F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - Money! Money! Money! Great Gatsby Essays

The Importance of Money in The Great Gatsby

In "The Great Gatsby" money is one of the most important things in the world. In the beginning there was Daisy Buchanan who got to know a military man by the name of Jay Gatsby. These two spent a lot of time together and grew to love each other despite the fact that Gatsby was poor. However, there came a time when Gatsby had to go to war and left Daisy at home. He continued to write to her and asked her to wait for him until he returned. She agreed at first , but along came a rich man by the name of Tom Buchanan and began having relations with Daisy. She didn’t really love Tom but he had money and power so as any girl in the 1920’s would do she married him for his wealth. Her one true love was Gatsby but he was away and didn’t have any money so she wouldn’t marry him just out of love.

Gatsby returned from the war and acquired a new occupation that would make him big money and quick. He entered the mob business which took care of his finances but got him rapped up in a lifetime warranty with the mob. After he built up a large sum of money he began throwing huge parties all of the time. He new that by doing this he could show off his money. Most of the people that showed up were not even invited but they were pretty much open parties anyway. Gatsby hoped that one day when he threw one of his large parties that Daisy would come and he would once see her again.

Knowing that his neighbor Nick was Daisy’s cousin he invited Nick to his party one evening. After a while he invited Nick to come to lunch with him. Picking up Nick in his biggest, best, and most expensive car Gatsby told Nick about his so called "child hood". He wanted Nick to know how rich he was and where he got his money so that he could go and tell Daisy all about it. Gatsby also arranged for he and Daisy to be invited to Nick’s house one afternoon. After meeting her there they talked for a short while and it ended up with the three of them going to Gatsby’s house. While they were there Gatsby showed Daisy his biggest rooms, his priceless antiques, even his finest shirts. Daisy’s reaction to just his shirts were rivers of tears. By her reaction to all his wealth reveals that not just seeing Gatsby again made her happy but his wealth made her even happier. She once told Gatsby that the reason she didn’t wait for him is because "rich girls can’t marry poor boys." That statement in itself signifies that even though love should be the most important thing in a relationship Daisy chose money over all.

Also Daisy had a friend name Jordan Baker who really liked Nick but could not marry him because he had no money. However, to the ladies of the 1920’s it was okay to have an affair with a poor person but it wasn’t all right to marry them.

Both women in each case show affection towards another person in the story but are driven away from them because of their financial status. Money in the 20’s although it shouldn’t have been was the most important thing to a lot of the people. Money has caused some people to rise and some to fall, but in the late 1920’s a man without money wasn’t a man at all.