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Void In The Great Gatsby

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Eldrich David Ms. Tomatis English III - F March 27, 2023 The Insatiable Materialistic Void F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a novel that follows the life of Nick Carraway as he lives in West Egg, a person whose life is surrounded by a plethora of wealth, yet an ever-growing void is created through the emptiness of an abundance of wealth. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald diminishes the value of material wealth to depict the pursuit of a relationship as a desperate attempt to fill the void brought by materialism. Ultimately, Fitzgerald uses the shortcomings of relationships to fill the void of wealth to suggest that excessive materialism is a hindrance to relationships that’s fatal. Fitzgerald uses grandiose language, and larger-than-life …show more content…

As Gatsby gives a tour to Nick and Daisy of his house, Nick notices changes in Gatsby’s mannerisms in response to Daisy’s reactions. Saying that “[Gatsby] revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from [Daisy’s] well-loved eyes” (91). Gatsby’s revaluation of his material wealth in response to Daisy shows that his love is embedded in his material possessions. He values only what Daisy values and Daisy tends towards expensive and extravagant things. Nick depicts Gatsby, saying that “in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real” (91). Gatsby is so infatuated with Daisy, that his materialistic wealth fades from view. The emptiness brought by excessive wealth appears to fade away as Daisy fades into his life again. However, Gatsby’s materialistic wealth becomes a hindrance to his relationship with Daisy, once she stops being amazed by the wealth and extravagance. Daisy eventually goes back to Tom, leaving Gatsby to die, unable to fill the void of materialism with his failed relationship with Daisy. In the next scene, Gatsby shows Nick and Daisy his room and clothes. Nick portrays the scene by saying that Gatsby “ took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray” (92). Gatsby’s many shirts made of “linen,” “silk,” and “flannel” are expensive fabrics that add to the materialism that left Gatsby empty, longing for more, longing for Daisy. Now that Daisy is in his life, he believes that he no longer has a need to fill his emptiness with material wealth. Gatsby throwing his shirts shows that he doesn’t have a need for them anymore, they’re unimportant in the presence of Daisy, not only are his shirts losing their folds, they

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