Money and the Pursuit of Happiness in American Literature
I have learned a lot about the pursuit of happiness and how it ties in along with american literature. When you talk about this country and everyone’s pursuit of their own happiness one thing sticks out more than most others. That would be money. Money, while it isn’t the main thing people say they want, it is definitely something they want because it makes their life better. In the stories The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, and The Devil and Tom Walker money is a very tremendous deal to the main characters and even the other characters throughout the story.
In The Great Gatsby money is very important to characters such as Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. Gatsby wants to have a lot of money so he can impress the woman he loves, Daisy, by throwing lavish parties in his huge house while driving his luxurious car around. This is his goal especially because Daisy is a “gold digger” and wants a husband that can supply her with a ton of money. Even though Daisy isn’t happy with Tom as her husband she stays with him for the money. She is too caught up in the money that Tom provided and that is why she left with him and didn’t care about Gatsby’s death or funeral. So when Nick called up Daisy to
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Initially Tom refuses to trade his soul to the devil in return for a joyful life. However, greed eventually drives Tom to make the deal, thinking it will bring him happiness. So while Tom worked at the bank he ripped a lot of people off especially the speculator who said, “[y]ou have made so much money out of me” (pg. 331). Tom did this over and over again to many different people until the speculator called him out on it. That is when Tom lost his patience and said, “‘The devil take me,’ said he, ‘if I have made a farthing!’” (pg. 331). Right after he said that there was a knock on the door and it was one of the devil’s servants that came for