Wealth And Power In The Great Gatsby

Humans have always wanted wealth and power. The acquisition of these two desires has been the motive behind many relationships. Nevertheless, when it comes to love, the pursuit of wealth and power has the possibility to be detrimental. It is often said that love knows no boundaries, but when wealth and power arise, love can be rejected. In pursuit of wealth and power, individuals may compromise their values, sacrifice personal relationships, and manipulate those they claim to love. Consequently, wealth and power can limit real love by making people prioritize their material possessions over their emotional connections, These ideas can be found in the book The Great Gatsby. The article “The Mating Game” and the visual “For Richer, For Smarter”

This may sound nice but dating someone due to their wealth and power over someone who one loves may cause great regret and stress in the future. In The Great Gatsby, there is a moment when Daisy, the novel's female protagonist, reveals her regrets about marrying Tom, her wealthy and unfaithful husband. This moment occurs in Chapter 7, during a heated confrontation between Tom and Gatsby. As the tension builds, Daisy becomes overwhelmed by emotion and confesses to Gatsby, "I did love him [Tom] once, but I loved you too” (Fitzgerald 132). This poignant moment shows the complexities of Daisy's character and the difficulty of her situation, torn between her past love for Gatsby and her present life with Tom. This example gives great insight into the fact that choosing someone due to their wealth and power over how much people you feel for them will only cause resentment and

This is depicted in the statistics provided by Rebecca Gardyn in paragraph 6 of her article, "The Mating Game," where she states that 94 percent of married high school dropouts were wed to someone who had a similar level of education, while only 1 percent of the most educated Americans had a spouse who did not complete high school. This illustrates how people with higher socioeconomic standing and degrees of education choose spouses who are at least as educated and financially secure as they are. This focus on status and education can make it difficult for people to feel true love and devotion for their partners because they may place more importance on maintaining their own money and prestige than on the emotional bond they have with them. In the visual "For Richer, For Smarter" by American Demographics, it is shown that as income levels increase, there is a significant drop in the number of women willing to date individuals with any income level. This indicates that people with higher salaries might choose a companion based more on their power and financial standing than on their emotional bond. Higher-earning people might believe that they are entitled to a certain degree of prestige and privilege in their relationships, which can lead to a power dynamic that might prevent the growth of true love and affection. Ultimately, rather than concentrating exclusively on