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Examples Of Money In The Great Gatsby

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Can money give you happiness? People often think the source of all happiness is money. They spend their life making every decision based on money in an attempt to become wealthy. Jay Gatsby believes he can get Daisy to love him again by becoming rich, that money would make him happy, and that he could live a life with dishonest morals as long as he had money. In F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby's desire for wealth is a fatal flaw because it prevents him from finding true love, being truly happy, and living an honest life. Throughout the book, Jay Gatsby believes the only way he will get Daisy to fall in love with him again is by becoming rich. “Gatsby’s motivation for assuming his fortune is to impress and regain Daisy, whom …show more content…

“A careful reader of The Great Gatsby will see that Fitzgerald thought this single-minded pursuit of wealth could lead to disaster, both psychological and material” (Gross 150). Jay Gatsby spent his whole life trying to win Daisy’s love by becoming wealthy, but his endless pursuit of wealth ultimately led to his death in the end. “His murder results from the careless attitudes of the elitist class, of which Gatsby desperately wishes to be a part of” (Wyly 45). Gatsby is murdered because of the carelessness of the upper class which he has spent his whole life trying to be a part of. After many years of working very hard, Gatsby is able to attain the wealth he has always dreamed of. He moves to West Egg right across from Daisy to attempt to impress her with his huge house. He throws elaborate parties in the hope that Daisy will come to one of them so they can rekindle their relationship. Gatsby eventually gets the chance to meet Daisy at his neighbor's house. After talking with Daisy he invites her over to his house so he can show her around his house. This shows how obsessed with money Gatsby was because he did not want the day to end without showing Daisy how big of a house and how much money he has. “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (Fitzgerald …show more content…

“He continues to confide in him because he finds Nick to be a genuine friend- again, something he severely lacks, as his poor funeral attendance suggests” (Best Character Analysis: Jay Gatsby - The Great Gatsby). After Gatsby gets what he wanted out of Nick he realizes he is actually a good friend and so he continues to be friends with him. Throughout the book, Gatsby also lies about his past. He lies about his childhood and says he grew up in a wealthy family because to him it would be embarrassing to admit he used to be poor. He also lies about how he earned all of his money. He will not tell anyone the truth about how he attained his wealth, which leads people to come up with rumors about Jay Gatsby. In Chapter 4, he spends more time with Nick, telling him about his service in WWI as well as a made-up story about his past as the only surviving member of a wealthy family. Not only is Gatsby friends with Nick for all the wrong reasons, but he also lies about his past to him. This shows how Gatsby put all of his morals and values on the back burner because he thought money and Daisy were more important. He thought if he told the truth to Nick about being poor in his past and his history with Daisy that he would not be willing to help him. Jay Gatsby did not live an honest life because of his obsession with wealth and

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Therefore making the argument that Gatsby is a compulsive, obsessive, and delusional charter. Throughout the entire novel, Nick is trying to figure out who Gatsby really is and if any of the things he has told him are true. Spoiler: not much of what Gatsby says to Nick at first is the truth. To start off Gatsby claims, “I am the son of some wealthy people in the MidWest- all dead now” (page 64).

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Throughout the novel the reader sees Jay Gatsby alter everything in his life just to accommodate for his precious Daisy. Gatsby even gets himself into illegal business with Myer Wolfsheim whom has the “Finest specimens of human molars” (Fitzgerald 72) as his cuff links. The main purpose for Gatsby’s persuit of wealth is to obtain Daisy. When they had first fallen in love Gatsby was told he would never marry her because poor boys don’t marry rich girls. This ignited a fire in Gatsby’s heart and motivated him to become wealthy.

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Some say the American Dream is exceptionally attainable if one tries hard enough. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald questions this statement by presenting a novel that portrays how the result of the American Dream--wealth--causes destruction. Fitzgerald also argues that trying to fit in where one desires to is not always the best idea. Fitzgerald uses a multitude of examples from his novel to present his argument. Fitzgerald used geography--East and West Egg--to depict the American Dream.

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In reality, Gatsby came from a poor farmer family in North Dakota and obtained his wealth through unlawful means. Gatsby was a bootlegger and a drug dealer that had ties to the mob. Gatsby was though in fact a soldier in the war and accomplished many things there, however, Gatsby did not attend Oxford as a student but was stranded there as a soldier. The false pretenses Gatsby put in place were done to give him a sense of prestige and power. Gatsby did not want people knowing about his humble beginnings, he wanted to be good enough for Daisy and he believed only a wealthy man could ever be enough for her.

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