Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

Gatsby’s materialism took over his life, and it became all he was known for, even when he died. Materialism is preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, comforts, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values (dictionary.com). People who are too obsessed with material things end up missing out on many things in life and will always be missing something, and try to fill the void with money. This is what happens to Gatsby and many other characters in The Great Gatsby. There are many examples of the character’s concern for gaining and showing off their wealth.
Part of the appeal of being rich is the fantasy of it, once you finally get the money, you lose the fantasy of it and it

Their cars were a type of status symbol. Just like Gatsby’s house was just show off his wealth, his cars served the same purpose. There was no need for a more expensive car and no practical reasons. Tom is another example of using a car as a status symbol. Tom drives a blue coupe, which seems like a fancy and flashy car. Another man, Wilson wants to buy his car, because he knows he can make money off of it. Cars were quite a big deal in those days, because they were just becoming something that most people owned. A lot of the innovations in cars that we think of as being modern were introduced in the 1920's. Some things that were introduced were, like electric powered cars, four wheel drive, front wheel drive, and even hybrid fuel/electric cars (http://www.1920-30.com/automobiles/). If a lot of people had cars, then the ultrarich would want to buy extra fancy cars to make sure people knew that they had plenty of money, just like the rich showed off other fancy things that they

In the 1920s, women had very few rights and the men were mostly in charge. On August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, which allowed women to vote (archives.gov). Even though they were able to, many women didn’t want to vote, because they didn’t think it was their role, only the men's role. Women's attitude towards voting shows the outlook of almost everyone on women, in the 1920s. Furthermore, In the United States in the 1920s, only about 15 percent of white and 30 percent of black married women with wage-earning husbands held paying jobs (ncpedia.org/). They thought of them as men's belongings, whose only job was to cook, clean and care for the children. Almost all of the men in the book had mistresses, who were treated pretty badly. The men didn’t care for them too much, and Tom's mistress, Myrtle was even killed. Myrtles pursuit for wealth led to her death. She only became Tom’s mistress because he was rich and she thought his money could improve the quality of her life, it obviously did not end up doing that