The Role Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

Money can lead to a life of selfishness and corruption. In the book, " The Great Gatsby", explains a story of two sides, old money and new money. A character named Jay Gatsby, is the wealthiest man in the book, and he grinded for the money to be able to get his old crush back, Daisy Buchanan. Since Gatsby had devoted his life to Daisy, it would cost him his life. Daisy, who is the wife of Tom Buchanan, is a rich woman that lives an old money lifestyle shows a different side.

The poem “From this Height” by Tony Hoagland explores the ideas of the power of wealth, individual versus society, and the circle of life. The speaker, a very wealthy man, uses his money to support his opulent lifestyle. His wealth gives him a very affluent place in society and access to many things a middle class man would only dream of. The speaker struggles with the fact that society played a huge role in his success, yet most people do not get to life the way that he does. The idea of the “circle of life” gives the speaker a reason to justify the way he uses his money and lives his life, because he realizes “it would be a sin not to enjoy” all that he has been blessed with.

The first Question is why don 't the wealthy people in The Great Gatsby don’t have a American dream that they can try and achieve? The Answer is because they have all the money they could ever want. Ever dream that they have or had they already achieved it because of the money that they were born with. The next Question is why are the wealthy people in the book hollow why don 't they have feelings for others? The answer is simple, it 's because of the money and how they live.

(pg. 121)” and “I (Olivia) learned that the world revolves around money. (pg. 135)” both display the inequalities between those wealthy and those poor. Mulligan conveys the differences by emphasising that with bundles of money, people are able to buy impressive things such as grand houses or lots of servants and show off to others, which can impact their reputation with companies and people by making themselves seem worth more.

During the 1920s, people seeking wealth flocked to large cities in an attempt to fulfill their dreams. Those that became wealthy, although technically part of the upper class, lacked the idiosyncrasies associated with their class. F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates these differences in The Great Gatsby and explains how being wealthy doesn’t necessarily make one part of high society. In West Egg, many of the inhabitants lack the subtlety and elegance the old aristocracy and the inhabitants of East Egg demonstrate. Gatsby’s ostentatious parties illustrate the contrast between West Egg’s unfettered lifestyle and East Egg’s conservative lifestyle.

In Rachel Sherman’s “A Very Expensive Ordinary Life: Conflicted Consumption,” the argument centres around the “legitimization” of wealth by the New York’s upper class in order to be seen as not only rich, but morally worthy. The possession of great wealth alongside their less fortunate peers could be uncomfortable also for those that hold the city’s riches. Hence, New York’s affluent has “legitimized” their wealth and consumption, or on a more macro level, the inequality between the social classes in the city in order to feel more comfortable in their spending, and to manage the impression of the wealthy in the eyes of the greater public in the much morally contested behaviour of lavish spending in an unequal society. This is supported throughout the reading by the justification of excessive spending and consumption by the claim that the rich live an “ordinary” life. The need that they feel towards justifying their spending comes to show that their amount of spending is excessive in the eyes of the ordinary person, in which they also acknowledge themselves as well.

It is also described as ”the less fashionable of the two” implying that old money, which is inheritance from rich families was thought of as better. We know that Nick lives where nouveau rich people live and he is involved with upper class activities although he ives in small bungalow because he is not rich enough to afford one of the big mansions that surround him. ”My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard — it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.” Knowing that his house is at the very tip of the egg and in between two very large mansions, his humble abode is ignored and unimportant compared to the surrounding houses. His bungalow seems like a malplaced house in a place where it does not belong, like Nick

To begin, economic status affected the characters in The Great Gatsby. The characters are distinguished by their wealth and where they live. East Egg reflects high class society or “old money”, and the people of West Egg are wealthy and refer to “new money”. Social status and wealth defines a character and their happiness. F. Scott Fitzgerald, showed women trying to burst out from high class or low class organization.

Gatsby is known as being rich and throwing parties that pretty much don’t end. He is someone who looks as if he would be very wealthy, but that is not necessarily the case. He did not grow up wealthy. Social breakdown is represented in so many ways. Including the way people live in this story.

Privilege and oppression can be delivered in many forms. Privilege immensely depends on the social class or ethnic background of the person or person’s receiving it. Privileges that are given to someone of a higher class may not be as greatly appreciative as the privileges that are given to a person of a lower class. Today, privilege and oppression are dispersed in many forms and among many different races and social classes. However, privilege seems to favor the wealthy and those who are not of color.

Conflict sociologists see this skewness as a problem in society. The people who become of wealth stay in wealth because they control the power due to the mass amount of money they have compared to the rest of the population. When we say wealthy, we are discussing the top two percent of wealthy people in America. The top two percent of people own over half the total wealth in the United States. Many cities and even states do not contain a single person that qualifies as being a part of the top two percent of wealthiest people in this country.