Many people spend money and buy things they don't want, to gain the attention of people they like. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, money is one of the main aspects for many of the characters. They are all motivated by the life money can give them but it tends to cause a lot of difficulties. A lot of competition arises from the desire of wanting to be better than everyone else and to always get what they want. In the 1920’s it was a great time to have money due to the new technology and supplies available. This was when wealth was at an all-time high and people always had money to spend. They always showed off how wealthy and successful they were by throwing parties, gambling and buying items they don’t need. During the novel, …show more content…
Nick Carraway, the narrator, sees the advantages of being wealthy, but also the challenges faced by his family and friends. Despite the fact that almost everyone dreams of having money and status, Fitzgerald proves how it affects the honesty and behaviour of many different characters. Fitzgerald shows this through the characters of Myrtle Wilson, Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. The character of Myrtle Wilson lives in the valley of Ashes with her husband George Wilson.
They are lower class due to the small amounts of money they have. She is someone who can never get what she wants because her husband cannot provide for her. She is also the mistress of Tom Buchanan, a very wealthy man from East Egg. The fact that she is having an affair with someone of a higher class, someone who has money, makes Myrtle someone who is very dishonest towards her husband. This affects George’s behaviour extremely because when he finds out he becomes mentally ill. He realizes that he is married to someone who has no respect for him because he cannot provide for her. Myrtle even mentions to her sister that she regrets marrying George. She says, “‘ I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’she said finally. ‘ I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe’” (39). This clearly proves that she was not meant for him and she married him because he was nice, not because she loved him. She thought the best for her was to cheat on her husband with someone who has money, so she can get whatever she …show more content…
wants. Fitzgerald shows Jay Gatsby as a man who is well known around New York City.
He throws outrageous parties and is popular because of all his money. When Nick, the narrator, goes for a ride with Gatsby, he finds out a lot about him but is very skeptical about what he is saying. He advised Nick by saying, “‘I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west -- all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition’”(69). Later on in the novel, we find out Gatsby had been lying the whole time and had received all his money from bootlegging. He was born into a poor farmer family and basically had nothing. The reason he did this was to become rich, but also to win the love of his life over. He thought that if he made money, Daisy Buchanan would fall in love with him again because all Daisy cares about is money and status. After everyone finds out about this no one no longer trusts him
anymore. Tom Buchanan is a man of wealth and likes to show off his possessions. He is someone with slight anger issues and can easily start a conflict with people. Although Tom is a man with a lot of money, he tends to use it for different purposes. An example is using it to attract the attention of women. This affects with Tom’s honesty greatly because it shows that he has no remorse for how he is hurting his wife, Daisy. He specifically says, “And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart, I love her all the time" (251). He admits that he does do stupid things with people, but says that he will always go back to Daisy because he loves her. He does not seem to take into consideration the emotions Daisy feels when he sees other women. Tom’s behaviour and negativity towards people are also highly affected by his money. He believes that he can do whatever he pleases to do, so whenever someone disagrees with him or makes him upset he tends to lose his control of what he does. For instance, when Tom finds out Gatsby and Daisy are having an affair, he gets very irritated. This example proves that it is okay for him to see other women, but when his wife does the same, it all of a sudden isn’t okay. Not only does he have a negative attitude toward Daisy, but Gatsby as well. In the 1920’s, money was a huge deal, but it also had a lot of negative effects towards the behaviour and honesty of people. Fitzgerald proves this through the many different characters throughout the novel. Firstly, Myrtle Wilson is someone who is not honest and is not in love with her husband, which basically drives him to go crazy. Secondly, Fitzgerald shows Jay Gatsby as a man who is very untruthful about his past and how it leads to many consequences, one being his own death. Lastly, Tom Buchanan is known as one of the wealthiest people, but still has anger issues and is not honest with his wife Daisy about his affair and thinks it is okay to do whatever he pleases. Money is needed for everything, nonetheless, when money controls us, it rules our lives. Therefore, our behaviour gives the real meaning of money, not itself.
Myrtle Wilson came from a working class family with a low social standing. Due to her family’s lack of money, Myrtle’s options were limited to marrying men of equal or lower economic status than herself. As a result, Myrtle married George Wilson, a poor car mechanic. In her relationship with George, Myrtle lacked control due to her status as a woman and was thus forced to listen to her husband. However, because of her lower status, Myrtle did learn to use her physical attributes to her own advantage. In other words, Myrtle knew how to exaggerate her physical beauty in order to attract men such as Tom Buchanan; who would pay her with money and expensive gifts in return. Thus, “there is a clear connection between the material disadvantages” Myrtle faced and her lack of morals; given “the paucity of her allotment of the fundamental decencies” (Voegeli). In other words, because of her lack of economic backing, Myrtle Wilson grew up as a woman of lower class with less options in life; which limited her social power and drove her to act unlike any high class lady. Thus, Myrtle’s only option for increasing her status was through material services such as her relationship with Tom Buchanan. All in all, Myrtle Wilson’s economic status limited her to the life of a low class woman and her power others in her
Gatsby and Greed In this day and age, money is a very important asset to have. One needs to have at least enough to live on, though great amounts are preferable. In The Great Gatsby, by Thomas F. Fitzgerald, having a large amount of money is not enough. It is also the way you acquire the money that matters.
Unlike Daisy, who comes from old money, Myrtle is from the lower middle class. Myrtle hopes to climb the social ladder by cheating on her husband with Tom Buchanan.
Gatsby was very successful. He had started off life as a farmer's boy, his parents were unsuccessful farmers in North Dakota. Gatsby then joined the army and worked his way up to being a man who owned a mansion in West Egg and had everything he could possibly dream of (except for Daisy). He threw extravagant parties, “there was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (pg. 39), where people showed up by the hundreds and Gatsby provided all the alcohol and food at the parties which were usually held every other weekend. Gatsby was able to own many different types of
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, money plays a large role in the character’s lives. Money is used to change their appearances throughout the novel. All the characters use their money in a different way. Gatsby attempts to use his money to win back his one true love, Daisy. Myrtle Wilson uses money she does not have to change her appearance towards others. But others are used to having wealth, and they are experienced in the ways of being rich. These people include Tom and Daisy Buchanan. The narrator, Nick Caraway, moves east searching for wealth, but never achieves that goal. The entire novel is filled with wealth and riches, but is money to be seen as a privilege or a curse? Characters in The Great Gatsby try to recreate themselves using money.
In the book, The Great Gatsby, written by F.Scott Fitzgerald, there seems to be conflict between old money and new money. New money meaning that they have inquired wealth recently, and old money meaning they have inherited the money from their ancestors and have been building up their powerful social connections for many years. Fitzgerald portrays new money as being reckless and unwise with their wealth by lavishly spending their money on new cars,new clothes and parties. On the other side of the spectrum, old money individuals are presented as being more responsible and knowing how to handle their money. The difference between these two social classes goes beyond the way they spend money, but, in their personalities also; the new money groups tend to be more caring and lacking in social graces while old money are deeply selfish and inconsiderate. This conflict between the two ranks is very interesting in that even though the book takes place in the 1920s, this concept is fully evident in our society today.
The quote, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” by Enrich Fromm truly describes the effect greed can cause others. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald and the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare various themes are shown throughout. One of the most important themes is greed for wealth and power. These works focus on the impact greed for wealth and power causes on the main character and how it affects their relationships with others. At first, these characters are so infatuated by what they want that they do not realize the harm they are causing. However, as these works continue each character reaches a moment of epiphany realizing how
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.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, money is a major factor in all the character's lives. Especially to Jay Gatsby as he constantly relies on it. In this fiction, money cannot buy everything is supported by Gatsby's failed attempt to win over Daisy's love, his lack of true friends, and his constant feeling of emptiness.
“Money is the root of all evil”(Levit). Man and his love of money has destroyed lives since the beginning of time. Men have fought in wars over money, given up family relationships for money and done things they would have never thought that they would be capable of doing because of money. In the movie, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the author demonstrates how the love and worship of money and all of the trappings that come with it can destroy lives. In the novel Jay Gatsby has lavish parties, wears expensive gaudy clothes, drives fancy cars and tries to show his former love how important and wealthy he has become. He believes a lie, that by achieving the status that most Americans, in th...
Money is the first element that represents consumerism in The Great Gatsby. The Jazz Age was characterized by the abundance of money. “Even when you were broke, you didn’t worry about money, because it was in such profusion around you” (Cowley 54). Like Gatsby, most people during the 1920s believed that money was essential to happiness. Gatsby tries to boast his money around to bring Daisy back. His fortune was described as “new money”. Tom and Daisy’s
Money, Love, and Death Children who are born into the lowest group of income in the United States have a 42% chance of remaining in that class; meanwhile, they only have a 1% chance moving up to the highest class. Based on this information, there is a very minute chance someone would be able to acquire the wealth they might strive for, no matter how hard they would work for it. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is first portrayed as an incredibly wealthy man who lives in a mansion and throws extravagant parties every weekend. Little does it mention his life growing up, as someone who lacked a great deal of money to fall back on. This is a key point of information which is touched upon later on in the novel.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the great American novel with a full wariness of the enticing yet hazardous control that the dollar bill has over the American people. When at times it seems money may bring everlasting happiness, the characters in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby quickly realize that wealth and fortune only lead to heartbreak, betrayal and in some circumstances, even death. The Great Gatsby is a true rags to riches story about poor boy James Gatz, who fantasized about the illustrious world of the wealthy and, after some shady and very illegal business dealings with Meyer Wolfsheim, reached his monetary dream. Not without consequence though, as those around him, including Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson,
Money is the center for many people. Money drives people to places they never thought possible. Money can cause people to forget about the things going on around them. THis happens throughout the great Gatsby many times. Throughout the Great Gatsby Daisy and Gatsby focus on wealth and lose sight of each other's company When Gatsby and Daisy were together before he didn’t have any money so Daisy ended up leaving him for tom who was wealthy.