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Influence Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

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“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel written about a Midwest native, Nick Carraway, who arrives to Long Island in 1922 in search of the American Dream. Nick moves in next door to millionaire Jay Gatsby and across the sound from his cousin Daisy and her philandering husband, Tom. Fitzgerald creates the characters of Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby to help develop the central theme of the story: a comparison of the corrupting influence of wealth to the purity of a dream. Daisy was born and married to wealth, and has no values and no purpose in life. She finds her existence to be boring as she floats from one social scene to the next. In spite of the wealth, she wonders aloud what she will do with the next day, the next thirty days, and the next thirty years and unfortunately, she does not have a clue. Even …show more content…

Although he has a large, ostentatious mansion, drives flashy cars, gives extravagant parties, and has way too many gaudy clothes, he has not amassed his wealth or what it buys for himself. Everything he has done in life has been done to fulfill his dream- to prove to Daisy that he is worthy of her. He believes that his possessions will convince Daisy to forget the past five years of her life and marry him. When he takes Daisy into his house and shows her his belongings, he values each item according to the worth that he thinks she places on it. When she shatters his dream by accepting Tom over him, Gatsby has no need for any of his possessions or wealth. No longer searching for his holy grail, the house, the clothes, and the cars mean nothing. Fitzgerald clearly intends for Gatsby’s dream to be symbolic of the American Dream for wealth and youth. Gatsby genuinely believes that if a person makes enough money and amasses a great enough fortune, he can buy anything. He thinks his wealth can erase the last five years of his and Daisy’s life, and make things the way they were before he went away to

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Gatsby 's property is entirely representative for his desire for Daisy, he builds his amount to ultimately fail in trying to replace the only extravagant object he can't buy, Daisy. When Daisy and Gatsby reconnect in the novel, Gatsby is no longer a poor boy but a rich mogul. Daisy sees what she could've had and breaks down, "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before" (Fitzgerald 98). Daisy regrets her unfortunate marriage with Tom and wishes she would've married Gatsby and been with him in the long run.

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Wealth is defined by a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches (dictionary.com). Many characters, in the novel, The Great Gatsby, displayed different forms of wealth. They each viewed and valued their wealth in distinct ways. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald intended to display a constant theme that wealth does not lead to true happiness.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of “wealth can breed carelessness” using the literary devices and/or techniques of irony, irony, and point of view. From Nick 's perspective, the wealthy characters of this story tend to act ignorantly and care nothing else besides themselves, which would impact others, including the actions shown by Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan. First of all, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of “Wealth can breed carelessness” using irony. In the text, a conversation between Jordan and Nick, “‘They’ll keep out of my way,’ she insisted.

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The Negative Influence of Wealth Wealth and prosperity are the core of living a lavish lifestyle and having a successful life. However, money can influence people into debauchery. In the book, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald introduces to us to some of the dangers of being rich. Most people in the Great Gatsby were very privileged, and they lived a lavish lifestyle.

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Wealth is often described as happiness, the more you have the happier you will be. But wealth is often described as the thing that makes people careless too. Does wealth encourage carelessness?. Yes, wealth does encourage carelessness as we can see by the actions of Tom and Daisy in The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald. And also from my own experience on SJR.

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