Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the motif of materialism is explored in its relation to the corruption of the American Dream.

Jay Gatsby, the man who seems to have it all, is a tragic example of materialism and how it corrupts people. The fact of the matter is that Gatsby is a materialist, and an exemplar of the rise and fall of the American dream. Coming from a less fortunate background than Daisy or Tom Buchanan, Gatsby had to work, lie, and cheat for his money. This money, which can be referred to as “new money” or “dirty money,” is spent by Jay Gatsby in an ostentatious manner. He owns a gold Rolls Royce, has purchased flamboyant colored suits and silk shirts, and pays outrageous prices to host extravagant parties. At the end

of the day, however, none of this essentially matters to New York’s elite society in 1920. No matter how many silk shirts, how much champagne, how many cars or trophies Gatsby buys, his money will always be “dirty money.” The wealth of someone within Tom Buchanan’s caliber is virtually untouchable to someone such as Jay Gatsby.

This “old money” cannot be worked for, only inherited. While analyzing the tragedy of the American dream in this novel, Tanfer Emin Tunc writes, “Despite all of his efforts, Gatsby is unable to disown his humble past; he manages to obtain the artificial security of wealth, but can never secure the respectability of old money that Daisy represents. In his blind pursuit of wealth, status, and success for his own gain, Gatsby follows a dream that ultimately becomes a nightmare.” (Emin Tunc, n.p.) Gatsby’s is blinded in his pursuit in view of the fact that, to Gatsby, these materialistic trophies are the American dream. Furthermore, Gatsby believes

that these meaningless materialistic trophies will help him in his efforts to gain the affection of Daisy Buchanan, the ultimate possession. Despite his best efforts, Gatsby’s untouchable optimism and determination to relive the past lead him in a downward spiral.
Gatsby's parties are primarily thrown in hope that one night Daisy Buchanan will look across the bay and wander over in curiosity.

John F. Callahan points out, “Gatsby understands: To win Daisy he gathers money and property, the latter transient and garish, in the quick and illegal ways open to him—Meyer Wolfsheim and the rackets.” (Callahan, n.p.) Gatsby’s elaborate mansion sits directly across the bay from the Buchanans, thus readers of the novel are left to speculate that his spendthrift possessions and parties are all for Daisy’s attention. While showing Daisy a tour of his luxurious mansion and all his trophies, Gatsby seems to capture Daisy with his silk shirts. So much so that Daisy actually cries out when she sees these shirts because they are so

beautiful.
[Gatsby] took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired [them] he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher—shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue. (Fitzgerald, 92)
Daisy, although blinded by the materialism in her own life, understands for this moment that the these shirts, the most beautiful shirts she has ever seen, portray Gatsby’s obsession with the American dream. She sees his self-destruction, and “begins to cry with a passion that foreshadows Gatsby's eventual demise” (Emin Tunc, n.p.)
Daisy Buchanan is, in truth, the ultimate possession, not only to Gatsby, but to Tom Buchanan as well. At the Plaza Hotel showdown, Tom and Gatsby turn Daisy into a possession, fighting over which of them is worthy of her and making her decision for her. In this situation Callahan refers to Tom as “the lord” and Gatsby as “the serf.”
When Tom Buchanan forces a showdown with Gatsby at the Plaza Hotel, the two men turn Daisy into a prized possession to be fought over on the basis of social and economic conventions. In effect, Buchanan invokes the droit du seigneur. He is the lord, Gatsby the serf, Daisy the woman belonging to the vast American estate. (Callahan, n.p.)
This is an innuendo to a line from the novel, “Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry." (Fitzgerald, 88) Nick uses the term “serf" to depict the people's willingness to work as wage slaves in a capitalist economic system. Although these people are willing to do just about anything to achieve the American Dream, they will not be seen as “peasants” because it is social underclass.