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Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

1174 Words5 Pages

Money and materialism From bright cars to lavish parties, The Great Gatsby studies the seductive power of materialism and the dangers of chasing wealth. Set in the roaring twenties the novel explores the themes of wealth and materialism and shows the consequences of a life diverged from everything but wealth. In the novel, we witness the characters' relentless pursuit of money and material possessions in an attempt to feel better and live better than everyone else. However, the novel also argues that while money can indeed buy access to these things, it cannot buy true happiness. The Great Gatsby’s central theme shows us how wealth and materialistic gain is the downfall of one's values and relationships, reality, and obsession. Although Tom …show more content…

The characters in the story are consumed by their desire for money, status, and material possessions, and their lives revolve around the pursuit and acquisition of wealth. Fitzgerald reflects the American dream through the character of Gatsby displaying him as the model to follow for the American dream, he’s got the money and freedom to do what he wants when he wants. Fitzgerald conveys through Gatsby's character that despite achieving wealth, the materialism of the American Dream does not guarantee happiness. As the story progresses we start to see cracks in his perfect American dream, and he crumbles down from the unsurmountable weight his illegal actions brought upon him and he dies. Fitzgerald incapsulates Daisy as Gatsby’s American dream with “His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.” (Chapter 6 pages 110,111) He had been accumulating ideas and expectations for a long time, and he believed that once he kissed her, everything he had built up in his mind would be true. His imagination of Daisy was incomprehensible, and the moment of physical contact, or the "incarnation," would represent the culmination of all his mental creations. He would finally experience his American dream, the reality of kissing her. Fitzgerald also uses the color green to symbolize Gatsby’s American dream, in the quote “But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious

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Persistent hope and the idea of the American dream is a prevalent theme in The Great Gatsby. The American dream is often perceived as the ability to have opportunities and gain economic stability, but in the novel it is represented as extreme wealth and materialism. This is expressed by the extravagant parties and materials Gatsby surrounds himself with in order to receive recognition from people as a successful person, “according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes “ (Fitzgerald 91). Gatsby’s hard work still does not get him “accepted” into the same status as the inherited rich and affects his aspiration to get Daisy back. This represents that hard work will not always result as planned with extensive opportunities and rewards,

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​F. Scott Fitzgerald views the American dream as something that can’t be achieved no matter how hard you try, you’ll always hear about and think about it but never get a taste of it. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby and Daisy as a way to represent America’s affair and obsession with the dream; Gatsby wants to live his life with Daisy but pursuits only lead him down a downward spiral. Fitzgerald uses several literary tools portray his view on the Dream, The green light that sits on Daisy’s dock symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams of living a life with her, and the Valley of Ashes is the ugly consequences of our obsession with wealth. What makes Gatsby’s life so interesting is the secretive nature around his life and his wealth, no one truly knows his past and anything that is known is probably just another rumor.

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Scott Fitzgerald is one of the great American novels of the twentieth century primarily due to book tackling the concept of the American Dream in the roaring twenties. Each of the characters in the novel symbolizes how the American Dream has turned from a form of hope and aspiration towards greed and lack of morals. The general focus of novel is on the character Jay Gatsby, who readers learn about through Nick Caraway’s point of view. Near the end of the novel, the reader learns that Gatsby is a self made man who came from a working class family, joined the army, and through extremely hard work makes a life for himself. Gatsby’s main goal in becoming wealthy was to be with his sweetheart from the army, Daisy.

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