The Role Of Money In The Great Gatsby

Nick longs to live the life of a millionaire, but for now the most he is able to do is to live next to one who represents his ideal life. Nick’s ideal world is one of money, and to him, Gatsby represents the life in which he thinks he would like to live. Nick demonstrates his admiration for Gatsby and his wish to be able to live that life when he says, “there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” bespeaking that Nick finds the wealthy to be “gorgeous” and that he represents everything Nick finds to be the ideal life. Nick finds wealth to be something fantastical and it is something he strives to attain for himself in order for him to live his ideal life. Nick believes himself to be in the pursuit of the ideal life in his new home in West Egg, and that to be wealthy is a life of ease in which there is little struggle, the ideal life.

I’m too poor” (19). Moreover, if Nick is a member of the establish rich, then why is he working for his money and why was he staying in a “weather beaten old cardboard bungalow” (4) that he shared with a complete stranger?

Sometimes, as the reader you can see his clear judgements towards other people. At different times Nick is oblivious to when he’s judging because it’s just his personality. Sometimes he doesn’t judge certain people but he’ll judge society without even knowing it. Nick’s character is really the only one who lives in reality. He understands this society when he states “They’re a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together”. Basically Nick is saying he hates the super rich people by saying they’re rotten. He says to Gatsby that he is worth more than all of them. By judging these “rich people” he's trying to cheer up Gatsby who just had his heart broken by Daisy, but he’s oblivious to the fact that he’s not being an honest man and that he’s just a judgemental person. Nick sometimes even judges himself and he doesn’t even realize it. It just the type of person he is. He’s judging himself on how small his house is, but he could care less because he lives next to millionaires. Nick states” I lived at West Egg, the – well, the least fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard … My own house was an eyesore, but it

Nick describes himself as coming from a prominent well-to-do family. He further goes on to describe himself as educated, and more used to the finer thing in life. He is a third generation rich person and is considered to fit into the group that he is describing.

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Nick is not the type of man that needs to be a millionaire to be happy with himself, but he still does not have that American Dream lifestyle. He does have friends and enough money to get by but he is struggling a little bit. His lifestyle is not the best but he is making it work. Fitzgerald uses tone word so well that the story paints a picture of Gatsby's parties for the reader.

In the story Tom and Nick are very different people. Nick is more of a middle class man while Tom is very wealthy. There are a few examples in the first three chapter that show this. The first example that shows there separation in wealth, is the different sizes in their houses. Nick lives in Lives in West Egg in a small cottage that used to be a servants quarters for the mansion neighboring his house. Toms house

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By no means were they as rich as the Buchanans or Jay Gatsby, but Nick’s father was wealthy enough to finance his first year moving to New York to work in the bond business. Nick attended Yale University, where he met Tom, and after graduating he fought in the war. Nick moved to the West Egg of New York, “the less fashionable of the two [Eggs], though this is a most superficial tag to expresss the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them” (Fitzgerald). The only difference between the two Eggs, is the people that reside in the neighborhoods. They are both incredibly rich areas, and Nick’s father is able to finance living their for a year. Nick lives a very comfortable life, going back and forth between his friends mansions, and working in the city as a bond salesman. For most of the novel Nick is enjoying life, with his many friends living the American Dream. However “for Nick, Gatsby’s death represents the debasement of the [American] dream” (Hickey). However, Nick was just emotionally struck by Gatsby’s death. The American Dream is about making something of yourself and taking risks. Nick took a huge risk moving to New York and making a career as a bond salesman. Not all of it worked out but he will get back on his feet and move on. That’s the American

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For as long as humans have had the concept of money we have always had people obsessed with it. Humans are naturally greedy, and when it comes to money we want as much of it as we can get. People are so focused on money because they feel it will bring them eternal happiness, however like anything, when you obsess over it you lose track of other important things. Richard Cory is a tale all about how you need to focus on more than just money if you want to achieve happiness. In the poem Richard Cory we see aspects of the community that help us understand the deeper meaning.

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