Why Is Wealth Important In The Great Gatsby

Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.

In Gatsby’s mission to attain wealth, power, and status he loses sight of his morals through his “dealings” with various shady people that are rumored to be lucrative and illegal. The extent of Gatsby’s criminal activities is confirmed by Tom Buchanan one hot summer night when Tom shares that Gatsby and “Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores…and sold grain alcohol over the counter,” (133) an illegal venture during prohibition. In addition to Gatsby’s business investments, his obsession with winning Daisy clouds his mind with thoughts of inspiring her to leave her husband and abandoned her child. Nick believes Gatsby would “want nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you,’” (109) and prove her marriage was a sham.

At the turn of the 19th century also known as the Gilded Age, many immigrants came to the United States looking for opportunities to live a new life that they were not able to live back home. Many of them may have had hopes of finding a miraculous career that would bring them fame and fortune just like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan did. But in reality it was not as glamorous and prosperous as it may have seemed to be. Instead it was filled with greed and corruption. Although the United States experienced an economic boom, it created an extremely wealthy upper class. Thus only widening the wealth gap between the rich and poor during this era.

The want for wealth saturates everyone’s mind at one point or another. Almost everyone dreams of having the large mansion near the beach, the multiple cars, etc., but this money does not just come, it either has to be inherited or earned. During the 1800s, most wealth was inherited, but there were a few self-made men that worked their way from the bottom to the top in order to become wealthy. One man in particular influenced wealthy men to come like Andrew Carnegie and Rockefeller. He was able to begin many of the ideas brought about during the Gilded Age because not only was he a major influence in society, but he greatly changed the economy and the industries he was involved in during that time. Lastly, he modernized commerce for

Gatsby had no home and no money for food, so, he would try to get any job he could find so he had food and somewhere to sleep for the day. Gatsby was also an emotional wreck to a point that it would haunt him in his sleep. After, when the two met, Gatsby’s world changed in front of his eyes, “To young Gatz, resting his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world…At any rate Cody asked him a few questions and found that he was quick, and extravagantly ambitious”(Fitzgerald 106). At this moment, a new world flash in Gatsby’s eyes and showed him the world of the rich. After the five years with Dan Cody, Gatsby became a new man with riches and this began his journey of his personal ambition of the American Dream.

The will to want is what drives people to work for it, say you want that house in the rich part of town you work hard so you can afford that house. Without the work people act as if they are entitled to things they did nothing to earn. It is the current problem with people of today they feel that they work as hard as they possibly can but in reality if they were working that hard then they would eventually acquire what that work was for. People today have this mindset that they think they should be doing better because they at least do something. Gatsby in the story was quoted saying "Her voice is full of money", this was reference to Daisy who was brought up in a rich family. Gatsby knew she wouldn't be happy with a life with him because she wouldn't be as well off as she was raised, For that reason Daisy married tom. The fear of not being wealthy prohibited Daisy from marrying Gatsby. The times that rich people were afraid to lose their money is uncountable. The American dream was dead to those people as they were born into that dream. The only equivalent they would have to the American dream would to become

Gatsby creates an identity for himself as a wealthy man, who lives a glamorous life by throwing huge parties, and is known by the most prestigious figures in New York. What the partygoers don’t realize is that the parties and his wealth is all in the hopes of rekindling with his love from the past, Daisy. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a young man named Jay Gatsby, who came from nothing, and built up to be everything that he had hoped and dreamed of being. However, his one dream did not become a reality due to misfortunate events. All the money in the world couldn’t make Gatsby happy, as he died as his true self, not the identity he created for himself.

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

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

Regarding Gatsby, it is his lack of emotional satisfaction that shapes his obsession and greed toward Daisy. Gatsby’s goal is to regain his former romantic relationship he shares with Daisy, as he truly believes that it is possible to repeat the past (Fitzgerald 110). In fact, during the last five years, he builds himself a facade through illegal means to impress Daisy. Nevertheless, his greed for the exclusivity of Daisy backfires. Daisy says that “ ‘[he] [wants] too much!’... ‘[she] [loves] [him] now--- isn’t that enough?’ ” (132). When Gatsby asks Daisy to affirm that she only loves him, she could not confirm the statement truthfully, thus reducing Gatsby’s efforts throughout the years to naught. Gatsby’s commitment for Daisy’s affection is the very cause of Daisy’s rejection.

Furthermore, Wealth can make someone feel determined. Gatsby was determined to get Daisy, and the only way to get Daisy was to become wealthy. To represent Gatsby’s interception of becoming wealthy, this quote symbolizes his determination and beginning to a happier life; “To Young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world” (100). This quote accurately describes Gatsby’s desires for wealth and his material items. The yacht, which belonged to Dan Cody, was the embodiment of wealth and fortune Gatsby was not familiar with. He lived a low life of poverty, and this was his goal that he wanted to reach. Dan took Gatsby with him and adopted him in a way, which gave Gatsby his start to fortune. Once Gatsby gained all of his fortune, he practically had all of the beauty and glamour in the world. Nevertheless, it always comes back to his lack of true beauty and love. He could never regain Daisy, his true love, and the beauty that he could never purchase.

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

Other than the fact Gatsby surrounded his life of Daisy, he also took risks to just reach the minimum for Daisy just to be with her. It all started when Daisy would not accept him into her life so, coincidentally he found the pioneer, Dan Cody. This man guided Gatsby to his excellence in new money. But his risky business of bootlegging could have started his mischievous ways and his lack of social skills. Without this business he would be living a safer life and have less caution but, his passion for Daisy strived him to be the man she always wanted. “a penniless young man [with] no real right to touch her hand,” Gatsby remains profoundly aware of his shortcomings, yet desire compels him to take what he can “ravenously” in the pursuit of his dream girl and romantic ideal (Fitzgerald 156). This was also an example of how the American Dream struck everyone during this time period. Money controlled everyone and everything especially love between two old lovers. “Both Gatsby and Daisy’s stories, for example, reveal how compelling the American dream has remained, despite the fact that the dream, as it has been given material life, has betrayed its original moral premises; Certainly both Gatsby and Daisy have been victimized by their disregard of the moral implications of their choices” (Resneck). This represents how both their choices caused a death and mainy his death. All in all “Both subscribed to the part of the dream which promised that security, status, and wealth would bring fulfillment. Neither recognized that their failing was that they pursued those goals at the expense of love, responsibility, and honesty.”

During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives. In the novel entitled the great Gatsby, the ideals of the so called American dream became skewed, as a result

Gatsby does not belong to his own class and he is not accepted by the upper class, therefore he becomes an exception. Because of disappointment of being looked down upon and impossibility of accept by the upper class, he has nothing left except his love, which is also his “love dream”. Gatsby’s love for Daisy has been the sole drive and motive of his living. Gatsby’s great love is also the root of his great tragedy, because he is desperately in love with a woman who is not worthy of his deep love. Fitzgerald offers Gatsby with the spirit of sincerity, generosity, nobility, perseverance, and loyalty. All his good natures can be seen