The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about how the interactions between money and love have major effects on relationships. The book mainly focuses on the relationship between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby. The relationship between Tom and Daisy is built more on the desire for money rather than love, they have very little association with love. Daisy marries Tom because of his wealth, but throughout their relationship, she catches feelings and falls in love with Tom at one point. Also, Tom uses his money to basically buy Daisy’s love showing that he wants to have love in his life. The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is also built on wealth, but it also involves love, alike the relationship of Tom and Daisy. Throughout the book, …show more content…
Gatsby wants their relationship to work, but he uses money to impress Daisy. It is implicated that Gatsby really loves Daisy because he would not stop trying to get her affection and Daisy also shares mutual feelings with Gatsby because she shows her true self. However, on a closer examination, it becomes clear, that both Tom and Gatsby’s relationships with Daisy are based more on money than love, this leads to the conclusion that money can lead to the destruction of love. However, there is evidence in the novel that suggests that it is possible to have love in a relationship that is mostly based on money. Tom and Daisy’s relationship is built on the concept of money.
Daisy marries Tom due to the fact that he is rich. At the time of Tom and Daisy’s marriage, Daisy wants to be with Gatsby the one she really loves, she receives a letter from him and she begins “to cry” she “cries and cries” while Jordan and her mother’s maid give her a bath but “she wouldn’t let go of the letter. She [takes] it into the tub with her and [squeezes] it into a wet ball” (76). Once Jordan and the maid leave “the pearls [are] around her neck and the incident [is] over” (76). Gatsby gives Daisy a heartfelt letter while Tom gives her a necklace with a high price tag. The gifts allow Daisy to realize that Tom is richer than Gatsby. Causing Daisy to do what she is expected and born to do which is to marry the rich guy. At the time Daisy chooses to shape her life “immediately and the decision must be made by some force of money, of unquestionable practicality [...] That force [takes] the shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan” (151). The pearl necklace, the one that Tom gives to Daisy is a symbol that portrays her being trapped under Tom’s control which is why she stays with him. Towards the end of the novel, he goes “into the jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace” (179). Tom is buying another necklace to show that their past is repeating as if they were in a cycle. Now at the end, their relationship is starting all over again. Overall, “Tom and Daisy smashed up things and …show more content…
creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it [is] that [keeps] them together” (179). Just like the beginning of the novel, at the end, they are again careless, reckless, and yet, united. Something Fitzgerald wants the readers to take away is that our sense of humanity can be blunted by desires for things like money. Society makes us think that money is the best thing in the world along with love, but in reality, they cannot coexist because ultimately one destroys the other. Gatsby-like Tom uses his money and materials to impress Daisy, however, unlike Tom, Gatsby wants Daisy because she is this object that represents money.
He does not become rich for Daisy because “James Gatz” changes his name and goals “at the age of seventeen”, which is before he meets Daisy. When he meets her, he starts to build a relationship with her “she [blossoms] for him like a flower and the incarnation [is] complete” (98, 111). Daisy embodies an icon of wealth. Furthermore, no matter how “glorious might be” Gatsby's “future as Jay Gatsby, he [has been] a penniless young man” (149). And if he does acquire Daisy then he will become rich. However, Gatsby’s love for Daisy does not work out due to the fact that she is higher on the socio-economic ladder than Gatsby. Gatsby believes that the only way to get Daisy to love him is by being wealthy. When Gatsby becomes rich he uses his money to throw extravagant parties in order to get Daisy’s attention. He also buys non-mediocre things to impress her. When they meet again, he is wearing “a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie” (84). Gatsby is literally wearing the embodiment of money which is gold and silver. He is trying to show off, but at the same time impress Daisy. He also forces her into his house and Daisy is surprised by the expensive but amazing things he has. He even tries to impress her with his shirts which make Daisy cry because she has “never seen such-such beautiful shirts before” (92). The
shirts represent Gatsby's wealth and Daisy is crying over shirts because she regrets leaving him since he used to be poor. However, that is not the case anymore because now Gatsby is rich and even richer than Tom. This causes Daisy to love Gatsby as she swoons over the materials that he owns and his climbing in a higher status. But materialism is short-lived, which is why their relationship ends proving that money can destroy love. Fitzgerald is showing that society makes us think that money is a very good thing and that it is very powerful, so powerful that it can buy happiness and love. However, it is not true because Gatsby is more focused on money which eventually leads to his own death. On the bright side, Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy does have some love associated with it. This proves that it is possible to have love in a relationship that is mostly based on money. Fitzgerald does not only show that it is possible to have love in a relationship through Gatsby and Daisy, but also through Daisy and Tom. This is because they both have loved each other once in their lifetime. They have gone through a lot of things together and Daisy “did love” Tom, “once” (132). Tom states that “there’re things between Daisy and [him] that” Gatsby will “never know, things that neither of us can ever forget” (132). Moving on to Gatsby, he has his own world with Daisy where they are both together. Gatsby loves Daisy tremendously in the scene where he sits with her in his arms “for a long, silent time. It [is] a cold fall day, with fire in the room and her cheeks flushed. Now and then she move[s] and he change[s] his arm a little, and once he kissed her dark shining hair” (150). In other words, they love each other and that romantic scene still plays throughout their relationship. Gatsby does not quit trying to get Daisy. His dedication of having her makes their relationship possible to have love. Daisy also wants their relationship to work, proving that they both love each other. Daisy is not her true self around Tom because in Chapter 1 she starts crying alone after an incident between the two. However, she shows her true motivation to Gatsby because she says “you know I love you” (116). When Tom leaves the room “she [goes] over to Gatsby and pull[s] his face down, kissing him on the mouth” in front of Nick and Jordan because she is not ashamed to do it (116). Further proving that there is love and she even says she “doesn’t care” if Jordan is in the room (116). Overall, Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy is a mixture of the love of money and the love for affection proving that it is possible to have love in a relationship that is based on money. By this Fitzgerald is trying to tell us that we can have love in a world that is eager for money, but that love does not make us see reality and how the world is a horrible place. That the interactions of money and love ruin relationships, but in our case, it blinds us from reality. Fitzgerald is suggesting that in a relationship that is mostly based on money, going passed the evil things, it is possible to have love just like in Tom and Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy. In Tom and Daisy’s relationship, it shows that money can ruin relationships but if you see past that barrier of money there are little pieces of love that stand out more than money. However, at the end of the day Tom and Daisy have money, are united, but they are not happy with each other. Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy includes both money and love. By this Fitzgerald is suggesting that it is possible to have love, however, it leads to difficulties because you can either have the dedication of Gatsby trying to get what he wants and never give up, or you can accept reality and realize how you will not be able to achieve your goal.
Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth. Ever since meeting Dan Cody, his fascination for wealth has increased dramatically. He even uses illegal unmoral methods to obtain hefty amounts of wealth to spend on buying a house with “ Marie Antoinette music-rooms, Restoration Salons, dressing rooms and poolrooms, and bath rooms with sunken baths.” (88) His wardrobe is just as sensational with “ shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine fennel.” (89) Gatsby buys such posh items to impress Daisy but to him, Daisy herself is a symbol of wealth. Jay remarks, “[Daisy’s] voice is full of money.” (115). For him, Daisy is the one who is “ High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden gir...
How they treat each other shows how selfish both of them are and how they only care about themselves. Gatsby finds himself falling in love with Daisy, and the idea of her, when he returns to Long Island and discovers the lavish lifestyles that are being led. Jay Gatsby is a man who has been obsessed with the idea of being wealthy ever since the age of seventeen, when he met an older gentleman named Dan Cody. Gatsby was supposed to inherit all of Cody’s money but was cheated out of it at the last minute. Ever since then, Gatsby has been obsessed with the idea of being wealthy and he would do whatever it would take for him to be wealthy. Once Gatsby and Daisy begin a relationship, Bloom points out that, “Gatsby, with his boundless capacity for love, a capacity unique in the sterile world he inhabits, sees that the pursuit of money is a substitute for love. He knows himself well enough to see that his own attraction toward wealth is tied to his love for Daisy.”. It is hard for Gatsby to admit, but it becomes evident to the reader that Gatsby values wealth and status over human love and affection. Gatsby had an obsession with money that unfortunately he was never able to shake, and ultimately led to a lonely life and eventually to his
When telling Nick about Daisy’s past, Jordan explains that “The day before the wedding [Tom] gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars” (80). This grand gesture exhibited Tom’s social standing and his immense financial contribution to the relationship. However, the evening of the bridal dinner, Jordan found Daisy drunk and frantically pouring over a letter from Jay Gatsby as she “groped around in a waste-basket she had with her and pulled out the string of pearls” (81). Daisy proceeded to beg Jordan to “Take’em downstairs and give’em back to whoever they belong to” (81). She had momentarily changed her mind, swayed by by prospect of the possibility of Gatsby. She was willing to symbolically throw away the necklace and to give up on her pending marriage to Tom. However Jordan explains “We gave her spirits of ammonia and put ice on her forehead and hooked her back into her dress and half an hour later when we walked out of the room the pearls were around her neck and the incident was over” (81). Daisy was ultimately not willing to sacrifice the assets that a marriage to Tom held, neither on her wedding day nor years later at the conclusion of Nick’s story. The attraction of prestige and money proved to be shaping forces of Daisy’s desires and motives. Through his use of the symbol of the pearl necklace, Fitzgerald comments on the corruptive and compelling nature of old
As a young man, Jay Gatsby was poor with nothing but his love for Daisy. He had attempted to woe her, but a stronger attraction to money led her to marry another man. This did not stop Gatsby’s goal of winning this woman for himself though, and he decided to improve his life anyway he could until he could measure up to Daisy’s standards. He eventually gained connections in what would seem to be the wrong places, but these gave him the opportunity he needed to "get rich quick." Gatsby’s enormous desire for Daisy controlled his life to the point that he did not even question the immorality of the dealings that he involved himself in to acquire wealth. Eventually though, he was able to afford a "castle" in a location where he could pursue Daisy effectively. His life ambition had successfully moved him to the top of the "new money" class of society, but he lacked the education of how to promote his wealth properly. Despite the way that Gatsby flaunted his money, he did catch Daisy’s attention. A chaotic affair followed for a while until Daisy was overcome by pressures from Gatsby to leave her husband and by the realization that she belonged to "old money" and a more proper society.
Nothing is more important, to most people, than friendships and family, thus, by breaking those bonds, it draws an emotional response from the readers. Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan had a relationship before he went off to fight in the war. When he returned home, he finds her with Tom Buchanan, which seems to make him jealous since he still has feelings for Daisy. He wanted Daisy “to go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you” (Fitzgerald 118) Gatsby eventually tells Tom that his “wife doesn’t love [him]” and that she only loves Gatsby (Fitzgerald 121). But the unpleasant truth is that Daisy never loved anyone, but she loved something: money. Daisy “wanted her life shaped and the decision made by some force of of money, of unquestionable practicality” (Fitzgerald 161). The Roaring Twenties were a time where economic growth swept the nation and Daisy was looking to capitalize on that opportunity. Her greed for material goods put her in a bind between two wealthy men, yet they are still foolish enough to believe that she loved them. Jay Gatsby is a man who has no relationships other than one with Nick Caraway, so he is trying to use his wealth to lure in a greedy individual to have love mend his
Jay Gatsby believes he can buy happiness. For example, Gatsby's house is “ A factual imitation of some Hotel De Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (The Great Gatsby 9). His house is nothing more than an perfect symbol of his vast income. Gatsby uses the house in an attempt to win happiness and respect from his peers. Furthermore, Gatsby also tries to impress others with such unimportant possessions as his clothing, as when Daisy emotionally comments, ”beautiful shirts… It makes me sad because I have never seen such beautiful shirts before”(98). Crying over articles of clothing is outrageous, yet it is not the shirts that overwhelm Daisy. Their symbolism of Gatsby’s unlimited wealth and faith in money is truly saddening. Also, Gatsby realizes that Daisy’s main and only concern in life is money. Gatsby pursues immoral and often illegal actions in pursuit of wealth, subconsciou...
The Great Gatsby is a book that was written in 1923 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It has been a critical and financial success since it was released and is on many of must-read lists. Several movies based on the novel have been released over the years but none of them come close to the popularity of one released in 2013. According to one source, The Great Gatsby is a thinly veiled version of Fitzgerald’s own life. He wrote books as a way to make money and gain fame so that the woman he loved would marry him. He threw extravagant parties to impress her just as Gatsby did to impress Daisy. His version of the story, however, ended on a much happier note than his book. As with any various form of adaptation, there are several differences between the
At the mention of Gatsby’s name, Daisy becomes immediately interested. She demands to know who he is, but the conversation takes a different turn (Fitzgerald 11). Daisy and Gatsby reunite and began an affair that Gatsby has always dreamed of. Gatsby tells Daisy that she must leave Tom and she begins to panic. Daisy realizes Gatsby will control her just like Tom does. She becomes scared and no longer wants to be with him. She chooses Tom because, despite his indiscretions and temper, he is able to give Daisy financial security. According to "The Great Gatsby A Misogynistic Tale English Literature Essay," Daisy is ultimately bringing the downfall of Gatsby because of her selfishness and need for security. Gatsby will control her as much as Tom and not be able to give her enough financial security because he does not make his money legally and could lose his money more easily than Tom. Daisy does come from wealth, but she does not have the experience in finances to invest or manage her money, a man has always done that for her. Daisy believes that financial security is more important than love because she is scared of life without it. She has lived her whole life without love, but not without
What is later revealed is that Gatsby’s wealth and luxurious lifestyle is all in the name of getting Daisy, Tom Buchanan’s wife, to fall in love with him. But in the end, even with all his money and power, Gatsby is not able to get the girl. What this brings to light is, was Gatsby’s money truly worth anything? “I love her and that 's the beginning and end of everything” (The Great Gatsby, Chapter ) This quote from Jay Gatsby shows that his entire life is centered around Daisy. That his only motive for the things that he does, for the massive parties that he throughs, for working to become incredibly wealthy, is to have Daisy fall in love with him. Gatsby’s life is one that is incredibly lavish. It is full of expensive amenities many would only dream of having. But Jay Gatsby is not living this fabulous lifestyle for himself. He is living it for Daisy, and only for Daisy. Gatsby’s only desire in life is to have Daisy be in love with him, and he chooses to live the way he does because he believes that is what she wants. Gatsby spends money at wild abandon simply to make an effort to impress Daisy. He throughs incredibly immense parties, with hopes that Daisy and Daisy alone will be impressed. But what is troubling about Gatsby is that, unlike most books, he doesn’t get the girl. Gatsby is, despite his entire life being dedicated to getting the one thing
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of a man of meager wealth who chases after his dreams, only to find them crumble before him once he finally reaches them. Young James Gatz had always had dreams of being upper class, he didn't only want to have wealth, but he wanted to live the way the wealthy lived. At a young age he ran away from home; on the way he met Dan Cody, a rich sailor who taught him much of what he would later use to give the world an impression that he was wealthy. After becoming a soldier, Gatsby met an upper class girl named Daisy - the two fell in love. When he came back from the war Daisy had grown impatient of waiting for him and married a man named Tom Buchanan. Gatsby now has two coinciding dreams to chase after - wealth and love. Symbols in the story, such as the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, the contrast between the East Egg and West Egg, and the death of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Wilson work together to expose a larger theme in the story. Gatsby develops this idea that wealth can bring anything - status, love, and even the past; but what Gatsby doesn't realize is that wealth can only bring so much, and it’s this fatal mistake that leads to the death of his dreams.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a fictional story of a man, Gatsby, whose idealism personified the American dream. Yet, Gatsby’s world transformed when he lost his god-like power and indifference towards the world to fall in love with Daisy. Gatsby’s poverty and Daisy’s beauty, class, and affluence contrasted their mutual affectionate feelings for one another. As Gatsby had not achieved the American dream of wealth and fame yet, he blended into the crowd and had to lie to his love to earn her affections. This divide was caused by the gap in their class structures. Daisy grew up accustomed to marrying for wealth, status, power, and increased affluence, while Gatsby developed under poverty and only knew love as an intense emotional
The idea of money being able to bring happiness is another prevalent modernist theme found in The Great Gatsby. According to Sparknotes, Fitzgerald acts as the poster child for this idea. He, himself in his own life, believes this as well. He puts off marrying his wife until he has enough money to support her (SparkNotes). Fitzgerald’s delay to marry his wife and Gatsby’s quest to buy Daisy’s love are parallel (Gatsbylvr).
In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, money, power, and the fulfillment of dreams is what the story’s about. On the surface the story is about love, but underneath it is about the decay of society’s morals and how the American dream is a fantasy, only money and power matter. Money, power, and dreams relate to each other by way of three of the characters in the book, Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. Gatsby is the dreamer, Daisy cares about money, and Tom desires and needs power. People who have no money dream of money.
Gatsby decides to devote his whole life to achieving the material goods with which to satisfy Daisy. The Quote, "Her voice is full of money," is said about Daisy by Gatsby.(76) To me this means that she has been raised rich and will always remain rich, which is the American dream. He lives in the past on a moment of absolute happiness hoping he can relive that state of emotion sometime in the future. Jay Gatsby, like any normal person, wants to fit into society. His feelings for Daisy make him strive to achieve that goal. In the novel "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby attempts to fit into Daisy's society by any means available.
Gatsby believes in the aforementioned "American Dream." Thus, Gatsby believes that money alone will allow him to enter the upper class. However, the unspoken truth of the "American Dream" is that class mobility requires money and the culture typical of the upper class. Gatsby becomes wealthy, but his lack of this culture prevents him from fulfilling his goal of social mobility. Writer Andrew B. Trigg discusses Gatsby 's inability to climb the social ladder: "culture provides a barrier to entering the top echelons of the leisure class" (Trigg.) 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. In Chapter seven, Tom frequently criticizes Gatsby for his gaudy displays of wealth. First, Tom criticizes Gatsby 's car: " 'Come on, Daisy, ' said