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Influence Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

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“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel written about a Midwest native, Nick Carraway, who arrives to Long Island in 1922 in search of the American Dream. Nick moves in next door to millionaire Jay Gatsby and across the sound from his cousin Daisy and her philandering husband, Tom. Fitzgerald creates the characters of Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby to help develop the central theme of the story: a comparison of the corrupting influence of wealth to the purity of a dream. Daisy was born and married to wealth, and has no values and no purpose in life. She finds her existence to be boring as she floats from one social scene to the next. In spite of the wealth, she wonders aloud what she will do with the next day, the next thirty days, and the next thirty years and unfortunately, she does not have a clue. Even …show more content…

Although he has a large, ostentatious mansion, drives flashy cars, gives extravagant parties, and has way too many gaudy clothes, he has not amassed his wealth or what it buys for himself. Everything he has done in life has been done to fulfill his dream- to prove to Daisy that he is worthy of her. He believes that his possessions will convince Daisy to forget the past five years of her life and marry him. When he takes Daisy into his house and shows her his belongings, he values each item according to the worth that he thinks she places on it. When she shatters his dream by accepting Tom over him, Gatsby has no need for any of his possessions or wealth. No longer searching for his holy grail, the house, the clothes, and the cars mean nothing. Fitzgerald clearly intends for Gatsby’s dream to be symbolic of the American Dream for wealth and youth. Gatsby genuinely believes that if a person makes enough money and amasses a great enough fortune, he can buy anything. He thinks his wealth can erase the last five years of his and Daisy’s life, and make things the way they were before he went away to

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