Brendan Kealy Mr. Chesbro 18 April 2014 American Literature More Money, More Problems In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s three works The Great Gatsby, The Rich Boy, and The Offshore Pirate, money is a recurring theme. In The Great Gatsby, Jay uses his money to try and impress a girl. In The Rich Boy, Anson does not believe the rules apply to him because he is rich. In The Offshore Pirate, Ardita’s yacht is taken over by pirates because of her families money. In all three stories, money changed the characters lives in a bad way because of the way that they thought money made them more powerful. The Great Gatsby is a story about Jay Gatsby. He was a very rich man, living in a mansion, throwing huge parties, and driving a Rolls Royce. As the story progresses, you find out that Jay has not always been rich. Before he was rich, Jay met a girl named Daisy. They fell in love with each other but Daisy did not want to marry him because he was not rich. Jay goes off to serve in the war and when he came back, Daisy was married to a rich man. Gatsby decides to get rich to get Daisy. He becomes a bootlegger and illegally gets very rich. He buys a mansion across the Long Island Sound from Daisy. He thought that she would leave her husband, Tom, because he was rich. Daisy stays with Tom because they have a child together and have been married for a few years. The Rich Boy is a short story about a man named Anson. Anson was born into money and has always thought he was superior to everyone else. He thought that the rules did not apply to him because he was rich. Even though he was in his twenties, he never matured enough to act like an adult. He found the girl of his dreams, Paula, and she loved him. Anson was not mature enough to settle down and... ... middle of paper ... ...one. The Great Gatsby uses the themes of money and love by making Jay get rich to win Daisy’s love. Jay Gatsby makes all of his money because Daisy told him she would not marry him because he was not rich. Jay drastically changed his life just to be with Daisy. He loved her so much that he even let her use him as a scapegoat for killing someone. He was murdered because Daisy let him take the blame. Daisy did not even respect him enough to show up to his funeral. The similarities between The Great Gatsby and The Offshore Pirate are the lies used with the people that they love. Ardita is deceived by Toby and her uncle. She had thought her yacht was taken over by pirates. In truth, the pirate’s captain was Toby going by the name Carlyle. Her uncle had wanted her to like him and not make it seem like he forced it. This deception worked out well for the both of them.
Money can cause people to act selfish and arrogant, especially when they have so much money they do noteven know what to spend it on. In the novel,
As a young man, Jay Gatsby was poor with nothing but his love for Daisy. He had attempted to woe her, but a stronger attraction to money led her to marry another man. This did not stop Gatsby’s goal of winning this woman for himself though, and he decided to improve his life anyway he could until he could measure up to Daisy’s standards. He eventually gained connections in what would seem to be the wrong places, but these gave him the opportunity he needed to "get rich quick." Gatsby’s enormous desire for Daisy controlled his life to the point that he did not even question the immorality of the dealings that he involved himself in to acquire wealth. Eventually though, he was able to afford a "castle" in a location where he could pursue Daisy effectively. His life ambition had successfully moved him to the top of the "new money" class of society, but he lacked the education of how to promote his wealth properly. Despite the way that Gatsby flaunted his money, he did catch Daisy’s attention. A chaotic affair followed for a while until Daisy was overcome by pressures from Gatsby to leave her husband and by the realization that she belonged to "old money" and a more proper society.
There are many American novels that yield insights into human nature, but few are as honest or intriguing as Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is brilliantly composed, and involves many different personalities, but it is at the core of this novel that we find the dark secret of humanity: deception.
What is later revealed is that Gatsby’s wealth and luxurious lifestyle is all in the name of getting Daisy, Tom Buchanan’s wife, to fall in love with him. But in the end, even with all his money and power, Gatsby is not able to get the girl. What this brings to light is, was Gatsby’s money truly worth anything? “I love her and that 's the beginning and end of everything” (The Great Gatsby, Chapter ) This quote from Jay Gatsby shows that his entire life is centered around Daisy. That his only motive for the things that he does, for the massive parties that he throughs, for working to become incredibly wealthy, is to have Daisy fall in love with him. Gatsby’s life is one that is incredibly lavish. It is full of expensive amenities many would only dream of having. But Jay Gatsby is not living this fabulous lifestyle for himself. He is living it for Daisy, and only for Daisy. Gatsby’s only desire in life is to have Daisy be in love with him, and he chooses to live the way he does because he believes that is what she wants. Gatsby spends money at wild abandon simply to make an effort to impress Daisy. He throughs incredibly immense parties, with hopes that Daisy and Daisy alone will be impressed. But what is troubling about Gatsby is that, unlike most books, he doesn’t get the girl. Gatsby is, despite his entire life being dedicated to getting the one thing
Gatsby started off as a poor man who has to struggle through life. The only nice clothes that he has is his army uniform, which Daisy, his girlfriend enjoys when he wears she thinks that he looks nice. Gatsby is in love with Daisy and she is in love with him but because he was so poor they cannot get married. To survive Gatsby has to join the army and when he goes to war Daisy marries Tom, a rich stockbroker from New York, who gives Daisy a life of luxury. The problem, unbeknown to Daisy is that he is cheating on her. When Gatsby returns from battle he notices that Daisy has married a rich man and after realizing that Daisy was after Tom’s money Gatsby figures that the only way to get her back is by becoming rich himself. Once Gatsby has his dream of being rich he makes it his goal in life…to fulfill the needs of Daisy and marry her. Although luring ones wife into marrying yourself is not polite, it does make Gatsby great because it takes a strong willed man to make a life goal and stick to it
At first glance the story is about love but once you get a bit deeper the truth shines through. It’s about the fantasy of fulfilling unachievable dreams, the selfishness money invokes, and the violence associated with power. Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom never fulfill their potentials in life. They are either trying to achieve their unachievable dream, or they are to wrapped up in themselves and their money and power.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby was born into a life of poverty and as he grew up he became more aware of the possibility of a better life. He created fantasies that he was too good for his modest life, and that his parents weren’t his own. When he met Daisy, a pretty upper class girl, his life revolved around her and he became obsessed with her carefree lifestyle. Gatsby’s desire to become good enough for Daisy and her parents is what motivates him to become a wealthy, immoral person who is perceived as being sophisticated. Society won’t let Gatsby and Daisy be together when they fall in love because Daisy comes from a family of old wealth, while Gatsby is the son of a peasant.
As a romantic, Jay Gatsby does not understand how money actually works in American life. He believes that if he is rich, then Daisy can be his. This is displayed most powerfully and poignantly in the scene where Gatsby shows Daisy and ...
Gatsby was in love with a woman, but he was poor and she was wealthy, and suddenly he was sent off to Europe to fight in WWI. She married before he returned to the US, and he spent his life making a huge amount of money illegally trying to get her back. He bought a huge house in West Egg, across the bay from her house, and threw huge
The Great Gatsby tells a story of eight people during the summer of 1922 from the observation of Nick Carraway. It's a story about trying to achieve the unattainable, deceit, and tragedy. It takes place around the character Jay Gatz who becomes Jay Gatsby in an attempt to change his persona and attract his long lost love, Daisy. In Nick's telling of the story, Nick and everyone who knew Gatsby, thought he was great. Gatsby threw lavish parties at his beautiful mansion every weekend. He had money, even though no one really seemed to know how he made his money. Gatsby spends years of his life trying to win the heart back of Daisy Buchanan. When they met years ago, he was in the Army and didn't have much money. Daisy came from a wealthy family and she couldn't marry a poor man. This is what drives Jay Gatz to become Jay Gatsby and impress the girl to get her back.
“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.
In the book , The Great Gatsby, the character Jay Gatsby is developed. The story is set in the 1920’s in the New York area. Gatsby grew up as a poor boy, but aspired to be more. He met a wealthy girl named Daisy. She pushed him to go after his dream more intensely. He worked for a man named Wilshiem as a bootlegger and became very wealthy. Unfortunately, while Gatsby was away, Daisy married Tom. Daisy’s approval of his new, wealthy life was Gatsby’s ultimate dream. Fitzgerald’s presentation of the hero Jay Gatsby illustrates that Gatsby’s dreams should be admired because through his perseverance he achieves the lifestyle he wants.
Wealth has both a good and a bad side. It can change the life of a person for the better or worse, and that is clearly shown in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Wealth affects the lives of the characters of Their Eyes Were Watching God very differently than the characters of The Great Gatsby. Janie’s wealth came about, mainly, from her failed relationships.
Jay Gatsby believes that wealth and power can lead to love and happiness. He spends his entire life trying to create himself and change his past so that he can rekindle his love affair with the love of his life Daisy Buchanan. The two were young lovers, unable to be together because of very different social statuses. After Gatsby learns that he cannot be with Daisy because of this, he spends the rest of his life attempting to acquire wealth and power.
The Great Gatsby is about a mans tragedy and his American Dream to do better and be on top.