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Old Wealth In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The 1920s was the age of major social change. From women’s suffrage to the emergence of flappers, many people saw the 1920s as a new age and wanted to join societal changes. Everyone seemed to be chasing after one dream, often called “The American Dream” of being wealthy and careless. Not only did people want to become wealthy, but they wanted to live the lifestyle of “Old Wealth”, which were people who had inherited their money and lived like royalty. Many people worked towards this, trying so hard to become old wealth, but no matter how hard they tried, they could never become that. They were classified as “New Wealth” and oftentimes people of old wealth looked down upon those individuals. F. Scott Fitzgerald often wrote many stories about this pursuit of wealth since he was also a person who aspired to be like that, but unlike many others, he was also able to see the truth beneath what it meant to be wealthy. …show more content…

He explores this topic in a famous novel called The Great Gatsby, and specifically in one passage out of the book when Gatsby invites Nick and the Buchanans to a party and as the night goes on, Gatsby continues to look for approval from the Buchanans while they turn their noses up at his

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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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The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the novel suggests that the pursuit of wealth and one's successes can lead to a person's downfall and destruction. The novel follows the story of Nick Carraway and his experience with a man known as Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is a man who was not born into wealth but instead climbed his way to the top with one goal in mind, to be with his Beloved named Daisy Buchanan. But as the story progresses, Gatsby’s goal to be with Daisy takes a very drastic turn for the worse. In the story, there are two characters, Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson, whose lives are ruined by their pursuit of success and everything they want in life.

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Talking about the Buchanans, Nick expressed that they “retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” because of what Tom led George Wilson to do. (Gatsby) “The Buchanans' thirst for the good life victimizes others to the point of murder”. (Telgen) With Tom’s wealth, he escaped a scene where he was at fault. Completely different, Gatsby showed a dream believing in a “green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (Gatsby) “Only Gatsby, could be construed as fulfilling the author's vision of the American Dream”. (Telgen)

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Not only does the amount of wealth affect social class, but the type of wealth also affects it. It even affects where people live and who people marry as seen with Gatsby and Daisy. The characters social standing affect who they interact and how they are perceived by others. Fitzgerald highlights the different class structures like “New rich” and “Old rich” and the impact of wealth on the people’s lives in those classes. He also shows the superficial nature of the characters and highlights the value placed on wealth.

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American novel deals in depth with the theme of Greed as an aspect of human conscience crisis which leads to dilemma, problems, and predicament for human being. Novels such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, Henry James’s Washington Square , Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Michael Crichton’s The Great Train Robbery, and others expose clear image for the theme of Greed and its implications. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the human predicament of Americans in 1920s, through his best novel The Great Gatsby . In this novel Fitzgerald deals with the theme of a lust for money and greed .

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Wealth identified how you lived to the people surrounding you in society. It was wealth that built you and destroyed you. Wealth overshadowed true love and beauty in The Great Gatsby. Those who had old money looked down upon those with new money, while those who were not rich was ignored by society. Wealth and the desire to be accepted by the society distracted the characters from making moral decisions.

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