Examples Of Luxury In The Great Gatsby

A Life of Luxury

“I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (Fitzgerald 180). Jay Gatsby grew up in poverty and lived his entire life pursuing a lavish, luxurious lifestyle. His desire for wealth and to try obtain his love Daisy caused him to move to the West Egg on Long Island, New York. The green light on Daisy's dock symbolized Jay’s wonder of what a life would be like with Daisy and wealth. Gatsby came close to achieving his own American Dream but too many complicated problems caused his death. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby's desire for the

Gatsby earned his money by bootlegging which was his way of achieving his own wealth. However, Gatsby lied about how he earned his wealth. Gatsby told Nick that he earned most of his money in just three years, but Nick thought that Gatsby inherited the money. Gatsby lied to Nick and said he did inherit the money but he lost most of it in the panic of the war. Gatsby eventually told Nick and the Daisy and Tom Buchanan that he owned many drug-stores, which was how he earned all of his money. Tom Buchanan was suspicious of Gatsby and found out that Gatsby was lying. Tom raised his suspicions and said, "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong” (Fitzgerald 133). Gatsby lied about how he achieved his wealth because he wanted to impress Daisy and he was embarrassed that he had not inherited the wealth or earned it by traditional

This was personified in how he felt when he heard Daisy’s voice. Gatsby said that Daisy’s voice sounded like money which misguided him into believing that Daisy should have been with him. “Gatsby says Daisy’s voice is ‘full of money,’ and worships the green, money colored across the bay where Daisy lives as though it were the Holy Grail” (Gross 149). Another example of how Gatsby associated Daisy with money was when Daisy and Gatsby were together he told Daisy that he could see the green light that burned all night on the end of her dock from his house. It seemed that the significance of the light had vanished forever because he was finally close enough to Daisy but his relationship with Daisy did not work