Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

Materialism In society, people tend to consider material possessions as more important than moral and spiritual values. Will Smith addressed this when he stated “Too many people buy things they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people the don't like”. Peoples obsessions with material possessions can warp their perception of love, happiness, and even their memories. In The Great Gatsby Daisy starts to sob at the sight of Gatsby's exotic imported shirts. “‘They’re such beautiful shirts’, she sobbed, her voice muffled in thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I've never seen such-such beautiful shirts before’” (Fitzgerald 93-94). Gatsby's shirts overwhelms Daisy with his enormous success and wealth and woos her. Further into the book, it is revealed the extreme measures that Gatsby has gone through to attract Daisy with his wealth. Gatsby climbs his way through the social classes to be on top so that “Daisy will love him” and in Gatsby’s mind , “the only way Daisy will love him is if he is [rich]” (Fitzgerald 137). Surprisingly, this ends up, in a way, working. Daisy ends up falling for him for his extravagant cars, large parties, and his newfound social and economic status. The books

This discredits the idea that buying nice things in order to achieve some kind of social high ground is mentally healthy. Tatzel also states that “being overly concerned with money and putting material goals at the center of one’s life is detrimental to well-being”. This shows that possessions don't bring happiness, and reversely, the obsession to acquire them could be the the key factor to ones despondence. The article articulates that acquiring possessions or wealth is not the way to achieve happiness, in fact, it might actually be the