Essay On Greed In The Great Gatsby

In both The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" by Flannery O'Connor, the protagonists are searching for some type of fulfillment in life, and they both believe that they can obtain it through material belongings and behaving in a carless fashion. Both protagonists, Jay Gatsby and Mr. Shiftlet, do obtain material possessions thinking that these possessions will make them happy; however, neither are able to obtain a sense of fulfillment. F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby and Flannery O'Connor in "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" illustrate their disapproval of searching for fulfillment in life through possessions and careless behavior through motifs of greed, foreshadowing, and symbolism in order to allow their audiences to feel the same rejection toward searching for fulfillment and happiness in wealth and careless behavior.

Fitzgerald and O’Connor both incorporate a motif of greed in their works. For example, Fitzgerald conveys the greedy nature of wealthy people in his novel when Nick Carraway states, "[T]o-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther" (Fitzgerald 180; ch. 9). With this quote, Fitzgerald exposes that the people who have gained unimaginable amounts wealth and material possessions are never satisfied and continue to want more. Fitzgerald is able to spark an idea in the minds of his audience that happiness is not gained through wealth nor owning material goods. O’Connor takes a different approach to show her disapproval of greed by giving an example of the immoral and corrupt methods people try to satisfy their greedy desires. She writes, "He had always wanted an automobile but he had never been able to afford one before" (O’Connor 1042). Due to Mr. Shiftl...

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... This connection that is offered to the readers creates a negative connotation with being excessively wealthy and forces them to dislike the characters who exploit situations in order to gain more riches and possessions.

In an attempt to fulfill their lives with meaning and happiness Jay Gatsby and Mr. Shiftlet strive to obtain more possessions or more wealth than what is needed. Due to their greed and careless lifestyles, they cannot achieve happiness or fulfillment; instead, their actions lead to dissatisfaction, destruction, and unhappiness. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Flannery O’Connor use the literary devices of motifs, foreshadowing, and symbolism to cause their readers to become disenchanted with the idea of being wealthy for fear of being associated with evil and corruption like the characters in The Great Gastby and “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.”