Wealth In The Great Gatsby

Gatsby is a “poor boy trying to remake himself” (McClurg). Gatsby comes from an impoverished family, so he leaves his family and starts looking for success. His first chance at being rich is when Dan Cody leaves him some wealth. Unfortunately, Cody’s wife refuses to give it him, so Gatsby makes it his goal to get rich without Cody’s help. Gatsby serves in the Great War then he joins the bootlegging business. The bootlegging business turns Gatsby to a really wealthy man. He becomes “mister nobody… who rise up out of the crowd” (McClurg). Gatsby tries to fit in with rich people by throwing extravagant parties, buying a personalized car, and lying about his background. Despite of all his generosity at his parties, people usually “came and went without having met Gatsby” (Fitzgerald 41). Additionally, his desire to be an upper class comes from his love for Daisy. For instance, Jordan Baker tells Nick that “Gatsby bought [his] house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 78). Gatsby wants to show his wealth to Daisy and prove to her that “he has been cured of poverty” (Pidgeon 180). Nevertheless, Daisy leaves Gatsby “standing… in the moonlight – watching over nothing” (Fitzgerald 145). Gatsby’s hard work is all for nothing. Readers can infer that Daisy picks Tom over Gatsby due the fact that he does “not belong to the right club [class]” (Pidgeon 178).

​Nick Caraway moves from Minnesota to the West Egg neighborhood on Long Island to pursue a career in the bond industry. He lives in a tiny house wedged between large, expansive mansions. His neighbor, Jay Gatsby, is a well todo man with a mysterious past. Everyone in town knows Mr. Gatsby for his huge wild parties, but no one is quite sure where he has acquired his wealth. Across from Gatsby’s mansion, Nick’s cousin Daisy lives with her husband Tom Buchanan. Daisy and Tom have a complex relationship where neither of them are happy, but they will not separate even though both have been unfaithful. Tom has a mistress in the city whom is not unbeknownst to Daisy. Gatsby and Daisy have a romantic history from when Gatsby was in the army. This is the motivation behind Gatsby’s desire to acquire all his wealth. Gatsby throws his parties in an attempt to get Daisy’s attention, but Daisy is completely unaware that he is her neighbor until Nick brings them together. Though Nick is not a considerably wealthy man himself, his relationship to the Buchanans, and now Gatsby, are enough to keep him relevant in the social circles of East Egg and West Egg. Nick’s connection to Daisy also makes him highly attractive to Gatsby as all he wants is some form of an interaction with Daisy and involving himself with Nick is an easy way for Gatsby to make his way into Daisy’s life again. Money is power in the Great Gatsby, as it influences everyone’s status, aspirations,

One of the most prominent themes or messages in the book The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald has to do with the meaningless aspiration for the superlative social class and wealth. This heavy theme is displayed by three ideas including, behavior of entitlement, tangible wealth, and the thirst for acceptance among the prominent.

While wealth can be quite alluring, the power associated with it can also shape one's opinions, morals, and overall humanity. Wealth is a significant factor in determining one's position in society, thus the eagerness to obtain more is correlated with the wish to hold a higher status. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, relates to this pursuit of riches and the social hierarchy attached to it. The story takes place during the height of the roaring 1920’s in New York City. Each character represents an economic sphere and has their own ambition for wealth; however, these characters, whether they fail or succeed, lose their humanity in the process. Fitzgerald utilizes the characters Gatsby, Myrtle, and Daisy to demonstrate that the desire for wealth leads to a process of dehumanization, in which morals and identity are displaced.

Gatsby realizes that life of the high-class demands wealth to become priority; wealth becomes his superficial goal overshadowing his quest for love. He establishes his necessity to acquire wealth, which allows him to be with Daisy. The social elite of Gatsby?s time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an enormously wealthy family, ?seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind.?(Lehan, pg.60) Nick describes Tom?s physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a ?hard mouth and a supercilious manner?arrogant eyes has established dominance over his face?always leaning aggressively forward?a cruel body?his speaking voice?added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed? (Lehan, p.61)

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

The desire for social pleasure was rampant in the roaring twenties and in The Great Gatsby. On the surface, Gatsby’s dream appears very materialistic. We’ve just talked about his fancy parties and his flash car. But if Gatsby’s dream was truly material, would he chase after Daisy? If his aim was purely material, he wouldn’t have been such a desperate romantic figure. We’re selling him a bit short here by accusing him of just wanting money. He is unsatisfied with his wealth, and pursues something greater – ‘true love’. Gatsby’s idea of ‘success’ was Daisy. Granted, you and I will agree that Gatsby could have done so much better. In fact, what does Daisy represent? Daisy has a symbolic name, and the way she gleams “in the sunlight” (pg 160) is merely a white façade covering her superficiality. The truth is, she and Tom are “careless people”, they “smash up things…and retreat into their money and carelessness…let other people clean up the mess they’d made” (pg 191). You may think Gatsby’s corrupt. However, clearly Daisy and Tom are the corrupt ones; they think they can do anything and everything, with the social influence and wealth they gained at birth. Daisy exploited Gatsby, his naive desire of “the golden girl” (pg 128), the ‘girl of his dreams’ – or so he believed. Fitzgerald also wanted a girl out of his league; Ginevra (Erbentraut, 2013). Very much like Daisy, Ginevra couldn’t be with Fitzgerald because of she was rich and cool and he

“Money can’t buy me love” (McCartney). This quote and many like it continually tell people that money is never the end to all means. With more and more power and knowledge coming to the poor, and the rich being allowed to have divergent thinking this ideology has grown. It has grown to the point where some may say that money and wealth are a detriment to happiness. This is seen with how the rich are often portrayed as people obsessed with trivial matters, and have no real meaning to their life. This can be seen in The Great Gatsby as well. Tom and Daisy, as the only main characters who were always from high wealth show this the most. Tom is an idiot, a jock “who [reached] such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything after

The narrator, Nick mentions that everybody had seen Gatsby's car (Gatsby 63), pointing to the fact that Gatsby flaunted the vehicle and by association his wealth, and Tom flying in polo horses from another city would obviously be outrageously expensive. At several points throughout the novel, Gatsby proclaimed that he was "A Son of God" (Gatsby 125); so Gatsby constantly held himself at a higher prestige than the rest of his peers. Other characters, such as Myrtle, have a lust for money. Essentially being of the middle class, Myrtle's attraction to Tom is not one based on love and affection. Rather, Tom represents something that Myrtle has never had, endless wealth and with this, Myrtle correlates happiness (Bumm 23). The lust for and obtrusive use of money by the characters is an obvious central theme throughout the novel, but as the text draws to a close Fitzgerald emphasizes that money cannot govern human emotions (Expose of America). Gatsby's money fails to entice Daisy away from her husband, and the death of Myrtle is an event that cannot be erased by any amount of money. More then anything, the ending of the novel reinforces to the reader that money is a superficial desire and that, inevitably, it cannot be responsible for bringing happiness or the fulfillment of a dream.

Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby’s relationship was damaged by their contrasting social classes, but also because he had a lack of status and wealth. In relation to this Daisy married Tom for his wealth and status not for his love, which suggests Daisy is a materialistic character is more concerned about her money and possessions than she is about intellectual and spiritual objects. “Gatsby is an idealist, he seeks for

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one… just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 1). Society is made up of two social levels of wealth, either you’re rich or poor. Not everyone is blessed to grow up in a rich family, people have fought their way through economics downfalls to reach the level of success they have now. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby we are introduced to a group of wealthy individuals living during the 1920s. What divides them apart is where they live, which is either in the West or East Egg. The cities are divided by social status and ideas, but help the reader understand the importance wealth took during 1922.

When reading The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby shows how on the outside a person could have everything in the world and be rich, but on the inside they have nothing. Throughout the book, The Great Gatsby different levels of wealth are portrayed in all characters, whether it be through parties, fancy cars, or clothes. For example Gatsby has spent most of his life designing his well known money empire that he has greatly relied on. This affects him in the future when he meets his long lost love Daisy.

Gatsby remembers Daisy as the pretty girl from North Dakota he fell in love with when he was in the military. He soon sees that she is different, although he denies it, even to himself. In order for Daisy to have a relationship with Gatsby, when they first meet he lies and says his parents are actually wealthy. This is the first example of how society dictates Daisy’s life. Because of her social status, Daisy must marry a rich man, preferably from old money, according to society. When Gatsby leaves, Daisy promises that she will wait for him, yet she instead marries Tom Buchanan, an extremely wealthy man who her parents approve of. Even when Tom cheats on Daisy, and she is fully aware of it, she refuses to leave him. She loves her status and money so much she will not give it up even at the expense of her happiness.

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.

Characters such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan can be seen as highly materialistic and driven by their hunger for money. As a woman of high-class, Daisy has no desire to break her marriage with Tom and abandons her status in society to be with Gatsby. This is illustrated when Jordan Baker explains to Nick how Daisy “cried and cried” right before her wedding after reading the letter from Gatsby, but the “next day at five o’clock she next day she “married Tom Buchanan without so much shiver” (Fitzgerald 36). This shows how materialistic Daisy is since she marries Tom in the spite of escaping a