Money has always been greatly coveted throughout history, and the need for it was especially prominent in the Jazz Age of America. Fitzgerald reflected these views by making it the one thing valued the most in his novel, The Great Gatsby. Alongside the importance of money, characters choose to use their possessions as a way to rise in society, as opposed to using them for useful purposes. In The Great Gatsby, society’s value of wealth and material possessions is demonstrated through the character of Tom Buchanan, Gatsby’s motivation for achieving wealth, and East and West Eggs. Notably, Tom Buchanan exhibits behavior that aligns with these superficial values of wealth. His social status has been set in place for him, due to his wealth being …show more content…
Tom is included in the “leisure class”, meaning he is able to spend money how he pleases without manual labor. His position in this group allows him to earn respect without actually working for it. This character’s personality serves as a way to show exactly how the privileged class is idolized. Tom is evidently an immoral person; he breaks his mistress’ nose, lies to make himself look better, and is said to be hated by men at his college. Despite this, he is still able to use his power to his advantage. When reviewing these traits, it becomes clear that Tom Buchanan is not respected for his character, but rather his high position in society. Furthermore, he uses his possessions as a way to flaunt his wealth instead of having an actual use for them. This is touched on when Nick describes his negligence with money as disappointing. Tom is not only able to use his funds on frivolous things, but can also get rid of them as he needs. When it comes to troubling situations, he is able to quickly throw away money on temporary solutions and retreat back into his wealth. After reviewing the same actions from Tom and Daisy, Lena explains that “This retreat implies that …show more content…
Gatsby had fallen madly in love with her, but he was well aware that their lives were not compatible. Daisy was rich and extraordinary, while Gatsby was a poor young man. When he was eventually sent to the war and Oxford, she could no longer wait and “wanted her life shaped.immediatelyand the decision must be made by some forceof love, of money” (Fitzgerald 217). Blindsided by the force of money and the desire of a rich life, she married Tom Buchanan because she preferred to live a life of luxury. The value of money tempted Daisy, and this was the driving force behind Gatsby’s wealth. He wanted to earn her love back, so he was determined to become rich. Daisy’s virtues serve as a reflection of the society surrounding her. Money was so valuable that she was able to give up the man she loved for a life that she wanted to remain in. Similarly, the public in The Great Gatsby is drawn to wealth. Gatsby’s extravagant wealth is shown through the form of parties, where in his hope to get Daisy to visit him, many rich people attracted to his wealth come instead. They do not see Gatsby as a person; they see him as a vessel for their entertainment and rumors. Their perception of him is guided by his riches. If he wasn’t so well-off, he would not have as much attention. His material goods and belongings were used to look better, not because he truly needed
Gatsby and Greed In this day and age, money is a very important asset to have. One needs to have at least enough to live on, though great amounts are preferable. In The Great Gatsby, by Thomas F. Fitzgerald, having a large amount of money is not enough. It is also the way you acquire the money that matters.
The vices exhibited by Tom Buchanan show that Fitzgerald’s attitude toward the wealthy class of the 1920’s was that, though they have money, they are not morally superior to the other classes. Tom exhibits many vices including adultery, selfishness, racism, etc. Tom embodies all of the vices that Fitzgerald believes the wealthy class of the 1920’s had shown. As such, Fitzgerald wants the reader to see Tom as a symbol for the entire wealthier class. Fitzgerald wants the reader to be disgusted by Tom and his actions.
Gatsby realizes that life of the high class demands wealth to become priority; wealth becomes his superficial goal overshadowing his quest for love. He establishes his necessity to acquire wealth, which allows him to be with Daisy. The social elite of Gatsby's time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an "enormously wealthy" family, seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind (Fitzgerald 10). Nick describes Tom's physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner...arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face...always leaning aggressively forward...a cruel body...[h]is speaking voice...added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" (Fitzgerald 11). The wealth Tom has inherited causes him to become arrogant and condescending to others, while losing his morals. Rather than becoming immoral from wealth as Tom has, Gatsby engages in criminal activity as his only path to being rich. His need for money had become so great that he "was in the drug business" (Fitzgerald 95). Furthermore, he lies to Nick about his past in order to cover up his criminal activity. Gatsby claims to others that he has inherited his wealth, but Nick discovers "[h]is parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby enters a world where money takes precedence over moral integrity. Materialism has already overshadowed a portion of his spiritual side. A quest for true love is doomed for failure in the presence of immorality. Once wealth has taken priority over integrity, members of the high social class focus on immediate indulgences, rather than on long-term pleasures of life such as love.
Initially, while Tom Buchanan may seem like a wealthy, educated individual through his comments about racial hierarchy and social supremacy, it is gradually revealed that Tom is a victim of the carelessness that wealth can breed. His wealth provides him with an excuse for the poor decisions he makes and so, Tom is able to live life without a single thought about consequences. For instance,
The source of Tom and Gatsby’s wealth plays a great role in their personalities. Tom is from the East Egg while Gatsby is from the West Egg. This being said, Tom’s wealth is inherited while Gatsby’s was self-made. Tom, being born into a golden cradle, is naturally arrogant. Probably the biggest example of his arrogance is his racism. Tom believes "[us whites] are the dominant race" (Fitzgerald 18). To believe you have supremacy over someone because of your skin colour is a clear sign of arrogance. Arrogance is an unfortunate quality that is often associated with people of power and wealth, and Tom Buchanan is no exception. Whenever the chance presents itself, Tom utilizes it to show how much better he is than everyone else. This could not be more evident when Tom...
Money and Corruption in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives.
As depicted by Scott F. Fitzgerald, the 1920s is an era of a great downfall both socially and morally. As the rich get richer, the poor remain to fend for themselves, with no help of any kind coming their way. Throughout Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the two “breeds” of wealthier folk consistently butt heads in an ongoing battle of varying lifestyles. The West Eggers, best represented by Jay Gatsby, are the newly rich, with little to no sense of class or taste. Their polar opposites, the East Eggers, are signified by Tom and Daisy Buchanan; these people have inherited their riches from the country’s wealthiest old families and treat their money with dignity and social grace. Money, a mere object in the hands of the newly wealthy, is unconscientiously squandered by Gatsby in an effort to bring his only source of happiness, Daisy, into his life once again. Over the course of his countless wild parties, he dissipates thousands upon thousands of dollars in unsuccessful attempts to attract Daisy’s attention. For Gatsby, the only way he could capture this happiness is to achieve his personal “American Dream” and end up with Daisy in his arms. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is somewhat detrimental to himself and the ones around him; his actions destroy relationships and ultimately get two people killed.
... Tom’s money also corrupts him because he feels superior to others and justified for his wrong acts due to this sense of superiority stemming from his inherited wealth. His ultimate act of corruption, his carelessness in destroying the lives of the Wilsons and Gatsby. Tom’s natural brutality was able to fully come out due to the protection of his wealth - Tom Buchanan was able to get away with being careless because his money shielded him from having to care.
The Great Gatsby set in the glistening and glittering world of wealth and glamour of 1920s Jazz Age in America. However, the story of the poor boy who tried to fulfill the American Dream of living a richer and fuller life ends in Gatsby’s demise. One of the reasons for the tragedy is the corrupting influence of greed on Gatsby. As soon as Gatsby starts to see money as means of transforming his fantasy of winning Daisy’s love into reality, his dream turns into illusion. However, other characters of the novel are also affected by greed. On closer inspection it turns out that almost every individual in the novel is covetous of something other people have. In this view, the meaning of greed in the novel may be varied The greed is universally seen as desire for material things. However, in recent studies the definition of “greed” has come to include sexual greed and greed as idolatry, understood as fascination with a deity or a certain image (Rosner 2007, p. 7). The extended definition of greed provides valuable framework for research on The Great Gatsby because the objects of characters’ desires can be material, such as money and possessions, or less tangible, such as love or relationship.
The Great Gatsby “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored.
In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald criticises the increase of consumerism in the 1920s and the abandonment of the original American Dream , highlighting that the increased focus on wealth and the social class associated with it has negative effects on relationships and the poorest sections of society. The concept of wealth being used as a measure of success and worth is also explored by Plath in ‘The Bell Jar’. Similarly, she draws attention to the superficial nature of this material American Dream which has extended into the 1960s, but highlights that gender determines people’s worth in society as well as class.
Benjamin Franklin once said “Money has never made man happy, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness." This is arguably one of the most cliché quotes of all time. If money cannot provide happiness, then what exactly can it do? The characters of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan open a door to a world in which money was the sole motivation for their success and the only reason for their power. When the reader uses a Marxist critical lens during chapter four of F. Scott 's Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, the social hierarchy reveals how Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan utilize the importance of money and social power to manipulate others in their lives.
Tom Buchanan is described as having a strong and repugnant presence. He was a star athlete at Yale and is restless after his glory days of playing there, “…had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven-a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savours of anti-climax” (page 10). He is arrogant and seems to believe that he can have anything that he wants. Even though he has a wife and child, he has no problem with having a mistress on the side and does not care that others, including his wife, know about it. In addition, Tom is very self-absorbed and cares only about himself and his own desires. Tom was what Daisy’s family considered to be suitable for their daughter. That, along with his money, is mainly why she married him.
A man named Nick moves into old money right next door to Jay Gatsby. Throughout The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald discusses the American culture and themes that relates to Americans, such as the desire for material possessions, desire for love and The contrast between old money/new money.
Throughout The Great Gatsby, Gatsby's lack of taste is evident, which leads to the upper class's rejection of him. Gatsby repeatedly displays his wealth in excessive ways. Gatsby throws extravagant parties, buys flamboyant clothes, and purchases an opulent car and mansion. Throughout the novel, these displays of wealth are met by criticism from those that Gatsby is trying to impress. Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband, and a man of inherited wealth, detests Gatsby.