Wealth And Ignorance In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Wealth and Ignorance Wealth and happiness are two things society sees as coinciding: to be happy, money is a necessity, and to make money, happiness is essential. This assumption about wealth is close to correct, however overlooking the impairment wealth brings to a person: ignorance. Ignorance is a trait found in all sorts of people, but occurs the most often in those with wealth. When one’s wealth is so grand paying a house full of people to like you is reasonable, ignorance is bound to flourish. Without needing to be a good friend or a good person to make people joyful, the wealthy often forget to introspect, and instead inspect their houses to make sure the guests in them are pleased. The guest’s pleasure does not come from knowing the

Tom Buchanan is a man whose life revolves around his money and his women. He spends half of his day with his mistress in the apartment he pays for, and half with his wife and his child in the bayside mansion he pays for. Tom is a man whose ability to empathize has been lost due to his enormous wealth, choosing to break his wife’s nose with his open hand rather than look at an argument from her side. Tom looks down on Gatsby for his method of obtaining wealth, calling him “Some big bootlegger” (Fitzgerald 107). He questions Gatsby about the authenticity of his wealth before he questions him about his relationship with his wife. Tom cares more about his financial status and superiority than his own family. Tom’s wealth has led him to become a person recognizing others based on how much money they have, or how much pleasure they could bring him, not based on others’ personalities or what makes them

Those with wealth can skip the point where one must garner attention or interest from others to make an acquaintance; their reputation proceeds them. Gatsby becomes awkward because he never has to charm anyone, his money does all the talking. The exception to this is when Gatsby must charm Daisy, Tom’s wife, because Daisy is already wealthy. The only way for Gatsby to win over Daisy is by being charming, but Gatsby does not realize this. When Daisy first comes to West Egg, Gatsby sends for Nick’s house to be decorated, as that is where Gatsby and Daisy are meeting. He sends for Nick’s grass to be cut (Fitzgerald 84), and encourages Daisy to see his home after their time at Nick’s house, saying “I want you and Daisy to come over to my house” ( Fitzgerald 89). Gatsby feels the need to show off his wealth to Daisy because he is not only jealous of Tom for being her husband, but also because as Roulston states in his essay, “Tom possesses something else Fitzgerald envied, great wealth” (Roulston). Gatsby cares not about the number in his bank account, but about the the look on his acquaintances’ faces when they see his wealth, whether his wealth is in the form of a house, a suit, or even newly cut grass. Tom’s stature of being “a national figure” (Fitzgerald 6) only provokes Gatsby more, causing him to almost rub his relationship with Daisy in Tom’s face, like when