Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

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

penny he has. This success has left him a life of comfort. He has purchased an enormous estate, throws huge parties several times a week, and is incredibly wealthy, probably even more so than many of the “old-money” families in East Egg. The only part of the American Dream Gatsby has not quite reached is approval by these old-money families. They still do not see through the obscurity of his past to the success of his present.

Although America was founded on the ideas of hope and opportunity, by the time life reached the Jazz Age, this was not the reality.

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

their wealth with similar effort.
The overall idea behind the American Dream is that the poor can always count on becoming one of the wealthy if they try hard enough; this however is shown to be untrue, killing the fundamental dream of the American people. Obliquely, when he dies, Gatsby, as a representation of the American Dream, signifies the death of this dream. But, right from the start, Gatsby, although hopeful, is not able to fully live the Dream. He works hard for Dan Cody, but that inheritance is stolen by Ella Kaye, Cody’s mistress, forcing Gatsby to make his fortune in over-the-counter grain alcohol sales at “side-street drug stores” (141). With this hard, although somewhat illegal work, Gatsby should have been able to move upward in society. The American Dream should have been his backing to do this, but it was never there for him to have.