ipl-logo

Role Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

1189 Words5 Pages

The Allure and Destructiveness of Wealth in The Great Gatsby
The desire for wealth is something that humans have been chasing after for centuries. In the U.S., Americans’ aspirations for wealth increased during the 1920s. During this decade, America underwent a period of great economic growth. Throughout The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald explores both the glamour and deceit that comes with wealth through the lives of the novel's main characters during this time period. During chapter three of the novel, our narrator Nick Carraway recalls his first impressions during his first party at his neighbor Jay Gatsby’s house. While Nick originally appears to be amazed by the extragarvent party, he hints at his disgust for the party …show more content…

The orchestra includes “ a whole pitiful” of instruments, such as oboes, trombones, saxophones, violas, cornets, piccolos, and low and high drums. This ginormous orchestra, along with the real brass bar, are symbols of Gatsby’s massive fortune. The orchestra and the bar are both very grand and eye-catching piece, Furthermore, yellow is a color associated with joy and happiness. The orchestra’s yellow cocktail music suggests all of the partygoers are having a great time at Gatsby’s house. Diction, imagery, and figurative language reveal the attractiveness of Gatsby’s enormous wealth.
Even though Fitzgerald’s descriptions of the party seem to portray the parties as being enchanting and glamorous, he reveals the destruction caused by the party as well. At the beginning of chapter three, Nick states that the “men and girls” who came through Gatsby’s blue gardens were “like moths”. Moths are insects that usually only come out during the night and are known for being attracted to light. Fitzgerald uses this simile to compare the partygoers to moths as they also come out at night and are attracted to Gatsby’s vibrant and lavish house. Additionally, Nick purposefully …show more content…

Throughout the novel, several characters in The Great Gatsby are negatively affected by their money or desire to gain money. Lower class Myrtle Wilson develops a relationship with the wealthy Tom Buchanan, while Gatsby becomes obsessed with becoming wealthy in order to win back Tom’s wife Daisy. Ultimately, Gatsby, Myrtle, and her husband George end up dying, while Tom and Daisy flee and start their lives over. Tom and Daisy’s wealth was alluring to both Gatsby and Myrtle, but their wealth ended up costing them their lives. While the concept of being wealthy seems wonderful, Fitzgerald reveals to the audience that wealth may not be as great as it

Show More
Related

  • Figurative Language In 'The Facade Of Gatsby's Parties'

    329 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Facade of Gatsby’s Parties The figurative language and syntax on page 41 conveys the fallacy of the people at Gatsby's parties. Page 41 begins to describe one of Gatsby’s parties using many forms of figurative language. People arrive with their “hair shorn in strange new ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile,” decked out in their fancy clothes, desperate to be the center of attention.

    Read More

  • Comparing Parties And Funeral In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

    791 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nick, the narrator, describes Gatsby’s parties by telling the reader “By seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums” (Fitzgerald 40). This is just a small detail about how Gatsby only gets the very best for his parties. At Gatsby’s funeral, “our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate- first a motor hearse, horribly black and wet…” (Fitzgerald 174). The funeral is on a rainy day and is muddy and not very inviting.

    Read More

  • Does Money Buy Happiness In The Great Gatsby

    1077 Words  | 5 Pages

    It has long been said that money can’t buy happiness, but still people continue to use it’s acquisition to try to make themselves happy. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the title character struggles with this realization. The book is set in New York during the ‘Roaring 20’s’, a time famous for its parties and lavishness. The book examines the attitudes toward money within the upper particularly through the lense of the new-money title character, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby dedicated his life to the acquisition of money with the goal of eventually acquiring the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan.

    Read More

  • Great Gatsby Greed Quotes

    582 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wealth and greed can easily change a person’s lives. One of the major changes is that you can destroy your life in a way that can affect your decisions in the future. Just like how Tom and Daisy are, in The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, that follows Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, and eventually to death.

    Read More

  • Wealth Can Breed Carelessness In The Great Gatsby

    518 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel The Great Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of “wealth can breed carelessness” using the literary devices and/or techniques of irony, irony, and point of view. From Nick 's perspective, the wealthy characters of this story tend to act ignorantly and care nothing else besides themselves, which would impact others, including the actions shown by Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan. First of all, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of “Wealth can breed carelessness” using irony. In the text, a conversation between Jordan and Nick, “‘They’ll keep out of my way,’ she insisted.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Gatsby And Myrtle's Parties

    915 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tom’s and Gatsby’s party differed in almost every aspect possible. While Tom’s party was a small party to assert his dominance to his mistress and friends, Gatsby’s party was to lure and impress the love of his life. Tom’s party displayed his snobby old money ideals by not spending much money and effort, while Gatsby’s party symbolized new money with its excessive and flaunting spending and grandiose show. The level of intimacy at both parties differed significantly. Despite Tom’s party being small, it was far from intimate with all the guests budging into all conversations, Nick couldn’t even have a talk with Catherine long enough without Ms. Mckee budging in.

    Read More

  • Money In The Great Gatsby Essay

    833 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fitzgerald is trying to convey throughout the novel that money can buy a person many of different things but cannot buy the one thing that Gatsby wants most of all. Upon deeper investigation, Gatsby is a wealthy person who is trying to win the love of a girl named Daisy and is using any means to do so. Gatsby buys a very large, beautiful, expensive house on the bay, has a new car, very nice pool and many other expensive things to try and win the love of Daisy. He will buy anything he can to win her over but in the end isn’t able to win Daisy over, even with all of

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Green Light Essay

    610 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the end of The Great Gatsby, Nick reflects upon Gatsby’s life and pursuit on the beach where “the green light” at the end of Daisy’s dock can be seen. As a significant metaphor, “the green light” represents Gatsby’s dream which guides him to keep pursuing wealth and social status, while the position of the light, the distant and inaccessible Daisy’s dock, indicates the close connection between Gatsby’s unreal dream and Daisy, and as well the disillusionment of the dream. In the last three paragraphs, Nick explains the disillusionment of Gatsby’s dream, “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (162). Gatsby has always strived for his ambition and dream.

    Read More

  • What Are The Great Gatsby Daisy's Character Flaws

    1587 Words  | 7 Pages

    Gatsby hosts extravagant parties in an effort not only to boost his social status, but also to look for Daisy. Many wealthy, and often wild people attend these large social events held by Mr. Gatsby. Some of the guests even come lacking an invitation, “Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.” (41)

    Read More

  • What Is Daisy's Obsession In The Great Gatsby

    952 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nick would watch as, “On weekends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight…” (3.41) Gatsby became famous around New York because he threw elaborate parties every weekend at his mansion. Dozens of people attended Gatsby’s parties even when they weren’t invited, causing an influx of guests making him a popular host. ONce every two weeks, “...buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams...gins and liquors...a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos…”(3.41-42) Gatsby’s parties are unbelievably luxurious in preparation for Daisy’s appearance.

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

    854 Words  | 4 Pages

    It was ironic that even Nick, a person who was “inclined to reserve all judgment” (Fitzgerald 1), was able to see how money had made Tom and Daisy careless and lazy. Nick also notices that Daisy and Tom had disappeared right after Gatsby’s death. Daisy and Tom were wealthy enough to move out of Long Island, while they made everyone else solve the problem that they had left behind. It is easy for rich people to become weak and only focus on

    Read More

  • How Does Jay Fitzgerald Present Greed In The Great Gatsby

    773 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Gatsby Greed can ruin a person’s life. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows this in his classic novel, The Great Gatsby, a sad love story about the rich title character, Jay Gatsby, and his obsession to win back the love of the now married Daisy Buchanan, his former girlfriend. The extravagant lifestyles of Gatsby and the wealthy socialites who attend his parties lead to lost dreams and wasted lives. These men and women are absorbed by material pursuits. In Jay Gatsby’s case, all the money in the world could not replace what he truly desires, Daisy.

    Read More

  • Superficiality In The Great Gatsby

    1454 Words  | 6 Pages

    Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is a wealthy man with dubious sources of money; Gatsby is renowned in New York due to the lavish parties he holds every friday in his mansion. These are spectacles that fully embody the wealth and glamour of the roaring twenties, and are narrated through the eyes of another character Nick Carraway, an ambitious 29 year old man that recently moved back to a corrupt new york in a cramped cottage next to Gatsby’s palace. After admiring the careless behaviour of the parties from a distance, Nick gets a personal invitation to Gatsby’s next party, he promptly becomes infatuated by the extravagant and frivolous lifestyle the parties portray, along with the superficial

    Read More

  • The Role Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

    747 Words  | 3 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby describes the life of Jay Gatsby in the 1920’s. The novel shares his love story and his loneliness. A major question the author raises is how does wealth impact class structure and society? Fitzgerald answers this question through the distinction between “New rich” and “Old rich” and the significance of East and West Egg.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Figurative Language Analysis

    749 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby Essay F. Scott Fitzgerald was a famous author who wrote the book, The Great Gatsby. His purpose in writing this book was to show the differences between old and new money. Old money meaning people being born into wealthy lifestyles and new money meaning people who were not born with money but gained a lot of wealth. These were separated by two areas called west egg and east egg. This book gives sort of an exclusive look into the luxury and glamour that people think is the life of a person with a high amount of wealth.

    Read More

More about Role Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

Open Document