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Money Doesn T Buy Happiness In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

729 Words3 Pages

It can be easy to observe the glitz and glamour of high society and be instantly mesmerized by the lavish lifestyles that we wish we could partake in. Often, this flashy facade deceives those in lesser circles into thinking that the rich have it all. Unfortunately, the phrase money can't buy happiness is incredibly true and is portrayed in the book The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, very vividly. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's untimely demise and desolate funeral to highlight that compromising oneself in pursuing high societal status and fame leads to a tragic end. The author does a beautiful job of brutally illustrating that desperately aspiring to be accepted isn't the secret to a happy life and will not fulfill what really …show more content…

Gatsby viewed people as objects that could help him get what he wanted. An example of this shows up in chapter 8 when Nick comments on the fact that Gatsby even had an ulterior motive for forming a relationship with Daisy when he says “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy—it increased her value in his eyes.” as he viewed her as an object with a certain value attached to it. This quote shows that although Gatsby appeared to be the hero of this story, his mindset was more selfish because after such a long time of chasing his shallow dream, his morals became incredibly compromised. Gatsby liked to be in control and wanted his fantasies to materialize exactly how they were in his head, so he tried to gaslight Daisy into fitting into his puzzle. When Daisy didn't say the exact words he wanted, the high stress and anxiety caused irrational decisions to be made which resulted in the death of Myrtle, Tom's mistress. Although Gatsby didn’t deserve to be murdered, especially because he wasn't even the culprit, he did bring it on himself as all of the decisions he made up to that point manifested in that

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At this point, Gatsby’s American Dream had failed, as he did not get the opportunity to repeat his past with Daisy. Tom’s blindness causes him to view himself as a victim for losing Myrtle. I feel that it was Daisy’s stupidity and carelessness that lead to Myrtle’s death. Gatsby’s willingness to take responsibility for Myrtle’s death shows his unconditional love for Daisy as he is prepared to sacrifice anything for her. Gatsby corrupted himself and his dream to win Daisy’s heart.

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When Myrtle is killed by Daisy, Gatsby is quick to take the blame when Nick questions him about it. For example, Gatsby says, “Yes, but of course I’ll say I was” (Fitzgerald 143). Daisy never thanked Gatsby for taking the blame, this being a perfect example of how much of a powerful effect Daisy had over Gatsby. After Myrtle finishes her story about how she and Tom met she comes face to face with him discussing if Myrtle has any authority to bring up Daisy’s name.

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Daisy then got mad at Gatsby and led to a spiral of events that eventually led to her killing Myrtle with the car and Gatbsy dying. Clearly, if Gatsby would have just left Daisy alone, she could've stayed with Tom and nothing would have happened including Gatsby’s death. Gatsby’s death can also be blamed on George for numerous

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In the end, Daisy Buchanan is most responsible for the death of Jay Gatsby due to her lies, indecisiveness, foolish mistakes, and her unfaithfulness. After Daisy kills Myrtle with the car, she does not tell anyone the truth about the incident. Instead, she allows Gatsby to take the blame for the accident. Daisy was not in the proper mindset to drive as she knew she wasn’t sober enough to safely drive the two of them home, but her frustration towards Tom and Gatsby overpowered her conscience. When Gatsby and Tom were disputing about Daisy’s love for them, she ends up expressing love for Gatsby and not for Tom, yet she stays with Tom in the end.

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After the affair between Daisy and Gatsby, as well as Tom and Myrtle was discovered, Tom and George made different decisions in how they dealt with the affair. Tom and Daisy decided to move away with their daughter to avoid their problems and guilt and hide in their wealth, but George on the other hand made the terrible decision to take “justice” into his own hands. After Tom told George Gatsby was the one having the affair with Myrtle and is who ran Myrtle over, George decided to go to Gatsby’s house and shoot Gatsby which ended in his death, and proceeded to kill himself in the same fashion. “They’re a rotten crowd,” I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”

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While that was admirable of him to do it was also the reason that Myrtle’s husband killed him. After Gatsby died Daisy fled the town with her husband without trying to show support for her lover after his murder. Another irony was found in Tom’s reaction to the death of Myrtle, especially

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(141) said Tom, blaming Myrtle's death on Gatsby. George goes on to kill Gatsby thinking he is the reason that Myrtle is dead but it’s really Tom’s. This proves most importantly how Gatsby didn’t deserve to get murdered and it was an unfair

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Myrtle was instantly killed after she got struck by Daisy when she was driving Gatsby’s car. Daisy was insisting on driving the car and ended up running over Myrtle due to losing control of the brake. She totally tried to get away with it by staying silent. Gatsby died as well he was murdered instead of dying in an accident. Him succeeding in becoming rich led him to reach for Daisy to fulfill his dream which infuriated Tom.

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The fact the Daisy allows Gatsby to do this for her is incredibly selfish and eventually leads to Gatsby’s death. Striking down Myrtle is an important part of why Daisy caused the death of Gatsby. Although George pulled the trigger and killed Gatsby, he wouldn’t have been in that plight without Daisy’s indecisiveness. The constant battle between Tom and Gatsby in Daisy’s head causes Tom to get jealous. So, Tom takes matters into his own hands and tells George that he thinks Gatsby is a “‘.God damned coward!’”(Fitzgerald 109).

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It has long been said that money can’t buy happiness, but still people continue to use it’s acquisition to try to make themselves happy. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the title character struggles with this realization. The book is set in New York during the ‘Roaring 20’s’, a time famous for its parties and lavishness. The book examines the attitudes toward money within the upper particularly through the lense of the new-money title character, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby dedicated his life to the acquisition of money with the goal of eventually acquiring the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan.

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Gatsby is ultimately responsible for his death, having instigated a fight between Tom and Daisy and gone to great lengths to protect her. However, Daisy also shares blame for the tragedy due to her affair with Gatsby. While in New York City, Tom learned of the affair, leading to his outrage and subsequent actions against Gatsby, which ultimately contributed to Gatsby's death. If Gatsby had remained silent, he might have avoided this fate. Furthermore, if he had not falsely taken responsibility for Myrtle's death to protect Daisy, he might have avoided facing the repercussions of being seen as a murderer.

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Does money make the characters in the Great Gatsby happier? In the book The Great Gatsby, Gatsby was dating Daisy, who he truly loved then he had to go fight in World War I so then Tom took advantage of that and married Dasiy who was using tom only for his money. Will Gatsby and Daisy's love be the same as before when Gatsby went to war?

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Can money buy happiness? In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses dialogue to establish Tom Buchanan’s personality. Narrator Nick Carraway introduces Tom Buchanan, the husband of Daisy, as a man born to wealth. Despite his riches and societal rank, Tom is dissatisfied because he disrespects others and cheats on his wife with Myrtle.

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However, he does not realize that this false sense of joy will soon turn into an act of hatred, causing an argument with Tom over Daisy, and tries to convince her that she “never loved him” (Fitzgerald 132). This refers to how Gatsby is so insecure that he tries to force Daisy into saying that she never loved her husband. The trauma that this action caused becomes unfixable when Daisy decides to try to drive home while intoxicated after the argument inevitably leading to the death of Myrtle, the shop owner Mr. Wilson’s wife. This being a direct result of Gatsby’s unthoughtful actions shows that he truly does not have the strength to control himself and

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The American Dream Doesn’t Equal Happiness If the phrase “money can’t buy happiness” was written into a full story, that story would be The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and has countless examples of the phrase “money can’t buy happiness” suggesting that the American dream and loads of money doesn’t suddenly make your life perfect and all your problems are gone, in fact, the story suggests the complete opposite. In the story, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows that every character who has money or character that is around the people that have money end up in more trouble and having more problems than the average person.

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