Wealth And Status In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Social class heavily influences the differences in people’s lifestyle. It is responsible for determining the living conditions and reputations of individuals growing up. The importance of wealth and social status is irrelevant to any character when they ultimately lose themselves in exchange for materialistic items and interests. The lack of passion in one’s character creates a contrast between an individual who lives with purpose and sincerity to someone who leads an empty life as they seek for excitement. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he emphasizes this behaviour on the central characters, consisting of Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan as they all heavily rely on wealth and status as a means to live everyday. Fitzgerald focuses

Similar to Gatsby and Daisy, Tom uses his wealth and status as a safety net to carry out his desires. Tom becomes an accomplice for Gatsby’s death when he convinces Wilson that it was Gatsby who had killed Myrtle. He states that Gatsby “had it coming to him” (190) as if that justified for his actions, and that because he was displeased with Gatsby for having an affair with Daisy he could easily defy the law and get him killed. Moreover, Tom embodies the trait of being spoiled due to his status and wealth. He believes that he had his “share of suffering, when I went to give up that flat” (190) for his affair with Myrtle, even though it is not justified for committing adultery. He sincerely believes that he is right in executing his plans to get Gatsby killed because Gatsby had defied him. Fitzgerald indicates how people from the upper class are able to escape from the law and start anew because they have the money and status to do so. Lastly, Nick supports this idea when he makes a final revelation about Tom and Daisy. He believes that “they were careless people, Tom and Daisy – 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 they had made” (170). This statement specifies how meaningless Tom and Daisy’s lives are because they live without a purpose in life. They create mischief to ease their boredom because they are not required to work for a better life thus, in the aftermath of any disaster, they choose to retreat back to their safety net consisting of money and high social status to escape. This illustrates how in the midst of social status and wealth, the conscience of an individual can be negatively