Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

Many would ask what exactly the American Dream is. In the novel “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald portrays how it was like living in this era and how exactly individuals went about achieving this dream. Many want the materialistic things in this life: a huge house, an exotic sports car, brand name clothes, brand name shoes, you name it. Although, materialistic things are great and keep you happy temporarily; us as Americans are never satisfied and still want more. Dissatisfaction is another major theme in this novel. Money is a great example of a material possession, it comes and goes much like a lot of things in this novel. The pursuit of wealth is what causes the destruction in this novel. Fitzgerald argues that materialism and wealth is why

the American Dream is almost unobtainable due to our dissatisfaction.
In this novel, everyone was separated by status. You had the rich and the poor, in this era there was no in-between. In this novel, Fitzgerald uses the “eggs” to symbolize the classes of people. As you know people with newly made money lived in the west egg and those who were born with money lived in the east egg. "They were careless people… they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." (Fitzgerald 179) Regardless, both classes had money and these individuals are very careless of their money and very interested in the material goods. For example, Jay Gatsby throws extraordinary parties to impress the people of Long Island. Gatsby invests enormous amounts of money into these parties and does not enjoy them one bit; he throws these parties because he believes that love and happiness can be bought. Being newly made money, Gatsby indulges on the more expensive things such as his pink suits, gold ties, his yellow Rolls Royce, and of course his huge parties. Those things are unobtainable for most people at that time, Gatsby spends his money on all of those things because he wants to catch Daisy’s attention.
Another way Fitzgerald uses the characters to portray materialism is through Wilson, Tom and Myrtle. When hearing about Tom and Myrtle being together, Wilson began to believe the only way he could be happy is if he were to make some quick cash and run off with his wife; he believed that happiness could be bought. “What do you want money for all of the sudden… my wife and I want to move West.” (Fitzgerald 123) Tom brought happiness to Myrtle through materialistic things such as the leash or the dress; that was easily given away. You could say Tom actually buys Myrtle from Wilson.
Other than money and materialism; dissatisfaction is also implied in the American Dream and also in the novel.

For Example, James Gatz grew up not wanting to be known as a son of farmers. “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people… his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all…So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy…” (Fitzgerald 98) Reason being that he wanted a higher name, he wanted more, he was not satisfied with the reputation he would have had being known as the famer’s son. Even after being inherited 25,000 dollars, Gatsby was still not satisfied and wanted more. He dedicated his whole life for someone else. He essentially recreates himself, from hardly anything. He made a lot of money through illegal processes and while pursing the American Dream; surrounded himself around materialistic objects. Gatsby does all this for Daisy hoping that her love and happiness can be

bought.
Not only do the characters say a lot about Fitzgerald’s ideas, but he also uses symbolism to better help interpret his ideas.

The author uses the green light to represent Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. “[He] believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us…So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (Fitzgerald 180) Gatsby associates the green light with Daisy; in chapter one he reaches toward it(Daisy) in darkness as the guiding light to lead him to his goal. The goal being the American Dream which is why the green light is also associated with Daisy. Without Daisy, Gatsby would have probably never tried to exceed in his social status; much less achieve the American Dream. The valley of ashes is also very symbolic in this novel because it symbolizes what the pursuit of wealth and the American Dream led to. In the novel it is described as a long stretch of grey wasteland; this is the result of the selfishness of the higher class. “This is a valley of ashes… of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” (Fitzgerald 23) In this novel, the rich indulge themselves and themselves only; with nobody on their minds but themselves and their own pleasure. The wealthy is the reason the valley of ashes

exist.
In the end, money does not bring happiness. It may seem that way but many things in life come and go, such as money, cars, clothes, the women, everything Gatsby had dreamed for ended up not being what he really wanted. "He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way...and distinguished nothing except a single green light." (Fitzgerald 20) The pursuit of wealth and the American Dream led to destruction, Myrtle was murdered, Wilson’s life was ruined, Gatsby tried to recreate himself for basically nothing, all this was caused because of the pursuit of wealth and social status. “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city…” The original American Dream was life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Somewhere along the way, wealth and greed took its toll and corrupted us as society. I believe social status, pursuit of wealth, greed, and selfishness is why we still are separated by status.