How Can Money Buy In The Great Gatsby

What can money not buy? In The Great Gatsby the luxuries are endless, from Gatsby's luxury yellow station wagon cars, to his humongous mansion, parties thrown, the yachts, horses, the countless maids and musicians, and the many piles of silk and linen shirts. Money buys bottles and bottles of expensive whisky and bourbon, the apartment Tom Buchanan buys solely to have an affair, the acres and acres of land all for one family, and the many trips around the world. Bathing in jewels and rings and expensive painting and sculptures. The extravagant garden and waterworks, the Rolls Royces rolling up to the party, the bottles of champagne for the many guests, and the elegant and extravagant outfits which might only be worn once, the shelves filled

What can money not buy? Happiness.

Through The Great Gatsby the theme that money cannot buy happiness is thoroughly developed by Nick's reflections and the characters' constant want for more. Early on in the novel Nick realizes that “life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all” (Fitzgerald 4). Nick's realization helped me see that everyone viewed everyone's life as better or worse than their own because of their social and economic status. Through Nick's point of view I got to see how truly unhappy even the people with money were but also how everyone thought that they were happy just because they had money. The metaphor of the single window interpreted in my head as everyone's unique and individual perspective, which helped me see how no one is ever truly content with their life.

The green light is a big symbol throughout the whole novel, I believe it represents what people believe is out in the world for them. Gatsby seems to be looking through his window seeing what Tom Bucanhan has that he doesn’t. Gatsby even though he has all the money he could ask for he is still searching and seeking for something more. Gatsby longs for Daisy, in the belief it will satisfy him. Nick describes how "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter” (Fitzgerald 180.) The way Gatsby saw this light to me ultimately showed how and why he was never fully fulfilled by his life. The light showed how he sought out too much, some things which were almost impossible for him to have, ultimately making himself miserable. The novel displays many themes but the theme that helped me understand and analyze the novel best is how joy cannot come from wealth by specifically showing Gatsby's constant crave for more than what he already