Bang! Bang! Those could be the last sounds you ever hear if you were too obsessed with money. All of the people in the Great Gatsby love money and it turns out that the money betrays them. In F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby it proves that no matter how much you have money can't buy true happiness. First, all the people in The Great Gatsby thought that the money they had could bring them the true happiness they wanted. Tom Buchanan was the worst of all though. He always thought his money could get them out of any problem. He shows this when he says, "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time"(Fitzgerald 140). …show more content…
Tom’s wealth made it so almost anything he interacted with became twisted. Like here when he interacts with Daisy “Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed expression on her little finger. "Look!" she complained. "I hurt it." We all looked – the knuckle was black and blue. "You did it, Tom," she said accusingly. "I know you didn't mean to, but you did do it. That's what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen”(Fitzgerald 15). This is the first time you really see what happens to everything around him. He tries to be nice, but even in kidding, he hurts those around him. He then also cheats on Daisy later with Myrtle and that corrupts both her and Wilson. Mr. Wilson was a good guy until Tom Buchanan was introduced to him and Tom ruined his life leading to the deaths of Gatsby and Mr. Wilson. He inadvertently killed Wilson just by being his horrible self and having his wealth and purposefully got Gatsby killed for his own actions. Anything introduced or compared to wealth within this novel is corrupted. Any true happiness they had was faint and distant due to the wealth that separated it from the people. You can see this with Wilson mainly here. “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick”(Fitzgerald 132). Wilson was happy with his wife and was living a good life …show more content…
Many different Authors have said this too “yet his fiction was never just thinly disguised autobiography”(Baughman 133). You can see through this that Fitzgerald was unsatisfied with what money had brought him and he didn't like the problems that came with it. Both the characters in the story and Fitzgerald himself had ended up worse off than when they started due to the money. Through this you can tell Fitzgerald had let his life seep into his stories and through them he showed how even he thought the wealth brought problems. Finally, The book The Great Gatsby was a great novel that could have many different themes and interpretations, but the theme of happiness and money is the one that sticks out the most as supported by obsesseion, corruption, superficial love or ideals of glamour. This is why In F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby it proves that no matter how much you have money can't buy true happiness. Next time you feel like buying something to make you happy instead of spending it on something more noble just think back to this
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby provides the reader with a unique outlook on the life of the newly rich. Gatsby is an enigma and a subject of great curiosity, furthermore, he is content with a lot in life until he strives too hard. His obsession with wealth, his lonely life and his delusion allow the reader to sympathize with him. Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth.
As you can see, Tom Buchanan is an important character in The Great Gatsby. His personality leads to many characters not trusting him or not liking him. Tom’s actions then leads to the deaths of several characters. Instead of taking ownership of the unjust deaths, he takes Daisy and together they leave. This shows the carelessness and selfishness that Fitzgerald tries to portray as the upper class of the
“Marry rich”, a famous quote used throughout the years, informing people that if all else fails depend on someone else who is successful and everything will work out. Within the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, characters; Daisy and Myrtle, practice this idea by both going after the rich and successful Tom Buchanan. Unsurprisingly both of these affairs result in failure, this is because both affairs are built upon the value of money, and success. With regard to money induced relationships, the novel Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald exceedingly demonstrates how money cannot cause someone to go against their morals. In the book the Great Gatsby characters become delusional to the meaning of true meaning of love. This is because
First, both Fitzgerald and Gatsby were not truly happy with their wealth and the fulfillment of their dreams. “Fitzgerald’s Great Neck years were not the happiest time of his life, though he seemed, like Gatsby to be sitting on top of the world” (“Fitzgerald: The Authority of Failure” 288). Fitzgerald had a lot of money, yet he eventually discovered that his happiness was hollow. Like Fitzgerald at the peak of his wealth and fame, Gatsby was not happy once he achieved his goal of winning back Daisy. “As I went over to say good-by I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby’s face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness” (Fitzgerald 95). Gatsby tried to believe he was truly happy, just as Fitzgerald continued to desire wealth and fame. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald's excessive wealth led to his later sadness. “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life is a tragic example of both sides of the American Dream - the joys of young love, wealth and success, and the tragedies associated with excess and failure” (Willett). Although Fitzgerald was happy in his youth, as he acquired and lost fame, he became a failure and ended up a tragic figure. Gatsby also overindulged in his wealth and desire for Daisy, and ended up a failure. “The sad lesson of
“Money can’t buy happiness” is a saying that is often used to make one understand that there is more to life than wealth and money. Jay Gatsby was a man of many qualities some of which are good and bad. Throughout the book of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we learn of his past and discover the true qualities of Jay Gatsby. Starting from the bottom, with little money, we learn of why Gatsby struggled so hard all his life to become wealthy and what his true goal in life was. When reading this story, the true reasons behind Gatsby’s illegal actions reveal themselves and readers can learn a great life lesson from this story and the actions the characters take. Readers can see through Gatsby’s contradictions of actions and thoughts that illustrate the theme of the story, along with his static characteristics, that all humans are complex beings and that humans cannot be defined as good or bad.
If happiness means to have achieved all goals, having money and power, then Tom Buchanan is the only exception in the novel that can be classed as Happy.... ... middle of paper ... ... Lastly, the character with the most unreliable and unclear dreams in the novel is the narrator and character ‘Nick Carraway’. His happiness is his downfall as he claims ‘life is much more successfully looked at from a single window’ meaning he thinks life is better when you’re alone and do your own things.
When society wishes for lavish things, corruption will soon follow. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald examines the desire for wealth, power, and success in New York. Society cares too much about appearances. Fitzgerald’s novel makes the reader aware of the unhappiness that could be experienced if all that matters relies on money. Fitzgerald emphasizes that because the American dream is determined by materialism, it ultimately corrupts the people who desire wealth.
A theme from Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is that money cannot buy a person happiness. This theme applies to Gatsby himself. Gatsby spends his entire life trying to satisfy Daisy. He obtained an enormous amount of wealth and threw house parties for five straight years, hoping that Daisy will attend one of his parties. Daisy is married to Tom and has a child named Pammy. She falls in love with Gatsby but, she eventually stays with Tom. Gatsby has an obsession with Daisy that he cannot get over. Nick says that Gatsby, “He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn’t realize just how extraordinary a “nice” girl could be. She vanished into her rich house, in her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby—nothing” (149).
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald depicts the true embodiment of the rich. Being born into a wealthy family seems to be an extraordinarily lucky thing, considering the amount of people who are forced to struggle for things many take for granted. However, being rich and wealthy is not as great as it might seem. Having a fortune is often terrible for character. Those who are born in the lavish lifestyle of the wealthy often express their carelessness in the ways that they search for their own self-indulgences instead of searching for something worthwhile and meaningful.
They had grown up together, and gatsby knew that that woman was meant to be with him. When gatsby went off to war, the two lost touch. but that did not stop gatsby from hold onto his love. Unfortunately the distance was too much for Daisy, and she found another lover by the name of tom. Gatsby was torn by this, and made it his goal to get Daisy back. He bought oodles of expensive things for his home, and filled it with people, booze, and flowers, in hopes of catching daisy's eye. Gatsby is prideful about his money. Although the ways that he has obtained it are less than favorable, he is proud because he knows that it's all going to Daisy. In fact, he boasts abouts it in various ways by telling her that it “took [him] just three years to earn the money that bought it” ( Fitzgerald 90). He wants to show of to Daisy so that she will realize that she made a mistake marrying Tom. Fitzgerald drowns Gatsby in wealth to symbolize the fact that he is often greedy and stubborn. Gatsby has elegant everything. From the “man in England who buys [him] clothes” ( Fitzgerald 92), to the hundreds of people that come to his home, he wants to show that he has it all. Money is gatsby’s superpower, but yet he is so quick to abuse it, and it's not even for his own
In the story The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald they think that money buys them everything .Soon they’ll find out that they are going to have it the hard way. Along with tough moment in which wealth won't be able to do anything about it. “ The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald illustrates how excessive desire for material wealth can really damage your reputation and the reputation of those around you.
Most people believe that money doesn’t buy happiness or do something that makes you happy. In the time of the 1920’s money and material wealth are all anybody cared about. In his book The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates that in spite of this popular belief, money and material wealth won’t buy long-term happiness.
When Gatsby admits his love for Daisy in front of Tom, Tom begins arguing for Daisy as if her love is his possession yelling, “But all the rest of that’s a Goddamned lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now” (Fitzgerald 131). This portrays Tom’s notion that Daisy belongs to him and her love is something he has obtained. This highlights that money can destroy the idea of true love and leads to reckless assumptions. Furthermore, Tom allows himself to engage with other women while still claiming love for Daisy. By stating, “And what’s more, I love Daisy too. Once and awhile I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time” he is showing the utmost disregard for Daisy’s love for him (Fitzgerald 131). This is significant because it shows how Tom’s wealth has created the perception that Daisy is a prop he can utilize as he chooses . This also demonstrates the carless naure of the upper class because Tom feels justified for running around with a mistress because he claims to still love
The novel’s narrator, Nick Carraway, is surrounded by wealthy people in the novel. He is scornful towards the wealthy, yet “only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction-Gatsby who represented everything for which I have unaffected scorn” (Fitzgerald 6). Daisy Buchanan’s relationships with both Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are perhaps the most representative of the power and effects of wealth in the novel: “her whole careless world revolves around this illusion: that money makes everything beautiful, even if it is not” (“The Great Gatsby”, Novels for Students).
In "The Great Gatsby" money is one of the most important things in the world. In the beginning there was Daisy Buchanan who got to know a military man by the name of Jay Gatsby. These two spent a lot of time together and grew to love each other despite the fact that Gatsby was poor. However, there came a time when Gatsby had to go to war and left Daisy at home. He continued to write to her and asked her to wait for him until he returned. She agreed at first , but along came a rich man by the name of Tom Buchanan and began having relations with Daisy. She didn’t really love Tom but he had money and power so as any girl in the 1920’s would do she married him for his wealth. Her one true love was Gatsby but he was away and didn’t have any money so she wouldn’t marry him just out of love.