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The importance of money in modern society
The importance of money in modern society
The role of money in society
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In this economically booming era, materialism has become what signifies how happy you are. The more money you have the happier you are. This distorted perspective causes the average American pursuit to be one of wealth rather than happiness. It made the rich negligent of adhering to moral values and more along the lines of just whatever they feel like doing, because the apparent recurrent theme is that if you have enough money, you can get away with anything. The rich are impetuous, and we see examples of this with practically every wealthy character in the book. Tom can have affairs and have it mean nothing, Jordan is careless and cynical, Gatsby is looking for the love of his life and her validation of whether he is successful enough, and even Dan Cody when first introduced is shown as drunkenly sailing out in a storm that would've killed him if gatsby didn't save him. …show more content…
Each of these people have problems that money can't suffice, further enforcing the idea that in one's pursuit of wealth, they will not find happiness. Nick is the best example of honest living. He is idealistic and sees things for what they should be seen as rather than how most others see them as. He is not filthy rich, but he is not desperately poor. He is a comfortable middle class working man. He has values and morals that he upholds, but who knows. Maybe, if he were to become rich, with enough time the newly available option to easily escape problems instead of deal with them and take responsibility would be something that corrupts his genuineness. Making him just as fake as all of the other wealthy
An example of this is “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 78). It does not matter that Gatsby wasted his money on an extravagant house, if he does not have Daisy, he has nothing to live for. Gatsby thought by possessing a rich lifestyle, he can do whatever he wants and get whatever he needs, but ultimately, he cannot do those things. Another example is when Fitzgerald describes Myrtles living space as “...a small living room, a small dining room, a small bedroom, and a bath” (Fitzgerald 29). Like Myrtle, people tend to act phony when they feel wealthy because they believe the public will care about their wealthiness and want to be like or with them. People only want to be rich because of the glamour and the title of being high-class. With that being said, wealthy individuals believe they can do anything they want as long as they have the
Andrew T. Crosland, an expert on the Jazz Age writings of author F.Scott Fitzgerald, wrote that Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby included over 200 references to cars (Crosland). This is not surprising as the automobile, like the flapper were enticing novelties at the time this book was written. The main characters in The Great Gatsby who, by the way, all drive cars are Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle and George Wilson. Attractive, yet enigmatic, Gatsby tries to win the love of an aristocratic woman, who rebuffs Gatsby for her upper class husband. This leads to Gatsby’s tragic murder after he is falsely accused of killing Myrtle with his Rolls Royce. The automobile, as
The dawn of the 20th century was met with an unprecedented catastrophe: an international technological war. Such a horrible conflict perhaps threatened the roots of the American Dream! Yet, most do not realize how pivotal the following years were. Post war prosperity caused a fabulous age for America: the “roaring twenties”. But it also was an era where materialism took the nation by storm, rooting itself into daily life. Wealth became a measure of success and a facade for social status. This “Marxist materialism” threatened the traditional American Dream of self-reliance and individuality far even more than the war a decade before. As it morphed into materialistic visions (owning a beautiful house and car), victims of the change blindly chased the new aspiration; one such victim was Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. As his self-earned luxury and riches clashed with love, crippling consequences and disasters occur. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby delves into an era of materialism, exploring how capitalism can become the face of social life and ultimately cloud the American Dream.
During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives. In the novel entitled the great Gatsby, the ideals of the so called American dream became skewed, as a result of the greediness and desires of the main characters to become rich and wealthy. These character placed throughout the novel emphasize the true value money has on a persons place in society making wealth a state of mind.
In the novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author establishes materialism and wealth as a corruption of the American dream. The American dream embodies the idea of a self-sufficient, honest and intelligent individual with a happy, successful life. It is also the idea of the pursuit of happiness, but Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy aristocrat, goes after the empty pursuit of pleasure, portraying her character as a disillusionment of the American dream and how much it lost its good values. The wealthy are blinded by all their money, such as the Buchanan’s who forget the real idea of the American dream, leading them to have no morals or values. The money gives them the ability to walk all over others, careless of whom they hurt and affect.
...l in life is an absurd assumption to make, according to Nick. As we can see, he did not believe this at the beginning of the story, since his dream was to go and explore the world and be a wealthy style person. It was after certain time that his mind began to realize the real importance of being a human. Accordingly to my thoughts and experiences, society lies in a simple avariciousness, which is defined as the unreasonably strong desire to obtain and retain wealth. From my experiences throughout my life I have realized that a greater percentage of the population of the world prefers to have wealth instead of living happy. I am not going to negate that having money can sometimes pull you out of deep problems, but we as human beings have to understand that richness is not the ultimate goal of life. Before it we must accomplish our self-esteem and social value goals.
How does reading a story benefits an individual and improve his or her daily life? Extensive reading does not only serve as an entertainment purpose, but it is also beneficial to many readers because reading fiction can help enhance a person’s understanding of the type of society the reader lives in. For example, the famous novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is regarded as a brilliant work of literature, for it offers a detailed glimpse of the American life in the 1920s and comments on various social problems during that time period. The novel tells the story of a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby who lives in the fictional town of West Egg, located on Long Island, during the summer of 1922. Gatsby wants to pursue his first
It’s been ingrained into the fabric of society that to be truly happy in life, one needs to be wealthy. The characters in The Great Gatsby show this is not always the case, and that wealth is not always as important as one would believe. Society has always placed a significant importance on being rich, being wealthy. It makes one believe that being wealthy is the only true way to live a happy and fulfilling life. With this in mind, many readers are going to look at the characters in The Great Gatsby, such as Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, and fantasize about one day living the lifestyle that they live. While many characters in The Great Gatsby would appear from the outside to be living the American Dream, it what lies underneath this image of
The movie “The Great Gatsby” illustrates the stereotypes and the conditions that society lived in, the different roles and duties society had in order to be successful. Regardless gender or color the chance for success must be distributive as equal, but it was not distribute equally. Society set of mind were negatively despised by lower class. "A person who was not well-to-do and who did not belong to the right club or attend the right school was considered not only poor, but sinful. The pursuit of wealth came to have a meaning which transcended the mere desire to be more comfortable. It served in an attempt to erase original sin and earn eternal salvation. Striving for wealth has become a way for Americans to ease their consciences, while
Materialism has a negative influence on the characters in the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. “The most terrible thing about materialism even more terrible than its proneness to violence, is its boredom, from which sex, alcohol, drugs, all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love, offers a prospect of deliverance.” This quote, stated by Malcolm Muggeridge, says that people get bored with the things that they have when they get new things all of the time. When they get bored with these things, they turn to stuff like sex, alcohol, and drugs. In The Great Gatsby, Myrtle, Daisy, and Gatsby are greatly influenced by money, and material things. The negative influence that materialism has on these characters is shown throughout the entire novel.
The American Dream, which was started out as a good intention, was eventually perverted in the 1920s. In the world of The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is synonymous with money and status. Most of the characters reveal themselves to be highly materialistic, their motivations driven by their desire for money and material goods.
Fitzgerald discusses the desire for material possessions in The Great Gatsby by explaining the fact that Americans judge people by the possessions and the money they have. For example people pictured Tom as a god because of his wealth. Because of his wealth he could commit crimes, have affairs, cover up stories all by being wealthy. Nick explains “They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess” (Fitzgerald 187). Wealth allowed Tom and Daisy to feel entitled to do as they pleased. They reveled in the fact that they were well known and talked about by people. “Did you keep it…? Sure I did. I was going to wear it tonight, but it was too big in the bust and had to...
F. Scott Fitzgerald third book, “The Great Gatsby”, stands as the supreme achievement in his career. According to The New York Times, “The Great Gatsby” is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. In the novel, the author described Daisy Buchanan as childish, materialistic, and charming. These characteristics describing Daisy is also description for the way women were seen during the 1920s.
Much like in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, society treats views and treats people with money differently than those without it. For example, Tom and Daisy get away with the death of Tom’s mistress because of their wealth “His family was enormously wealthy – even in collage his freedom with money was a matter for reproach” (Fitzgerald,23). Further the reason that Daisy had not married Gatsby all those years ago was because he was poor, it was not until he had an enormous house and lots of money “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me” (Fitzgerald ,367). It was not until Gatsby became wealthy did Daisy want to marry him “After she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house” (Fitzgerald, 311). Moreover, Gatsby’s own personal success was based on how Daisy perceived his house “He hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well loved eyes.” (Fitzgerald, 260). Critic Karielle Stephanie Gam agrees with this view of success “His wealth is never cloaked; from the mansion, to the weekly parties, to the countless dress shirts and expensive cars, it is evident that Gatsby is rich as sin and is initially, though his inclusion in the nouveau riche, the epitome of the American dream.” (Karielle Stephanie
“Money is the root of all evil”(Levit). Man and his love of money has destroyed lives since the beginning of time. Men have fought in wars over money, given up family relationships for money and done things they would have never thought that they would be capable of doing because of money. In the movie, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the author demonstrates how the love and worship of money and all of the trappings that come with it can destroy lives. In the novel Jay Gatsby has lavish parties, wears expensive gaudy clothes, drives fancy cars and tries to show his former love how important and wealthy he has become. He believes a lie, that by achieving the status that most Americans, in th...