The Great Gatsby

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, various uses of symbolism and motifs appear throughout the story and provide insight into the deeper ideas of the book. The homes of the title character Jay Gatsby and major character Tom Buchanan are examples of this. The previous owner of Gatsby’s home was a brewery magnate, and the man who owned Tom’s house was an oil baron. The effects of wealth on the current owners of these two houses have characteristics similar to the fluids that the previous owners worked with. The way that Gatsby’s money affects him shares some qualities with alcohol, whereas the effects that Tom’s money has on him have several traits similar to those of oil. How Tom and Gatsby act due to their wealthy status assist in presenting one of the overarching themes of the work; despite how captivating it appears have wealth from a distance, and no matter what method is used to gain it, wealth has harmful effects on both the wealthy themselves and the people that they come in contact with.

Jay Gatsby lives in an enormous, extravagant mansion resembling a castle that a wealthy brewer had constructed ten years prior to the events of the novel. Gatsby’s house is located in the West Egg area of Long Island, where the population is made up of mostly newly wealthy people. Gatsby is living the so-called “American Dream” after spending a period of his life striking it rich by smuggling grain alcohol as a bootlegger. The effects of Gatsby’s riches on himself and people around him are comparable to how alcohol causes self-destructive behavior and bad judgment in people when ingested in large amounts. Gatsby strived to gain his wealth in order to become high-class enough to be with Daisy, Tom’s wife who fell...

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...that he can run away from his problems because he can hide away in his money. The estates owned by Tom and Gatsby help us make the above connections between the two and their associated liquids. The connections allow you to look further into what effects money has on Gatsby and Tom, and what effects they have on other characters. These two characters exhibit the fact that being wealthy is nowhere as good as it seems, and that sooner or later you’ll become corrupted by the money and believe that it can fix all of your mistakes. You’ll begin to act irresponsibly, mistreat the people who are close to you for no apparent reason, and lose all motivation to do anything with your life. As mentioned before, oil and alcohol are both immensely combustible fluids, and flames can spread very quickly.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004.

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