Money and Happiness in The Great Gatsby

Money Equals Happiness in The Great Gatsby

Throughout history many societies have had upper, middle, and lower classes. The classes formed separate communities of diverse living and never crossed social barriers. In the book, The Great Gatsby, instead of streets and communities separating each class there was a sound. On West Egg, the rich received their money not from inheritance but from what they accomplished by themselves. They worked hard for their money and received no financial support from their families. These people gained in one of two ways; either they worked for it or relied on illegal means for survival. On the other hand, or island, East Egg natives represent the class of society that receive money from their relatives. They were someone's heir and rich from birth. It was also known that no one on East Egg would marry someone poor or with new money. Fitzgerald reveals that the life of the privileged class is filled with corruption, carelessness, and materialism through his use of characterization in the novel.

Daisy, the wife of Tom Buchanan, has no goals in life; no discipline, nor any morals. She can't even think for herself because she has never had to before. She talks to Nick as if he is part of a group which is secluded from the lives of the East Eggers and in some aspect he is " 'All right,' said Daisy. 'What'll we plan?' She turned to me helplessly. 'What do people plan?'," (153). Daisy lacks competence. Daisy has nothing to do or care about each day. She has no idea of how to plan something because she hasn't had to do anything that requires thinking since the day that she thought money would solve her problems. She can go through life without having to think about anything that would probably require an elementary education. In the scene where Daisy runs over Myrtle, she doesn't care what has happened, she just cares about herself. "For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes," (158). This quote shows that Daisy is living in a dream world where she doesn't have to obey any laws. Her snobby personality gets her in trouble. Killing Myrtle has no affect on her. She just keeps living her boring carefree life with no regard for other people.

The cor...

... middle of paper ...

... people that she is rich when she cannot show off her possessions. She needs to let people know that she's rich because money is the only thing that she cares about, and the only happiness she gets out of life.

The novel The Great Gatsby shows many different aspects of the upper class. From corruption to being uncaring many characters never change personalities and don't even try to change. Daisy stayed the same careless, materialistic woman throughout the book and Tom stayed hypocritical and angry. Eventually both run away never accepting responsibility for the damage that they caused. They thought that because they have money they would never have any problems and if they did money would get them out. Money was everything to them and Daisy loved money more than she loved her own daughter. Tom thought that because he had money he could cheat on his wife and that love meant buying his wife a necklace which to his wife was love because it cost a lot of money. Both characters never realized what money couldn't buy them. Between Daisy and Tom money can buy love. To them money equals happiness.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Macmillan, 2008.