Theme Of Opulence In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby there are many motifs and themes throughout the novel. The novel also contains many Symbols. It is these symbols, motifs, and themes that aid the novel in being a novel of opulence and wealth. F. Scott FItzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a novel of opulence and excess, because throughout the novel excess wealth as well as consumerism is constantly expressed and described.
The motif of wealth is continuously stated within the novel. In Article 3 Curnutt says, “ His consumerist fascinations are everywhere evident in his fiction, which luxuriates in the tints and textures of consumable goods. So packed with accoutrements of decor and leisure are many of his descriptive passages that his prose radiates the

Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is not a novel of opulence and wealth, but rather a novel of carelessness and moral decay, this is false ,because although throughout the novel we see a great deal of chaos and carelessness within the characters and around them, this chaos and carelessness is a result of the opulence and excess that exists within the novel. Article 1 states, “The billboard has decayed to the point that only Dr. Eckleburg’s eyes are still visible, and they gaze constantly over the ash heaps of the wasteland where George and Myrtle Wilson live. The eyes represent a center of stability in the midst of chaos, while Gatsby seeks order in all the wrong places.”(Burnam,pg1) The order that Gatsby seeks is in Daisy; she is his dream. Gatsby knew that in order to obtain his dream of being with Daisy, he had to become rich and live a life of opulence. This quest to acquire his dream results in his world being filled with chaos and carelessness. His great wealth allows him to throw extravagant and chaotic parties. Article 1 also states, “It is not what Gatsby was…, but what had hold of him that was his downfall.What had hold of him… was the dream that all share who seek to impose some kind of order on a cluttered universe.”(Burnam,pg4) It wasn't the chaotic and careless lifestyle in which Gatsby lived in that resulted in his downfall, but rather the realization that he can never be with Daisy. During the 1920’s to have great wealth was the goal in life. We see this in the manner in which Gatsby attained his wealth and why. As article 2 states, “The new millionaires emerging from the Gilded Age promulgated the myth of the self-made man. This myth stressed the notion that the most important goal was individual betterment… achieved by a combination of sustained work and strength of character, no matter how obscure one’s social origins were.” (Lena,3) The characters within the novel valued wealth and consumption and those who