Why Is Wealth Important In The Great Gatsby

Sabbir Rahman

Mr. McDougall

English 2 Advanced Honors

12 January 2023

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Wealth is argued as the most significant thing in our lives as it is used to obtain commercial goods or to show one’s status in society. Wealth shows up early in history with social classes deriving from it in sedentary groups and leadership going to the person who owned a lot of land or animals. However, not everyone supports the notion of having wealth and many actively go against basing society on a money-driven economy/ They argue that it deteriorates our society as everyone tries to get rich and once they have enough for a lifetime, they decide they are still not satisfied. Many authors use characters and the actions that they

Scott Fitzgerald teaches this lesson in The Great Gatsby through the life of Jay Gatsby and his obsession with wealth. Throughout the first half of the book, we learn that Gatsby has been throwing extravagant parties where the guests simply know him as “...just a man named Gatsby” (Page 48). This is important because it shows how wealth doesn’t affect Gatsby’s social status as nobody knows who Gatsby really is. Gatsby desires money in order to court Daisy but gaining that wealth leads him into shady business which negatively affects him overall and makes him want to make even more money. Gatsby’s loneliness is further shown in Gatsby’s funeral where “...Mr. Gatz and the minister and I in the limousine, and a little later four or five servants and the postman from West Egg, in Gatsby’s station wagon, all wet to the skin” (Page 174). Fitzgerald included the funeral scene to show how sad Gatsby’s life truly was as wealth could not buy him happiness. The weather at the funeral is a metaphor for his life as it has been sad and a lot of this sadness comes from his desire for wealth. Many of Gatsby’s close associates like Wolfsheim don’t attend the procession as they can’t use him anymore and so Gatsby’s wealth could not buy him a good life. Therefore, the author of The Great Gatsby teaches the message that wealth negatively impacts us as Gatsby’s death is indirectly caused by his wealth and his desire for wealth is never satisfied leading to him getting into shady

After her marriage with Logan, Janie runs away to marry Jody but eventually, he grows too rich and starts treating her badly as on page 79, he states, “You’se uh ole woman, nearly fourty.” This is significant because it shows how wealth has corrupted Jody as he used to love Janie but has now started to degrade her. Once Jody became the mayor and started running the town, it led to him holding an iron fist over the land and his own wife in his greed. To show that wealth was the reason, Hurston had Janie marry Tea Cake who was poor but still loved Janie as on page 166, “Tea Cake rose out of the water at the cow’s rump and seized the dog by the neck.” This shows that Tea Cake loved Janie as he fought the rabid dog and got bit by it in order to protect her. The thing that differentiates him from Jody is that Tea Cake is poor and that unlike Jody, he doesn’t let money get to him. Therefore, Hurston shows that wealth is bad for us even if we don’t think so due to our constant desire for