Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

As our society has become more modern and advanced, there has been an increase in the desire to acquire more material wealth. There are several examples of this phenomenon present in society. Celebrities in the entertainment industry help to fuel the world's desire for material materialistic gain by flaunting themselves publicly. In today’s world, it's common to witness people choosing money or status over family and good morals. The increase in this self centered behaviour is problematic to our society because true values and morals are being erased as the gap between the rich and the poor becomes wider. There are people in the world who use materialistic gains in order to fill a void such as emptiness or loneliness but these possessions

can never fill these voids permanently. Social status is another evident problem in our society. Those who obsess over their status obtained from a job or from the recognition of others forget what is truly important in life. While one's social status is rising, they find themselves doing things to maintain this status even at the expense of family and friends. Issues related to both materialism and social status have been discussed in literature pieces such as In two of F Scott Fitzgerald’s work titled This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby. These stories are set in the 1920’s post world war 1. These two texts explore societies that are obsessed with social status and wealth. Many issues in the novels are centered on one’s wealth and social status and showed that both materialistic societies brought out the arrogance in some individuals, set back the women’s right movement and in the end, it ultimately leaves the individual empty.
In both novels, the materialistic tendencies bring out the arrogance in some of its characters. Both characters are from a wealthy background which often leads to their arrogant tendencies; they both believe that because they have money they’re better than those who don’t Tom Buchanan, a character we meet in The Great Gatsby is a very wealthy man; he comes from old money he has inherited from his family. Tom’s social status within the society he lives in is really high which causes many of his arrogant and even racist behaviour. “Well, it's a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be—will be utterly submerged. It's all scientific stuff; it's been proved." (Fitzgerald, 1925) In this quote, Tom’s arrogance shines through; He really believes and acts in a way that tells us that he believes he’s better than those around him. Also Tom believes the white race is the superior race which also proves that he is a racist. When Daisy’s cousin comes to visit Tom exclaims: “I’ve got a nice place here” (Fitzgerald, 1925) this quote symbolizes how Tom believes that nobody can touch him because he’s wealthy; his house which is described as very nice and very expensive looking is a representation of himself; to him his money justifies his actions.

The female representations in the novels – Daisy Buchanan and Mrs. Connage are both portrayed as self- centered, materialistic and money oriented women; We see that in both novels, both women have been greatly affected by their materialistic possession and this not only affects their character but it set’s back the women’s right movement because they accept their significant other doing all the work while they stay home doing nothing but looking pretty or in Mrs.Connage’s case , teaching her daughters to how to make themselves available for wealthy men. We first see how extreme Daisy’s materialism is while visiting Gatsby’s house for the first time; while on a tour of the house, Gatsby brings her to his closet full of nice clothes. Daisy then cries over Gatsby tailored shirts; “They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the think folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925) This shows to us that the money has gone to Daisy’s head and it is making her delusional. It also shows us that her character places high value to wealth and materialistic things and in this case the shirts represents money with has a lot of meaning to her. We also see in another chapter that Daisy’s materialism leads her to be misguided; “the best thing a girl can be in this world is a beautiful little fool.” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925) She really believes that all women can do is be pretty. Mrs.Connage on the other hand is little more intelligent but still has the same affect that Daisy had with materialism. Mrs. Connage, the mother of Amory’s main love interest is portrayed in the book as a very materialistic woman. “You can’t do anything without it” (Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise , 1920) in this quote, Mrs.Connage is speaking about money and it is evident that she truly believes that without her wealth she and her kids wouldn’t know how to survive. She teaches her kids, mainly her daughters that they should marry someone wealthy so they wouldn’t have to work hard for anything in life. She also states “I haven’t met Mr. Blaine – but I don’t think you’ll care for him. He doesn’t sound like a money maker.” (Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920) Mrs.Connage says this quote to her daughter right before she sends her away to meet wealthy men to marry so she wouldn’t have to worry about working later on in life. Here she is judging someone that could possibly be a good suitor for her daughter; she’s purely basing her judgment off of money, which says that she really doesn’t pay attention to what her daughter would like but she only pays attention to the money. Like Daisy, Mrs. Connage represents inherited money, and in this case it means that they never really had to work hard to attain her money, it has always been present in their lives. The way materialism affects them is that it makes them clearly delusional. These women really believe that they have it at (i.e.: the money, the big houses , the cars etc) but in reality these women don’t really have anything that matters, like a good character.
Materialism causes the characters in the novels to forget who they are inside.

Both Gatsby and Amory struggle with their materialistic tendencies and in the end it leaves both of the characters feeling empty. We see that Gatsby once Gatsby loses is dream or fantasy of winning over Daisy, he forgets who he is. “So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing.” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925) Nick Caraway , Daisy’s cousin says this after a day in the city gone wrong; Tom ( Daisy’s husband) , Daisy , Gatsby and Nick decided to take a trip in the city for a day of fun. As the day progresses, more and more problems arise between Tom and Gatsby as his love for Daisy is exposed. This causes a confrontation between Tom and Gatsby which leads to Daisy be quite frantic. For the longest time, Gatsby has tried to change himself so that Daisy could love him; to him this meant doing anything to attempt to be at Daisy’s lever and this resulted to doing illegal business to attain wealth. In this society, although he was wealthy and threw extravagant parties, he was considered new money and at that time, if your wealth was not inherited from your family then it was not really credible. He also loses himself due to him trying so hard to climb a social chain when he is relatively at the bottom, whereas Tom is at the top). Gatsby has a constant need to be over the top, from his parties to him spending his money to impress Daisy. “The chauffeur he was one of Wolfshiem's protégés heard the shot afterward he could only say that he hadn't thought anything much about them.” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925) Gatsby’s life is ultimately taken when he is shot. This plays a big part in the novel not only because the main characters dies but it also symbolizes that the image Gatsby tried so hard to acquire with all the money, and clothes and the parties added up to nothing in the end because the person he was doing it for leaves and him and he

dies with leaves him empty physically and emotionally. Amory Blaine was in the same position Gatsby was in, the women he loves leave

As our society has become more modern and advanced, there has been an increase in the desire to acquire more material wealth. Both of F Scott Fitzgerald's novels proved that
There are several examples of this phenomenon present in society. Celebrities in the entertainment industry help to fuel the world's desire for material materialistic gain by flaunting themselves publicly. In today’s world, it's common to witness people choosing money or status over family and good morals. The increase in this self centered behaviour is problematic to our society because true values and morals are being erased as the gap between the rich and the poor becomes wider. There are people in the world who use materialistic gains in order to fill a void such as emptiness or loneliness but these possessions can never fill these voids permanently. Social status is another evident problem in our society. Those who obsess over their status obtained from a job or from the recognition of others forget what is truly important in life. While one's social status is rising, they find themselves doing things to maintain this status even at the expense of family and friends. Issues related to both materialism and social status have been discussed in literature pieces such as In two of F Scott Fitzgerald’s work titled This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby. These stories are set in the 1920’s post world war 1. These two texts explore societies that are obsessed with social status and wealth. Many issues in the novels are centered on one’s wealth and social status and showed that both materialistic societies brought out the arrogance in some individuals, set back the women’s right movement and in the end, it ultimately leaves the individual empty.