Money In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

According to researchers and the University of Utah, “study participants were more likely to lie or behave immorally after being exposed to money-related words.”This is important because in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, characters are heavily influenced by money. Because money is involved, it brings conflict and love and loss. If money was not involved, The Great Gatsby would have been a simple love story about how Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby fell in love instead of a story of tragedy. Therefore, in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses wealth as a key point in order to influence the characters actions, decision-making, and thought processes. In the beginning, Gatsby and Daisy fall in love but Gatsby goes off to war and Daisy

Because of Daisy’s lavish lifestyle, the only way to win her back is with money. Gatsby knows this and “bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores” (Fitzgerald 103) and “sold grain alcohol over the counter” (Fitzgerald 103) in order to get the money and impress her. Because Daisy loves money, Gatsby alters his life in order to win her back. Gatsby commits a crime and covers it up with a fake story just to seem worthy of Daisy. Money has influenced Gatsby’s actions heavily because Daisy wants it. If money was not a part of the situation, Daisy most likely would have never married Tom and would have ended up with Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses money as a tool to show how in love Gatsby is with Daisy and how much Daisy wants secure money. Because Tom comes from old money and is very wealthy, he thinks that he can do whatever he wants. Daisy and Myrtle both want money so they let him treat them however he wants because they know they will be able to use his money. Tom decides to buy Myrtle a dog and tells her “here’s your money”. Go and buy ten more dogs with it” (Fitzgerald 24) to show how rich he is and to assert