The Great Gatsby Wealth

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Recommended: Pip's view of himself at the end of great expectations

Many say that money makes the world go round and many wish for great wealth. But, this does not necessarily mean that money can solve all your problems nor make you happy. According to Charles Dickens in Great Expectations, wealth is the gateway to the upper class. However, many of those lacking fortune are left to use corrupt methods to pursue it, while those with fortune are often unhappy or isolated. Therefore, money cannot buy happiness and the only money worth having is the type you have worked hard to achieve. We can see this outcome in Pip, the protagonist, as he realizes that his great expectations have not only come from a criminal, but has led him to an unhappy, isolated lifestyle. It is through the characters, Miss Havisham, Joe and Wemmick, that Pip learns his lesson and of his delusion that money could bring happiness.
To start, many of the characters that inherit fortune end up miserable …show more content…

One of them being Wemmick. Wemmick is another person who influences Pip’s views on money. He believes in collecting portable property, which are small items of value that can be transported easily and converted to cash if necessary. He obtains his portable property from prisoners who are sentenced to death as a memory of them. Wemmick states: “They’re curiosities. And they’re property. They may not be worth much, but, after all, they’re property and portable” (Dickens 200). To Wemmick’s eccentric personality they are treasures worth collecting, properties that makes him happy to collect. Later, when Magwitch returns in the novel, Wemmick advises Pip to get hold of portable property of his benefactor just in case of emergencies in the near future. Though his advice is wise, Pip does not listen as he now knows that Magwitch is a convict and that all his money has come from him. Thus, Pip realizes that his expectations do not make him happy. Once more portraying that wealth does not guarantee

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