What Is The Pursuit Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

Humans, by our very nature, are always striving to achieve more in life. Unfortunately, our materialistic society, and that of the Roaring Twenties, interpret this as striving for wealth. That pursuit often becomes all-consuming, eventually hindering our pursuit of gratifying life goals. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts wealth as a fraudulent thief whose pursuit must be abandoned for the sake of tangible fulfillment. He illustrates the dangers of attempting to find gratification in wealth through the life of Jay Gatsby, who ironically sacrifices morality, identity, and love in order to gain wealth, which he attempts to use to justify his claim to these very things. When Gatsby loses everything, we see that wealth not only fails as a means of fulfillment but actively participates in the destruction of this goal. Fitzgerald suggests that wealth cannot lead to happiness, rather it undermines the existing and potential good in life. It should therefore should not be used as means of attaining fulfillment. The first mentions of Gatsby’s character reveal a personality who has sacrificed morality to achieve a

When we use wealth as our vehicle to self fulfillment, it easily distracts us from our original goal. In our efforts, it is easy to lose sight of our aims and compromise our principles to attain the wealth we desire. It is evident that even amidst his riches, Gatsby is unfulfilled. The wealth he hoped to use to strengthen his claim to honour has undermined his chances of being worthy of it. Instead of giving, wealth has stripped him of his morality and trapped him in a lifestyle that demands he only be pulled further into immorality. His story warns that the pursuit of wealth—even as a means to an end—causes loss, despite the seeming gain. In order to achieve fulfillment, we must abandon that pursuit in favour of the direct pursuit of the things that would do