Examples Of Money As A Motivator In The Great Gatsby

Everyone has once dreamed of wealth and what they’d have to do to get it. In The Great Gatsby there are many examples of how people obtain their wealth, how wealth itself is a motivator for them, motivating them to do both good and bad to get it. What characters in The Great Gatsby do and have done will be discussed in this paper to prove how money as a motivator can make people do many things, in this case bad things. Although there are other motivators, like love for example, the whole story revolves around money. Gatsby being the man with the most money, he must also have the most stories of how he managed to obtain such wealth. For the most part how Gatsby got his money wasn’t mentioned a lot, mainly because he purposely tries to hide

When it was time for Daisy to move on in her life she would need someone to take care of her and to pay for her expenses, since Gatsby wasn’t actually rich and only acted to be she left him, setting the story in motion, and soon after she found Tom. Tom seemed to be the perfect match for Daisy because he was exactly what she desired, Rich, “Tom Buchanan is wealth brutalized by selfishness and arrogance… that is why Daisy chose him” (Taylor 6). But when reunited with a much wealthier Gatsby, she grows closer to him like before and finally decides that she should leave Tom for him. Like before how Gatsby fell in love with Daisy’s wealth, Daisy fell in love with the wealth that Gatsby represents, “Daisy does not like Gatsby for himself, but for the superficial illusion he represented” (Fredrick 4). Especially when she’s touring his mansion and sees his many exotic shirts. They both seem to be happy together, especially Gatsby, but once he’s killed Daisy’s on the move again. Meaning as soon as Gatsby dies she goes running back to Tom and his money and they leave town, “They smashed up things… and then retreated back into their money” (Fitzgerald 137), and leave it to the others to clean the mess they made. Although they aren’t the only ones leaving

All these people that come to these parties don't even really know Gatsby on a personal level but most are very huge fans of his story and his wealth, “Came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission” (Fitzgerald 32), the only reason they go at all is to get a taste of his life and his wealth without paying a thing, without wasting their money. A great example of one of these people is the man that called upon Nick. Soon after Gatsby’s death, Nick calls up everyone he might think to be interested in attending Gatsby’s funeral, he doesn’t come across much success but before the end of the night a man calls, Nick being hopeful for another friend at Gatsby’s grave is soon disappointed to find he was only calling about his shoes he left at Gatsby’s home, “What i called up about was a pair of shoes I left their” (Fitzgerald 129). Nick tries to persuade him to come to the funeral but realizes how selfish the man was and decides to hang up. In Fact the only few people to go to Gatsby’s funeral was his father, Nick, Owl Eyes, The Minister, and four or five servants. Not only are they the only ones to go to the funeral but also the only characters in the story that aren’t influenced by the desire to achieve or experience wealth, The only ones to truly appreciate Gatsby for