of fulfillment. Her attempt to find happiness in her material possessions is typical for such

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby details the tribulations that come with being immensely rich or extremely poor. One such example is the original decision by Daisy to bypass Gatsby and instead get married to Tom. Later on in the book, it is revealed that Daisy was in love with Gatsby and he was in love with her, but they couldn’t get married, primarily because they occupy different social strata (Fitzgerald 151). She instead marries Tom and immediately regrets it. Fitzgerald crafted this situation to make commentary on how money and the need to be around it, can cause people to cut

Jay gatsby is a man who no one really knows personally so when Gatsby starts to open up and talk to him Nick does not really know if he should believe what he is saying. When Gatsby starts to tell Nick about his love for daisy and how he wants to be married to her again Nick tries to make it easier for them to get together. Gatsby has been trying to show Daisy how much he loves her but Daisy just is not sure that she loves him the same way she used to when they first met. Jay Gatsby did some things that could get him in trouble to live a life that most people wanted to live. Although Jay Gatsby obtained all the money he ever needed, he never reached his goal of having daisy as his own.

The American Dream was the vision that brought many people to America to start a new life in a strange and foreign land. This vision or dream is a common discussion topic by modern writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on Long Island in the summer of 1922. On the surface, it seems that the novel is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman, but the masterpiece major theme is about the American dream. The author writes about a man who takes the dream too far and becomes unable to distinguish his false life of riches from reality.

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

Throughout the modern era, society’s views on money’s effect on a person’s emotions have drastically changed. Many people believed that the more money a person has, the more satisfied he or she will be. However, due to recent conclusions made by writers and case studies, money has proven to not be responsible for a person’s contentment. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Gatsby’s wealth ultimately shows the reader that money does not equal happiness.

Everybody strives to earn it, those little green things in your wallet. Green is associated with good and happiness; above all, things of desire. Nevertheless, it doesn’t truly make you happy with your life and most importantly, yourself. In the fictitious novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the characters who have money at their disposal are constantly looking for something else to fulfill their longing to have a meaningful life. Despite it’s problem-solving reputation, money isn’t what it’s chalked up to be, the characters with excessive money aren’t sincerely happy with their lives. Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jordan Baker and never satisfied with their m0ney. Fitzgerald’s characters never seem to connect their feeling of never being satisfied with their infinitesimal amount of happiness.

Jay Gatsby’s dream was to spend his life with Daisy Buchanan, but the only way he could ever be with her was if he had money. He knew that if he did not have money Daisy would not even consider him. Gatsby obtained great wealth through illegal activities such as bootlegging. “He and this Wolfsheim bought and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (133). Gatsby also lied about how he obtained his wealth because he knew that Daisy would not approve of his life style. He said, “My family all died and I came into a good deal of money” (65). He would throw lavish parties to attract Daisy’s attention. He thought that if she saw his wealth she would fall in love with him again and leave her husband Tom. Gatsby had a purpose for living and he moved right

As the opposite of Daisy, Gatsby “remained faithful to an ideal love for five years” (Seiters). Daisy comes from a good family and is also a very beautiful girl who has a strong desire for love and that may only be the reason she married Tom instead of Gatsby. She was scared that Gatsby did not come back so she did not want to wait any longer. Tom and Gatsby are two very different people, Gatsby wasn't rich all his life he had even changed his name, “Jay Gatz--that was really, or at least legally, his name” (Fitzgerald 98). He sailed with his mentor Dan Cody who had taught him to speak and act like a well educated gentleman. Knowing that it allow him to have a good reputation in high societies. With Gatsby's ability to make friends in the city he became a criminal who used him to sell bootlegged alcohol, basically a drug dealer. Gatsby is what they call new money which means he has to show off and prove to the world that he is rich, for example to his parties he wears extravagant suits with gold ties and drives an eye-catching yellow car “Gatsby's car is an adolescent's dream, the very vehicle for one who formed his ideals as a teenager” (Seiters), all this is done to get Daisy’s

Richard M. DeVos once said, “Money cannot buy peace of mind. It cannot heal ruptured relationships, or build meaning into a life that has none.” This quote demonstrates how people believe that money is everything and that it is the key to happiness, but you cannot fix everything with it. You are not a better person just because you have it, you are the same as a poor man just with money. Many wealthy people use money to their advantage, thinking people look up to them, or that they can get away with whatever they want just because of what they have in their pocket. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the characters use money for happiness and to brag. Although there are many characters that are similar to each other, Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are the most alike in the story, but they also have

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the reader is exposed to a volley of rich characters that, at first, appear to be content with life or on the path leading there, but through the course of the book, are shown to be less self-confident and well off than originally thought. Fitzgerald does this by initially, as mentioned before, introducing several characters who appear to have all they need to be happy in life— money; however, through episodes in the book such as the flashbacks to the past stories of Gatsby’s upbringing where we see his initial sad state, the several romantic issues through the book, and finally, Gatsby’s self-contemplation in the pool. Ultimately, Fitzgerald teaches an important lesson that getting full satisfaction

As human beings, what takes priority in life? Is it money? Money often drives people’s behavior. People don’t realize that it’s not necessary to be wealthy to enjoy life and live happily. Many of the characters portrayed in The Great Gatsby, displayed their desire for money throughout the book. Each character had a different outlook on money, but they each had something in common, they all wanted to acquire more. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the characters’ and community’s obsession, perception, and attitude toward money was prevalent.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of The Great Gatsby, he creates an artificial world where each character’s sole purpose in life is money, and the essence of desire is wealth. It is clear within the text that the characters feel as if they are totally limited by the amount of money they make, therefore, their view of being satisfied and achieving in life is depicted against their financial status. Poverty limits decision and action. The novel is set in the 1920’s when the newly founded ‘American Dream’ was being strived for, the idea that if one worked hard, they would ‘reap’ the rewards, no matter their

In the award winning book, The Great Gatsby, some of the characters are unsatisfied with their lives, whether they were rich or poor, employed or jobless, had a good reputation, or bad, their families, and even their personal histories. Those who have read the excellently written book, most of the characters are pretty wealthy. People tend to think that happiness if having what they want physically, like goods and money. But even the wealthiest people tend to be depressed or unhappy with the life they have. Characters in that category include Mr. Wilson, Daisy, and Mr. Gatsby himself. Happiness isn’t acquired by wealth, it’s acquired by love and being able to be content and stable with their daily lives.