Wealth And Possessions In The Great Gatsby

The lust for wealth and possessions is a tribulation that challenges almost everyone in today’s world. Being greedy for wealth and materials is human nature and it could be argued that greed drives the will to do or acquire something. However, for Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby their greed for wealth and possessions effects not only their drive, but their personality, motivations, and their relationships. For these two characters from the novel The Great Gatsby, their wealth affects them in different and similar ways. Gatsby and Tom both share characteristics of lust for wealth and materials because of their own selfish desires, while having differences such as how their wealth affects their personalities and social status.
Gatsby and Tom both

The two domains of wealth include new money and old money, which considers Gatsby as new money and deems Tom as old money. New money folks are individuals who are new to wealth and had to work through the ranks to acquire their advanced status. Whereas those regarded as old money are beings who grew up with wealth in their families for generations. These two distinct sects of wealth spend their money differently, attain it differently, and live their lives in different manners. The author of the novel portrays new money individuals as flashy and trying to impress others with their wealth and possessions. By way of illustration, Gatsby drives a flamboyant yellow Rolls Royce and wears pink suits, which shows his attempt at showing his wealth. Old money, on the contrary, depicts individuals who have elegance, etiquette, and are old-fashioned. The old money crowd doesn’t spend their money on new luxuries or showy possessions and instead are more careless about their actions and hurting others. To give an example, Tom goes out to lunch with Nick and his mistress and flaunts her every second he gets, not caring whether Daisy finds out. Tom and Gatsby are extremely wealthy people, but are a part of very different societal and wealth classes, which affects their behavior and how they spend their

Gatsby grew up poor before we gained his mountain of wealth through illegal methods. Therefore, Gatsby is a self-made man, which caused him to not be rotted to the core by his money, and still obtain his sense of innocence and his kind heart. For example, when a woman at one of Gatsby’s parties rips her dress, he replaces it with a more expensive model. Although Gatsby is filthy rich, his wealth didn’t dirty his personality. In contrast, Tom grew up with wealth and born into a rich family, which affected his personality and his upbringing. Tom believes that he has natural superiority because of his blood and money, which translates into his personality. The portrayal of Tom is a cruel man whose presence establishes dominance and arrogance. Tom’s personality includes him being unfaithful and a eugenicist. Readers see this side of Tom through him showing off every inch of his house to Nick, cheating on his wife with a mistress, physically abusing his mistress, and being obsessed with the Aryan superior race. Tom’s preconceived notion that he is of higher rank due to his family’s wealth shaped his brute force of nature and lack of a moral compass. While Tom embodies the image of humanity being corrupted by money and power, Gatsby represents that humanity is able to remain humane in the face of