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Examples Of Gold In The Great Gatsby

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Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "The Desire of Gold is not for Gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit" ("Ralph"). Within society, it is believed that money is the key to happiness, for with money comes fame, status, influence, and above all else power. Society uses money as an escape and in doing so, believes that with money all problems can be solved and all mistakes can be undone. Over time, the value of money within society increased to the point that it began to overweight the core values of what it truly means to be human. This theme is heavily exemplified within F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby, and is consistently demonstrated throughout the actions of its characters. The book demonstrates this by repeatedly highlighting …show more content…

"Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and Daisy gleaming like silver, safe, and proud above the hot struggles of the poor." (Fitzgerald 142) Jay understands the impact money previously had on his first attempt at love with Daisy, which is why he went through everything he did in order to gain wealth. Gatsby’s love for Daisy is so overwhelming that he spent his life struggling with hopes of being able to obtain enough money in order to secure a second chance at his relationship with Daisy. Gatsby believes that with money everything is possible; he believes that money will give him the ability to rewrite the past, and when Nick tells him that there is a possibility that he may not be able to, he says, "Can't repeat the past? 'Why, of course you can! I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before,' he said, nodding determinedly. 'She'l see." (Fitzgerald 106) He truly believes that money is the key to undoing the past and revitalizing his love with Daisy. Therefore, since he has money now, he believes that everything should simply fall into place. In order to gain wealth, Gatsby changed his name; where he once was known as James Gatz, he is now regarded as Jay Gatsby. He experiences loss, witnesses death, and additionally risks his life as a free man and gets himself involved in the illegal bootlegging business. He endures all of this to gain wealth, yet perseveres through it all for his love and overcomes it all with one goal in mind: to one day be able to renew his love with the one who he holds dearest within his heart, his one true love,

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One day his fate was set to change. As a storm was coming Jay went out to warn a yacht that was owned by a Dan Cody. Dan took a liking to Gatsby and took him on board, basically as a first mate. It was on board that Gatz took on the name of Jay Gatsby. The whole aspect of comfort and luxury caused Gatsby to fall in love with wealth.

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Wealth is defined by a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches (dictionary.com). Many characters, in the novel, The Great Gatsby, displayed different forms of wealth. They each viewed and valued their wealth in distinct ways. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald intended to display a constant theme that wealth does not lead to true happiness.

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Corruption of Money Most people will agree if someone has too much money it can or will corrupt them if they don’t have self control. In the book The Great Gatsby money plays a big part throughout the story and is the main theme. Out of all the downfalls Gatsby has, there’s one that stands out the most. Gatsby’s downfall is thinking money can get him anything and take him anywhere he wants.

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Gatsby believed that he could win over the woman of his dreams through money because to Daisy, money meant

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864 Words | 4 Pages

Being “James” Gatsby he could never win his biggest obsession. He wanted more than what life was going to give him spontaneously so he worked to make himself more than he already was: a self-made millionaire. He wants the girl so as a result he hides what he came from and how he became who he

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834 Words | 4 Pages

Born James Gatz, his economic turn began before the story even began; when Gatsby was 17. He was a poor, and ambitious boy, and a passing millionaire took notice of this, along with “James Gatz’s” first impression, he was hired. Gatsby’s tastes, and ideology remain fixed on his desires of wealth from here on out. Even as the modern Jay Gatsby, his ideology is ever present; to do whatever it takes to live lavishly. Of course, this dramatic change and ambition was met with a crushing defeat when his employer died, and his days of wealth were squandered.

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518 Words | 3 Pages

Later in the novel Gatsby states, “‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby believes that the love Daisy and him had when they were younger, will be the same now if not better.

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158 Words | 1 Pages

In the Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy parallels to his pursuit of the American Dream. We learn that, in Chapter 6, Gatsby did not come from that “Old Money’’ family. He is the son of poor farmers from North Dakota and rises to be notoriously wealthy by becoming a bootlegger. With all this money, it reminded him of the past relations he had with a rich girl: Daisy. Gatsby, in actuality, earned his money to impress, reunite, and rekindle his relationship with Daisy.

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451 Words | 2 Pages

“Ballistic imaging and microstamping technologies have the potential to reduce gun violence by improving the solve rate of gun-related crimes”(Giffords Law Center). Requiring microstamping and ballistic identification for any and all firearms can help detain and detect the person responsible for any local shootings. Microstamping is a needed adjustment for all firearms. This micro adjustment will enable us to find more evidence that police cannot in crime scenes and help find and track exactly which gun fired the bullet. In a blog posted by Towne Currier he explains the reason for this certain development: “The development of this tool is because of the challenging identification of a firearm due to the multiple sources of randomness present

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Bang! Bang! Those could be the last sounds you could ever hear if you have been too obsessed with money . All of the people in the Great Gatsby love money and it turns out that the money betrays them. In F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby it proves that no matter how much you have money can't buy true happiness.

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674 Words | 3 Pages

James Gatz did not come from a family of lavish wealth like those of West and East Egg, so when he gained his wealth working his way up the ladder of success, he wanted no ties with the man that he once was. He changed his name just as he had changed his life, to show that he could control who he was. Gatsby’s attitude toward wishing to control everything is pervasive throughout the novel and ties into Gatsby’s overwhelming desire for his love: Daisy Buchanan. Jay Gatsby not only wants to have Daisy as his very own, but he also desires to protect her. At a turning point in the novel, Daisy is driving Gatsby's

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1014 Words | 5 Pages

“James Gatz — that was really, or at least legally, his name… The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God.... So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” ( 99) Gatsby was just a ideal, a dream that was conceived from James Gatz , a poor boy. He changed everything, lied about his past and truly believed that he was Jay Gatsby.

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1320 Words | 6 Pages

Jay Gatsby born James Gatz was born into a poor family from North Dakota. When he was 17 James changed his name from Gatz to Gatsby while working for Dan Cody on Lake Superior. Cody inspired young Gatsby to become wealthy and chase his luxuries, when Cody died Gatsby was determined to find his way of wealth. Gatsby’s way of wealth was bootlegging, which is a corrupt and greedy way of making money. During the 1920s prohibition was active and since alcohol was not legal, Gatsby decided that he should bootleg alcohol.

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1873 Words | 8 Pages

Daisy is shown through her expensive house, rich husband, and luxurious attire, to help mask her ultimately unhappy identity. She has had so many opulent experiences due to marrying Tom, yet she feels so empty and wanting more with her life: “’You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow’ she went on in a convinced way…‘I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything’” (Fitzgerald 17). Daisy’s true character is revealed shortly in the story when she tells Nick how she has seen and done everything, yet feels empty and that everything is terrible. Daisy believes that money can buy happiness, which is why she has to purchase everything to fill a potential void in her life.

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1373 Words | 6 Pages

While on the surface, Gatsby does have a ‘rags-to-riches’ story, it is not a virtuous one; he amasses his wealth through illegal channels by working with Meyer Wolfsheim, and never fulfills his dream, Daisy. Also, He changes his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby when he first encounters Dan Cody. Because Gatsby has to take on an entirely different persona to achieve success, disguising his poor upbringing and suggesting that James Gatz could never achieve the American dream. Gatsby first attempts to earn his financial success by performing menial labor for Cody, but when Cody’s ex-wife swindles Gatsby out of his inheritance, he turns to illegal means of getting rich. Not only does Gatsby illegally gain his wealth my selling grain liquor over the counter, but he also does so under the direction of Meyer Wolfsheim, breaking two essential qualities of the self-made man, virtue, and independence.

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