Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

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The American Dream is the dream of land where life is better and richer for everyone, with equal opportunity for each according to their hard work and achievement. It is not just a dream of comfort and wealth, but a dream in which everyone is able to attain these luxuries and be recognized by others for what they are in the present, regardless of the circumstances of their birth or past. Jay Gatsby is the walking embodiment of this Dream, being a man who has “some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life”, “an extraordinary gift for hope”(6), and the very American desire to have money. Despite a humble beginning as James Gatz, the son of “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” (104) in North Dakota, Gatsby has worked hard to earn every …show more content…

Gatsby believes that his hard work, and the wealth he earns, will make his less-glamorous past irrelevant. Unfortunately, the old-money people of East Egg, do not accept Gatsby, nor any of the other nouveau riche West-Eggers and their “raw vigor” (114). One of the most obvious examples of this distaste comes from the East Egg “party of three on horseback” (107) (Tom, Mr. Sloane, and the Woman) who come to Gatsby’s house. Whilst visiting, the Woman drunkenly invites Gatsby and Nick to her house for a dinner party. Although Nick immediately declines, Gatsby excitedly plans to go, and disengages from the group to redress. Tom does not believe it Gatsby’s place to attend the old-money party, and says, “My God, I believe the man’s coming”… “Doesn’t he know she doesn’t want him?” (109). The group of three then quickly leaves before Gatsby reemerges, fully intending to hurt him in their action, so as to put him back into his inferior place. The irony in this is that just a few generations previously, families like the Carraways made their fortune with small business like “wholesale hardware business” and had the opportunity to become “prominent, well-to-do”, and respected in their communities (7). Because he made his way up in society, Gatsby is ridiculed by the 1920’s elite, even though many began in very much the same position as him, and gained

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