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Wealth In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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There is no better display of the roaring 1920s than the people of New York, who fully embrace the culture scene involving music, partying, fashion, and alcohol. The city has an adventurous feel, especially to outsiders who wish to get in on the excitement and opportunity. However, the luxury and grandeur yearned after is near impossible to come into without the right relations. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses geography in The Great Gatsby to express the idea that one can never truly assimilate into the culture of the elite class.
One of the biggest characteristics setting apart new and old money are the communities and neighborhoods they occupy. In the novel, West Egg and its residents represent the newly rich, such as Gatsby and Nick, while East …show more content…

Midway between West Egg and East Egg, places of immense prosperity, rests the Valley of Ashes, home to the working class. Afflicted and broken-down, the Valley of Ashes is described by Nick as being “bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene…”(Fitzgerald 24). Much of the imagery used to describe this place is meant to show how disconnected the rich are from their source of wealth. The industry boom that makes the Valley of Ashes so impoverished is also enriching and profiting the upper class in East and West Egg. Plagued with soot and ash from factories and smokestacks, the Valley of Ashes is where dreams of attaining the opulence of the upper class come to die. Characters that reside here, such as Myrtle and George Wilson, are pursuing something they hope will bring them out of hardship, but they fail to catch up to their objectives. Myrtle distinguishes her adulterous relationship with Tom as a ticket out of poverty, while George emits “a damp gleam of hope”(Fitzgerald 25) at the idea of getting even a touch of business from Tom. However, because of the emptiness and vanity of the wealthy, these characters are destined to live and die in the Valley of Ashes as the world moves on without a second

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Nick is fascinated with Gatsby’s story because, even though the validity of his story is questionable, the way Gatsby tells his story makes it believable enough. Gatsby’s smile is also enough to put Nick’s doubts at ease for a while. 5. By juxtaposing Myrtle with the Valley of Ashes, Fitzgerald creates the effect of how lifeless and bleak the Valley of Ashes as opposed to Myrtle’s “vitality.” It also shows how out of place Myrtle looks in the Valley of Ashes, hence why she’s having an affair with Tom, to get where she thinks she

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When Tom went to visit his mistress in the valley of ashes, his confrontation with Wilson showed how the upper rich look down on the poor. Tom was planning on doing business with Wilson by selling him a car, so when Wilson saw Tom “a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes.” The poverty stricken try to leave, but cannot. Myrtle, Tom’s mistress and Wilson’s wife, died trying to leave. She “rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting” toward Gatsby’s car because she thought it belonged to Tom, and she wanted him to take her away to the upper class.

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In contrast to her husband and the rest of the people in the valley of ashes, Myrtle has worth and dreams. Her husband has “white ashen dust veil[ing] his dark suit and his pale hair [veils] everything in the vicinity--except his wife, who [moves] closer to Tom” (26). George has lost all hope of a better life, but Myrtle is not a part of this dust leaven place because she still hopes to achieve this American Dream of being rich which is shown as she moves closer to Tom who has achieved it. But having a carefree life like Tom can only come by hurting others. Myrtle finds this when with one last chance to go after Tom, she and her dream are killed by Tom’s wife.

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With this new rush of energy, all the excess waste leads to the creation of The Valley of Ashes, while the rich like Daisy Buchanan trot along by. Throughout the narrative The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald Scott demonstrates the moral hollowness of the upperclassmen and the wealthy people in the 1920s. Evident through Daisy Buchanan’s actions and again through the setting of The Valley

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It symbolizes poverty, and the population of Manhattan that is not rich and self indulged in their personal lives. The Valley of Ashes is described as a dumping ground, Nick even explains how it’s “bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour” (27). This is completely opposite to places like West Egg, where most of the novel is taken place. Everything is luxurious and fast paced, comparing these two places opens up many symbols in the reader's mind, like poverty and the fact that not every American at that time could live as Gatsby can, for instance.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby describes the life of Jay Gatsby in the 1920’s. The novel shares his love story and his loneliness. A major question the author raises is how does wealth impact class structure and society? Fitzgerald answers this question through the distinction between “New rich” and “Old rich” and the significance of East and West Egg.

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the economic health and distribution during the 1920s are deeply explored through the wealthy characters in the novel. While some characters are more representative of how wealth was earned and used by the upper class, some other characters can show how the upper class disregards everything other than their wealth and status. The Great Gatsby is a novel that delves deep into the lives of many upper-class individuals who benefitted from the economic situation of the 1920s. Now, what exactly was this economic situation during this period? While the economy was certainly “booming”, it is clear that there was also a massive downside to the roaring economy.

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Its physical decay in the form of ashes also assists in picturing the moral decay of characters of the time. Fitzgerald moves the decay onto the physical men as a symbol, who move “dimly”, which symbolizes the lack of decency throughout the story in each character when they act recklessly. At the time, this represents the economic inequality plaguing the time, and how men such as Buchanon and Gatsby profited off of the less fortunate for their own benefit. The valley of ashes symbolizes the moral decay of the story at its peak, however it is also important to consider the other real historical connections. In the History Channel article “8 Ways ‘The Great Gatsby’ Captured the

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To begin, Fitzgerald uses imagery to demonstrate the economic decay of the valley. This passage first introduces the valley of ashes. He writes, “Ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air”(Fitzgerald, 27). This quote gives the reader a

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