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Wealth In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

1451 Words6 Pages

Many people are under the impression that being wealthy does not have a negative impact on their lives; in fact, they believe that it can get them anything they want. In order to accumulate a substantial amount of money, they often end up making immoral decisions that have an unfavorable outcome in their lives as well as in the lives of others. This situation is presented to readers in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in which he utilizes characters such as Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson who all have the ideal belief that money is the answer to all their problems. Fitzgerald demonstrates that having such values and such a strong desire for money can result in the blurring of what is right and what is wrong leading to irreversible consequences. First, Fitzgerald does this by introducing the reader to Myrtle Wilson, a woman who from the moment she is introduced, shows a great interest in money and this affects her relationship with her husband George Wilson. She explains that in the start of her marriage she realizes she had made a mistake by marrying him and felt betrayed because she was not marrying the type of man she wanted; Fitzgerald states, “‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman.’ She said finally. ‘I thought he knew something about breeding, but he …show more content…

This is shown by the way Gatsby interacts in shady business to earn money, Fitzgerald adds; “When I asked him in what business he was in he answered: ‘That’s my affair,’ before he realized that it wasn’t an appropriate reply. ‘ Oh, I’ve been in several things,’ he corrected himself. ‘I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I’m not in one now.’” (Fitzgerald 90) Gatsby tenses up when asked what his current job is, indicating that it

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