Money and Happiness
In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald offers up commentary on a variety of themes: justice, power, greed, betrayal, and the American dream, to name a few. Of all the themes, perhaps none is better developed than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is seen as a great book that offers a view into American life in the 1920s and also of today. Throughout the social classes of today’s world, people continue to seek happiness, though they use different methods. However, I believe that until they are satisfied with what they already have, they will never gain complete happiness.
One of the most prominent classes in society is the upper class. The Great Gatsby revolves around this social class. Happiness is never far from the wealthy, they can afford to purchase whatever suits them when they desire it. In the end though, I believe this always wears off. From what I’ve seen, when it wears off is when the wealthy buy their next thing to fill the void. In a sense, money does buy happiness for the wealthy but not everlasting happiness. I have bought things that make me happy, like a video game for example. I play the
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The wealthy try to buy it and the middle class try to find it. No matter which way, I don’t think it is possible to buy everlasting happiness. While it is not possible to buy everlasting happiness, I think you can buy things to make you temporarily happy. The main problem is that people need to understand you can’t buy happiness. After they come to that realization then you can start finding better ways to be happy. The truth is that nothing in the world can make a person happy forever. The Great Gatsby is a story about people who are chasing happiness but in the end it only leads to death and sadness. The only way to happiness has nothing to do with money. It is gained by enjoying life and what you do. Also by being around people who love you and support
In “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald presents editorial on an assortment of topics, — equity, control, insatiability, treachery, the American dream. Of the considerable number of subjects, maybe none is more all around created than that of social stratification. The Great Gatsby is viewed as a splendid bit of social discourse, offering a clear look into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald deliberately sets up his novel into particular gatherings in any case, at last, each gathering has its own issues to battle with, leaving an effective indication of what a problematic place the world truly is. By making unmistakable social classes — old cash, new cash, and no cash — Fitzgerald sends solid messages about the elitism running all through each stratum of society.
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.
You may think that you can buy happiness because you are happy with the things your money offers you. And you may be feeling happy with your possessions but it is not true and pure happiness. Some believe happiness is a deep feeling of serenity, contentment, and fulfilment.
The American Dream Doesn’t Equal Happiness If the phrase “money can’t buy happiness” was written into a full story, that story would be The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and has countless examples of the phrase “money can’t buy happiness” suggesting that the American dream and loads of money doesn’t suddenly make your life perfect and all your problems are gone, in fact, the story suggests the complete opposite. In the story, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows that every character who has money or character that is around the people that have money end up in more trouble and having more problems than the average person.
The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.
“Money can’t buy happiness.” “Money isn’t everything, its just paper.” Anyone who has ever grown up without money and lamented about it has heard these kinds of phrases many times. In looking around our culture and society today it would be hard to say those statements are true. While everyone has problems, rich and poor alike, having money gives you access to more solutions to those problems.
In his Ted-Talk “How to buy happiness”, Michael Norton (2011) states that happiness can be bought with money by giving it to other people. I fully agree with Norton. I received my first paycheck around Christmas last year and the first thing I bought with that money was a present for my mother. Christmas is a great example: giving and receiving gifts bonds everyone together, because it shows that we care about each other. Even helping someone you barely know is really satisfying, you did a good deed, it is good for your self-esteem.
The characters in the novel pretend that they have their lives all figured out, but through their successes their downfalls and emptiness can be seen, to prove that money cannot buy happiness. Jay Gatsby is the newest and upcoming star in New York during the 1920’s. Through his business and inheritance he is one of the richest men of his time. One may think that his abundance of wealth would lead him to be eternally happy, but he is the opposite. Gatsby longs for his love of Daisy, which is his personal American Dream.
In the 1920’s, social classes were divided with a large gap. The poor wanted nothing to do with the rich, and the rich wanted even less to do with the poor. In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he uses the class structure in the 1920’s to redefine poverty. While the rich people in the novel are material rich, they are still “poor” socially and psychologically. Poverty is shown in a differently in this book than other books being written in this time era, and in doing this, it shows the rich what they are, and how they treat others from a different perspective.
The Great Gatsby shows Fitzgerald’s view and portrayal of the effect of money on people’s lives. Fitzgerald implies that being wealthy can lead to many great things but that money is everything but happiness and even with Gatsby’s wealth and imaginative mind, he still can not satisfy the image of Daisy since she nor any other women could ever be the girl who he desires. (Durkin). Gatsby wishes that his wealth would bring him the happiness and satisfaction he desires but instead brings him to his deathbed.
We all like to believe that hard work and persistence pays off. The Great Gatsby is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that includes many themes such as wealth, love, dissatisfaction, and most importantly, the American dream, and how it’s really only a dream. The characters, especially Gatsby, are trying to achieve this dream of a perfect life throughout the entire book. It becomes apparent that instead of reaching the success they desire from the hard work that they put in, they destroy their entire lives and relationships with one another in the process. Unfortunately, this story is not too far off from something that could happen today.
It’s a question that’s been around for decades. And despite what you may believe, it actually can. If you spend it in the correct way. Using money to buy happiness in the wrong ways can end up becoming a paradox. The more you make, the more you want and the more you have, it becomes less effective in bringing happiness.
Can money bring you happiness: many Americans believe that having lots of money can bring happiness? However one writer, Gregg Easterbrook, in his article, “The Real Truth about Money,” promotes that having a lot of money in your pocket doesn’t bring happiness in this world. He writes this article to persuade his audience that money doesn’t bring happiness. Easterbrook begins building his credibility with personal facts and reputable sources, citing convincing facts and statistics, and successfully employing Logical appeals; however, toward the end of the article, he attempts to appeal to readers’ emotions weaken his credibility and ultimately, his argument. In his article, Easterbrook starts his article by showing people how life has changed since the World War II and the Depression eras of life, and then he outlines that people that people spend lots of their time trying to keep up with the norms of life and draws the comparison that people who have higher income have depression or unhappy with themselves.
Reply: Yes! Reading the article, I felt how money minded people can be and I religiously contradict it. There is a reason for me to stress upon a quote that “Money can never buy happiness”. Happiness is something very abstract and it differs from individual to individual.
Can Money Buy Happiness? In today’s materialistic world that we live in, the phrase that ‘can money buy happiness?’ is an often asked question. There is no right or wrong answer but only peoples opinions and people always think their opinions are right. Money is an easy way to gain happiness since in our daily lives we need money for food, shelter, and keeping ourselves healthy, which are necessities for having a happy life.