Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

The American Dream. This mentality of individualism, discovery, and the pursuit of happiness has always been and continues to be a staple of American culture. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his novel The Great Gatsby, explores the disintegration of the American dreams in the 1920s in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess through characters, such as Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, and Daisy Buchanan, who are seeking the happiness they desire. However, in order to obtain such happiness, these characters fall into the trap of materialism and decayed moral values. By depicting characters’ emotional isolation as a means of coping with the empty pursuit of pleasure, Fitzgerald criticizes the superficial effect of the unattainable

From the outside, success and prosperity appears to be achieved, but analyzing the characters show us that the characters continue to be unsatisfied. The complete focus on superficial relationships and materialism prevents people from forming meaningful relationships and living a satisfied lifestyle. Even after Gatsby gets Daisy’s affection, he does not stop there. He demands that Daisy “tell [Tom] the truth – that you never loved him – and it’s all wiped out forever” (Fitzgerald 132). Although Gatsby has been yearning for Daisy for a very long time, he focuses on the superficial act of recognition. This represents how the desires can never be fulfilled since there will always be bigger, more exciting prospects ahead. Gatsby views Daisy with such idealistic perfection and pursues her with such zealous passion that he is never satisfied with what he obtains. Even after Daisy is unable to say she has been emotionally loyal to Gatsby, Gatsby’s powerful dream of happiness with Daisy still causes him to take the blame for Myrtle’s death, ultimately leading to his own death. Thinking about Gatsby’s death, Nick writes that he wishes that Gatsby realized “what a grotesque thing a rose is” (Fitzgerald 161). The rose is a conventional symbol of beauty. However, Nick suggests that roses aren’t inherently beautiful, but they are given the status of beauty by onlookers. Gatsby has invested Daisy with beauty and meaning by making her the object of his dream that Gatsby cannot see her as the “grotesque” person she is. Had Gatsby not instilled such value due to her status in her, Daisy would not be the object of his zealous passion. Just as how Gatsby’s dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, the world is represented as a moral wasteland due to the unworthiness of its objects –