Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

Albert Einstein, a renowned physicist, once said, “Money only appeals to selfishness and always tempts its owners irresistibly to abuse it." He conveys that money acts like a drug, drawing in those who selfishly desire it into an endless pit of desire. Once one has delved into that pit, the need to abuse what is offered consumes the person as whole, leaving them to be nothing but a hollow shell of their greed. This idea once again presents itself in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, through numerous characters. Primarily, there are Daisy and Tom Buchanan, a wealthy couple from East Egg, Long Island who abuse their status and wealth in order to benefit themselves. Tom Buchanan, a strong man that is drenched in money and

Meeting each other again after years apart, Daisy and Gatsby were overjoyed. Gatsby, who had spent years climbing up the social ladder for Daisy, was eager to show her around his lavish mansion and extravagant lifestyle. As they fool around happily together, tossing expensive shirts around, Daisy’s once bright smile depletes.

While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher—shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. ‘They're such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ’t makes me sad because I've never seen such—such beautiful shirts before’

After arriving at the Wilson’s house, Nick took notice of Myrtle's lively personality. However, once she went inside to change her dress, the complete change in her personality was extremely evident. “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room. With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur” (30). Nick begins by explaining that Myrtle made a deliberate effort to change her dress, illustrating that she wanted to draw attention to herself and her now “elaborate” dress. This idea is further reinforced through the auditory imagery as Nick states that it gave out a “continual rustle as she swept about the room”. The reference to the sound suggests that Myrtle wanted everyone’s attention to be on her, and as she went around the room, she wanted those there to take notice of her elegance and material wealth. The expensive dress is a key detail that could possibly foreshadow Myrtle’s affair with Tom since her husband Wilson, a factory worker, could not have possibly afforded such an opulent dress. Though the dress could sprout confusion in the minds of the people there, Myrtle