Essay On Materialism In The Great Gatsby

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The Car and the American Dream
Andrew T. Crosland, an expert on the Jazz Age writings of author F.Scott Fitzgerald, wrote that Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby included over 200 references to cars (Crosland). This is not surprising as the automobile, like the flapper were enticing novelties at the time this book was written. The main characters in The Great Gatsby who, by the way, all drive cars are Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle and George Wilson. Attractive, yet enigmatic, Gatsby tries to win the love of an aristocratic woman, who rebuffs Gatsby for her upper class husband. This leads to Gatsby’s tragic murder after he is falsely accused of killing Myrtle with his Rolls Royce. The automobile, as …show more content…

Nick observes, “On week-ends his Rolls Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains” (Fitzgerald 39).Gatsby not only hosts massive parties, his vehicles collect his uninvited guests so that they can attend his parties with ease.The majority of the guests do not know Gatsby, yet arrive in droves to participate in the surfeit of pleasure. Gatsby believes hosting massive numbers of people will increase his chance of finding someone who can reconnect him to Daisy. As well, his strategy is to have the story of his excess get back to Daisy so she will be impressed with his material wealth. Symbolically, the instruments that provide a reconnection to Daisy are Gatsby’s flamboyant automobiles. Gatsby 's cars represent his need for attention and his lack of a true identity beyond materialism.These failures lead to his eventual

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