The Role Of Wealth In 'Valley Of Ashes'

Novelists such as Willa Cather and F. Scott Fitzgerald used themes of desire of wealth as a fundamental element to motivate their characters. In their novels, the theme is reflected by the rich Americans who primal desire is to obtain more and more wealth. These characters are so infatuated with and blinded by money that they no longer regard the more noble qualities of life. In each of their works, these authors present intricate, self-conscious characters that desire wealth in order to attain their dreams. In reality, wealth cannot buy people, ideas or even time.

Wealth is a symbol because the two Black men think of wealth as security, not being hungry anymore, warmth, and HAPPINESS.” But wealth is a two-way street. The white man, Edward, thinks of wealth as something to waste, and UNHAPPINESS.

The society that is portrayed during this novel is neither happy nor sad. The citizens are glued to their "walls", or gigantic televisions, and live a life that is remembered by nothing of importance. True happiness as a society in this novel is the idea of living with a sitcom family, and the dream of adding more wall size televisions. People do not

Society associates wealth and pleasure with the American Dream. This causes the feeling of wealth being required in order to fulfill the Dream. In the novel, the American

People from all around the world have dreamed of coming to America and building a successful life for themselves. The "American Dream" is the idea that, through hard work and perseverance, the sky is the limit in terms of financial success and a reliable future. While everyone has a different interpretation of the "American Dream," some people use it as an excuse to justify their own greed and selfish desires. Two respected works of modern American literature, The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, give us insight into how the individual interpretation and pursuit of the "American Dream" can produce tragic

Thesis Statement: Throughout the narrative, Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols such as the Valley of Ashes, the green light and the eyes of TJ Eckleburg to indicate how greed, materialism and the loss of moral values in society contributed to the unattainability and corruption of the American Dream.

As a blue car approaches the speaker, he experiences anxiety to the point that it “made [him] sweat” (18). The speaker in this moment suddenly fears society’s judgment of him, and his judgment comes in the form of two children his age. The children appear to be arrogant toward the speaker, and they “smirk” at his situation and appearance (22). Standing on a roadside with blackberries in hand, the speaker realizes his “unfitness” in the money-driven world, and his ideal childhood setting is disheveled by the “smirk” of strangers (22). At this moment, society jolts the speaker out of his daydreams and into adulthood. Wealth and power seem to be illustrated in the speaker’s view of the passing car, and with the car, the speaker seems to compare his life of berry-picking to that of a comfort-filled automobile. The car, a sign of power in society, brings coldness into the speaker’s life through the portrayal of air-conditioning, and as a result, the speaker no longer “[limbos] between the worlds” of the rich and the poor (17). His mind realizes the children superiority, and he becomes aware of society’s standings at this early age. His place becomes final- just a poor boy selling

Thus, the green light, which represents the American Dream, is described to be out of reach despite Gatsby and society’s adamant attempts to attain it. Moreover, the valley of ashes is used to display the moral decay of the upper class, who carelessly splurge without consideration for others and resort to social discrimination to display their high social status. Therefore, as shown in The Great Gatsby, the principle of the American Dream has changed from striving for equality and happiness to striving for maximum wealth, ultimately leading to the failure of this unrealistic

Money is the supreme power of the world. Its immeasurable power and limitless influence has hacked into our society today, ruining our political democracy, our capitalistic economy, and our chances at achieving the American Dream. Money is handled differently between the rich and the poor. Money in the hands of the poor is spent on essential items necessary for survival, and since money is not abundant in the hands of the poor, every single penny is cherished as a gift from God. However in the hands of the rich, money is used to acquire more money. The urge to succumb to greed influences the rich to use any and all means necessary to grow their wealth, to grow their power, to grow their long lasting influence. We look up to the rich with awe for their ability to achieve the American Dream, but what we are blindfolded from seeing is the true rise to stardom, their true pathway to success. Not all, but some have achieved the American Dream through immoral acts and satanic deeds, swindling the desired ones from their exit of poverty or their chance to enter into reality. In the end of The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald revealed to us the true Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald teaches us that not all people achieve the American Dream immorally, giving the example of Jay Gatsby

Since the beginning, America has been a symbol of freedom, a symbol of liberty, a symbol of hope. The American dream is that no matter one’s background, he/she can work his/her way up to become wealthy and successful. However, in The Great Gatsby, Gatsby himself is failed by the American dream because of money. No matter what he does, he is unable to have Daisy because he cannot get away from the fact that he did not come from old money. This goes to show that wealth has the ability to corrupt the American dream. On top of that, when people constantly strive for wealth and rest so much of their worth in how much money they have, no one is ever satisfied, as is seen through people in West Egg. Overall, the negative effects of wealth to the American dream and to any society are clearly seen in The Great

Sometimes when one thinks of wealth, sometimes they think of all of their problems going away, and that everything in their life will suddenly be better. In some cases, this could be true, but in E Lockhart’s novel “We Were Liars,” that is not the case. This suspenseful Novel started off on a beautiful private island owned by a man named Harris Sinclair, whose family name was widely known for their wealth and power. This so called “perfect” family, surprisingly has way more problems than you would expect. Throughout this novel, Lockhart uses many symbols that represent the family and how they were affected throughout the story by their wealth. Even though there are many symbols, there was one major symbol in the story that was more important than the rest. E Lockhart uses Harris’s mansion, Clairmont, as a symbol of all of the family’s problems and shows how wealth and power can eventually lead a person to corruption.

Clare Boothe Luce once said, “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable when you’re miserable.” Wealth is the American dream, a goal many strive for, but what are they willing to do for it and at what costs? In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the film Chicago directed by Rob Marshall, their yearning for wealth leads many to make demoralizing decisions in order to succeed. Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in the novel, is a wealthy man who lives in a mansion on the rich side of the city. Gatsby was in love with a woman named Daisy who ,while he was at war, left him for a wealthy man. Hence the reason why Daisy became Gatsby’s American dream and so he worked his way up the social classes to win her back. In the film Chicago, Roxie, a married woman, had an affair with a man who had “connections” with those in the dancing/singing industry. He lied and, consequently, she ended up shooting him. In prison, Roxie’s case became the story of the century and aided her ‘fame’. Although these works demonstrate that the American dream is achievable, based on the character's success, after closer analysis it is clear that the American dream is only achievable through corruption.

     The corruption of idealism by wealth can be seen throughout the film, especially through the thoughts

Happiness symbolises a form of content, a form of satisfaction that can lead to several types of actions. In the Great Gatsby, happiness is portrayed in unusual forms with different characters, however every single character had some form of a Dream in mind. Fitzgerald juxtaposes his influence of T.S Elliot’s use of Valley of the Ashes showing poverty, decay and lost spiritualism with the rich life style of West Egg as he shows the wealth, parties and liveliness in this Egg. The Egg represents the symbol of birth and life, as well as the fragility of society and mainly the fragility of Dreams.

Furthermore, the idea of social stratification was also shown in the Montrie reading where the poor immigrants and Indian natives were both marginalized, while the elite class enforced laws on the lower class. Readings from Lawrence, McCarthy, and Rawson all introduced the concept of the “American Dream.” In Mccarthy, the American Dream was an ideology everyone hoped to achieve. Simultaneously, the Fordism movement began. During this movement, the industrialization of Ford Industry occured and cars become more affordable for the middle class and widely produced. However, the Fordism movement caused waste to produce rapidly. The Cadillac phenomenon, a part of the Fordism movement, caused people to choose their style and choice of car. This would cause planned obsolescence, this is when cars would age, and industries would produce new cars every year. The old cars wouldn’t go anywhere, and this required to the materials to be harvested to make new cars. Families strived to live in the suburbs were green space was available for leisure and cars were accessible. Ultimately, being unable to reach this new standard of living, the lower class effectively showed their status with their inability to buy cars or move to the suburbs. With the creation of the “American Dream,” it caused overconsumption because the upper and middle class wanted to achieve this new standard. This resulted in suburbias becoming so compacted limited the houses and green space to become less available.