Examples Of Happiness In The Great Gatsby

Wealth vs. Happiness

The Roaring 20s’ represented a time of economic prosperity and the introduction of new values. In places like New York City, tycoons and promiscuous women lead the social class pyramid as shown in novels such as The Great Gatsby. The novel, which involves the disregard of prohibition, new social issues, humongous fortunes, and a tragic death, serves as a collection of lessons that apply to modern-day society. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Gatsby’s wealth ultimately shows the reader that money does not equal happiness.

Fitzgerald indicates that wealthy people are not always happy. At Tom and Daisy’s dinner party, Nick says that Daisy’s face “was sad and lovely” (13). The description of Daisy’s

When Nick is observing the atmosphere at Gatsby’s party, he notices that Gatsby was “standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another…but no one swooned backward on [him]” (54). In other words, Nick shows the reader that Gatsby sits on a theoretical throne like a king rather than mingling with his guests. The seclusion of Gatsby from the guests at his party puts emphasis on the social class division between Gatsby and the partygoers and the loneliness that wealthy people like Gatsby feel. Voegeli compares Gatsby confined by wealth to men confined by democracy. As the literary critic Voegeli says, “the loneliness that pervades Gatsby…was seen by Alexis de Tocqueville [regarding how] ‘[Democracy] constantly leads [each man] back toward himself alone and threatens to confine him’” (Voegeli 8). The similarities between how wealth and democracy imprison men ultimately expresses that the path to these two ideologies leads men to isolation from society. The obsessive following of the American dream, democracy, and the path towards prosperity ultimately takes a vicious toll on the follower’s connection to society. According to Close, wealthy people isolate themselves because “acquiring more money predisposes people toward keeping their distance.” These conclusions, which Close discusses in her article “This is Why Rich People Aren’t Always Happy”, add weight to the argument that rich people detach themselves from other members of society. The overall effect of wealth on mankind is disastrous to one’s mental health. As a result, wealthy people seclude themselves from the rest of society, and they are locked into an insane obsession of making