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The Great Gatsby is a novel written by author F. Scott Fitzgerald that provides insights of the social landscape during the Jazz Age. This era is well known for economic prosperity along with the creation of jazz music, bootlegging and other economic struggles that lead to an increase in materialism and capitalism. These philosophies were damaging as they changed the behaviour of people and increased their needs. Fitzgerald expresses the corrupt nature of wealth in the Roaring Twenties by creating materialistic mindsets in the characterization of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, as they both live in different geographical and economic locations that define the money and the lifestyle one lives, and the actions both Gatsby and Tom take to impress …show more content…
Daisy. The Great Gatsby thus presents the pursuit of money between the characters Gatsby and Tom as an abundance of wealth can decay personal values and morals. Two vitally important characters in the Great Gatsby that represent the corruption of wealth are Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan as they’re actions and experiences them who they are what society sees them. Firstly, Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of the novel clearly represents the American Dream because he started from the bottom and worked his way to the top of the social ladder. Gatsby, throughout the book, is doubted of how his wealth was obtained. Gatsby’s wealth is corrupted because he broke the laws of Prohibition in the 1920’s preventing alcohol from being sold. Gatsby’s involvement with bootlegging submerges him into greed and social rank which is a major setback from his ultimate goal of getting Daisy. “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people —his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself.” (Fitzgerald, 105).This is significant because wealth can corrupt an individual no matter their past experiences which definitely in the case of Gatsby who started as a farmer and went from job to job working until he had enough money to impress Daisy. On the other hand, Tom, “a sturdy, straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body…” (Fitzgerald, 9) who was a cruel individual to nearly everyone in the novel because of his money and his power. Tom’s money made him who he is, without it, he would be nothing. His lifestyle and his wife are benefactors of his money. It is clearly shown that his behaviour to Myrtle or the poor symbolizes the corrupt nature of the rich towards the poor because he has the aspiration of being better than everyone else and ultimately it goes his way. Secondly, Fitzgerald acknowledges the relationship between West Egg and East Egg and that America is discriminating and labeling people depending on where they live and if the wealth they own is inherited or earned.
As these two places both symbolize the wealthy of America, both are corrupt as one represent ‘Old Money’ and the other ‘New Money’. Jay Gatsby lives in West Egg as it represents the wealth that is new, earned through hard work and climbing the socioeconomic ranks. In the story, Nick describes West Egg as “less fashionable of the two though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them.”(Fitzgerald, 7). This is important because he first introduces West Egg as very different from East Egg by the people that live in each sector and the characteristics acquired in them. When Gatsby is first introduced in the story he is known for having extraordinary parties and the ideal representation of ‘New Money’. Fitzgerald is trying to express that West Egg represents the idea of individuality and modernization which will be a crucial part of America. West Egg also presents many ideologies that anyone person can acquire work through hard work, even if it may be working with bootleggers like in the case of Gatsby. In contrast, East Egg or ‘Old Money’ was representing the money that was inherited wealth and Tom and Daisy didn’t work for their money as it was in their family for generations. The individuals who live in East …show more content…
Egg are known as aristocrats because they are self-centered and care about nothing except themselves and their money. The narrator describes East Egg as “white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water” (Fitzgerald, 8). His is describing the old-fashioned lifestyle of America and society where the poor will always be poor and the families that are rich will always be rich. This society is corrupted because people who are poor will never get a chance to be wealthy no matter how hard they work. Daisy was a prominent important character in the lives of both Gatsby and Tom as they both love her for her charm and her social rank.
As beautiful of a character Daisy is, she is viewed as a commodity to both Gatsby and Tom. To begin with, Gatsby wants to earn the love of Daisy but she declines him because he is not as wealthy and not important in society. Daisy possessed a materialistic mindset and Gatsby felt the urge to fulfill Daisy’s wishes. This indulges the corruption of Gatsby because Daisy felt attracted to Gatsby only for his wealth and not for the experiences they shared five years prior to the war. Daisy emphasizes the shirt that Gatsby owns when she realizes he is wealthy and notes that Gatsby’s shirts are beautiful. Gatsby didn’t only want to marry Daisy out of love, he wants to marry her because of her social status in the society they live in. Ultimately, marrying Daisy would be the major status increase Gatsby yearned for his whole life because of his life in poverty in his younger ages. Likewise, Tom viewed Daisy as a status increase and it is repeatedly proven in the text that Daisy is a commodity to him even though he did love her in some parts of the story. Additionally, when Myrtle Wilson screams out Daisy’s name repeatedly, Tom gets furious and hits her because Myrtle does not have the social status and money to challenge Daisy. Daisy is a clear representation of corruption of money because she jumps from loving Gatsby to Tom because ideally she wants
to always be adorned with wealth and affection. At the end of the novel, when Gatsby dies it results in the flea of Tom and Daisy as they care nothing more than to hide themselves in the society and the wealth. In conclusion, Fitzgerald implies that the corruption of wealth between Gatsby and Tom has morally changed their view on society and the vast differences between inheriting money and earning money. Ultimately, The Great Gatsby exemplifies the discrimination of social ranks and the corruption of wealth in characterization of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan as they were both brought up in different society’s and lifestyles, the vast differences East Egg and West Egg as they both represent ‘Old Money’ and ‘New Money’ civilization, and the ideal motivation that both Tom and Gatsby partake to earn Daisy’s love because she is a defining person in the society. In the modern day, money is a dominant part of one’s life as it proves the basic needs of a person and also the wants. The ultimate goal of earning money is to use it for the greater good and not to corrupt the economic stronghold.
The East and West Egg are two opposite parts of Long Island. The East Egg is where people of old money reside, like Daisy and Tom, who have inherited the riches of the aristocracy. However, the West Egg is the home of the nouveau riche or new money. It is where Gatsby and Nick reside, who have accumulated great wealth on their own. Fitzgerald contrasts these two places and the characters from each Egg to highlight the cultural clash in the 1920’s between old and new money and the contrasting theme of corruption and morality.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, captures a fine description of how life was in America during the Jazz Age. The Jazz Age signaled an end to traditional American values and a movement towards new ones. The purpose of The Great Gatsby was to show how traditional American values were abandoned and how the pursuit and desire for wealth could lead to the downfall of one’s dreams and goals in life. Happiness obtained from money is only an illusion, money has the power to corrupt and obscure one’s mind and lead one down the path of failure and misery. By using symbolism, imagery, and character personalities and traits, F. Scott Fitzgerald manipulates language to fulfill the purpose of The Great Gatsby.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s obsessive pursuit of goals suggest that Fitzgerald believe that obsessiveness and constant desires often lead to a wrong psychological impact, destructive of one’s traditions, morals, and would have an unplanned end of the lesson or life.
The American Dream is something common to most individuals, however it's one thing that everybody views in several ways. The American Dream is totally different for everybody, however they share a number of a similar aspects of it. The dream relies mainly on the setting of wherever one lives and one‘s social status. for instance, The Declaration of Independence was by Thomas Jefferson, who was an upper class white male. He needed freedom, however freedom for people like himself that were white land owning people. martin luther King, in his I have a Dream speech, also demanded freedom, but mostly for African Americans like him. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his book the great Gatsby, that he wants to eliminate the rich, which he was a section of. every American Dream is somewhat totally different, however all of them relate to the days that one lives in.
Many forms of literature portray conflicting or contrasting areas in which each place has a significant impact on the story. These opposing forces add to the overall theme, symbolism and meaning of the story. In the ‘Great Gatsby’, by F. Scott Fitzgerald these areas are the ‘East Egg’ and the ‘West Egg’. To illustrate the East Egg represents the former or classic establishment. It consists of wealthy families who have handed down money from generation to generation. However the West egg includes money or fortunes that recently have been acquired. The West Egg sets the standard of the American Dream theme; working hard to become successful. Notably, the Great Gatsby reveals characters that come from both areas and impact the story and other locations.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel centered around life of the upper class in the 1920s America. Though written decades ago, themes and issues raised in the opening chapters of the novel still renain relevant to our society today to a rather large extent.
“Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor”(150). Daisy is described as valuing wealth and hearing her voice symbolizes materialism and wealth. Gatsby is aware that he has to use money to manipulate Daisy into loving him. F.Gerald chose the word “clothes” to imply materialism and Daisy is a symbol of wealth throughout the novel. She is "safe and proud," she is safe from poverty, and proud, because she is materialistic in her ways, thinks she is better.
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.
Three works Cited Materialism started to become a main theme of literature in the modernist era. During this time the economy was good causing jazz to be popular, bootlegging common, and an affair meaning nothing (Gevaert). This negative view of money and the gross materialism in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby serves to be a modern theme in the novel. Throughout the novel, the rich possess a sense of carelessness and believe that money yields happiness.
The Great Gatsby shows the reader how wealth and power were important elements during the Roaring Twenties. Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are characters who have been tarnished by their prosperity and power. This so-called wealth and authority has not only affected how they perceive the world around them, but has also changed them as people. Jay Gatsby is a man who obtained his fortune illegally, and his sole drive was his love for Daisy. Jay Gatsby believed that if he became wealthy, he would truly be happy as he would be able to capture the heart of Daisy with his fortune. Tom Buchanan’s wealth was obtained through the inheritance
The 1920’s were a time of social and technological change. After World War II, the Victorian values were disregarded, there was an increase in alcohol consumption, and the Modernist Era was brought about. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a perfect presentation of the decaying morals of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald uses the characters in the novel--specifically the Buchanans, Jordan Baker, and Gatsby’s partygoers--to represent the theme of the moral decay of society.
People often confuse the two synonymous terms of being rich and being wealthy, as both involve having an abundance of money. The main difference between the two is knowledge–wealthy people know how to make money, while rich people only have money. When one analyzes and dissects the two terms, it is easily determined that rich people are solely driven by money and wealthy people are fueled by their ambition, passion, purpose, and dreams. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories, Fitzgerald evaluates the perception of wealth and what is truly meant by the term through the development of his characters.