Money, status, and luxury are often taken as symbols of a successful fulfillment of the American Dream, but are those really indicators of a fulfilling lifestyle? In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates the shallow, superficial, and materialistic nature of the rich elitists of the era, and why those traits are a problem that should be taken seriously. One major example of the fake nature of the aristocracy can be seen in the relationship between Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Their house is described as “more elaborate than [Nick] expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay” (Fitzgerald 6). It’s clear that from a materialistic perspective, the couple has everything they could have dreamed of - and …show more content…
His perceived ‘greatness’ comes from his extravagant lifestyle - his house, his car, the parties he hosts at his mansion, but the reader learns that it wasn’t always like this. Determined to be viewed as ‘great’, he created an entire fake facade to appear as fanciful as possible, even going so far as to change his name to blend in. “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself,” Fitzgerald writes, “He invented the sort of Jay Gatsby that a 17-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he stayed faithful to the end” (Fitzgerald 98). Furthermore, Gatsby seems to believe that amassing money and property can solve all his problems, which is revealed in his relentless pursuit of Daisy. His clear desire to show off his wealth during their first interaction, and the fact that he “bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” are both indicators of Gatsby’s prioritization of status (Fitzgerald 78). But in the end, what does it do for him? He loses Daisy, the girl he had been dreaming of for five years, and no one can even be bothered to show up for his funeral. On the outside, Gatsby may have had the luxury everyone wanted, but he lacked the true human element to his life. His prioritization of materialism led to a tragic end to the Great Gatsby’s