Jay Gatsby: A Commentary on Greed
The novel, The Great Gatsby, contains several full and dynamic characters, that represent more than just a person within a story, they also express Fitzgerald’s opinions. Jay Gatsby, the main character in the book, aids Fitzgerald’s commentary on the toxic greed that comes through the acquisition of wealth, amongst other things. Looking at Gatsby’s behavior, past, and hopes, provides a lense that accentuates the detrimental effects of the many different types of greed. Greed can exist in several different capacities, yet the type which influences Gatsby most, is in regards to love or emotion, specifically Daisy’s. It could be said, that nearly all of Gatsby’s adult life was shaped by his love for Daisy. They …show more content…
As previously described, Gatsby devoted several years of his life, to moving up in class, in order to be the richest of the rich. Gatsby ends up living in a mammoth mansion, on Long Island Sound, with, “Music… through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and stars.”(39). His home is described as an ongoing party with elaborate entertainment and food, people always there. Through this, Fitzgerald is almost making a comment in agreeance with the phrase money can’t buy you happiness. Though Gatsby has acquired everything he aspired to, in terms of money and material objects, he still does not have anyone to share it with. In this respect, Fitzgerald is using Gatsby to show how some people futily use money as an attempt to cover their unhappiness. Another situation in which Fitzgerald puts emphasis upon, is the idea of old money versus new money. Gatsby’s amassing of wealth, he believed, finally put him on the same level with Daisy’s world. Despite his having the same amount of money as people like Tom, the book makes it evident that the newly acquired wealth and familial wealth are viewed differently. Tom’s reaction to finding out about Daisy and Gatsby’s affair perfectly illustrates this difference, “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr.Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife… next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.”(130). First off, despite Gatsby’s exorbitant wealth, Tom still views him as a nobody because Gatsby does not come from a rich family. Secondly, Tom, an extremely racist man, equates someone from a rich family associating with someone who is not, to an interracial marriage, which is preposterous to his character. Fitzgerald presents this idea so as to comment on Gatsby’s and people in generals greed in money and
The novel, The Great Gatsby, contains several full and dynamic characters, that represent more than just a person within a story, they also express Fitzgerald’s opinions. Jay Gatsby, the main character in the book, aids Fitzgerald’s commentary on the toxic greed that comes through the acquisition of wealth, amongst other things. Looking at Gatsby’s behavior, past, and hopes, provides a lense that accentuates the detrimental effects of the many different types of greed. Greed can exist in several different capacities, yet the type which influences Gatsby most, is in regards to love or emotion, specifically Daisy’s. It could be said, that nearly all of Gatsby’s adult life was shaped by his love for Daisy. They …show more content…
As previously described, Gatsby devoted several years of his life, to moving up in class, in order to be the richest of the rich. Gatsby ends up living in a mammoth mansion, on Long Island Sound, with, “Music… through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and stars.”(39). His home is described as an ongoing party with elaborate entertainment and food, people always there. Through this, Fitzgerald is almost making a comment in agreeance with the phrase money can’t buy you happiness. Though Gatsby has acquired everything he aspired to, in terms of money and material objects, he still does not have anyone to share it with. In this respect, Fitzgerald is using Gatsby to show how some people futily use money as an attempt to cover their unhappiness. Another situation in which Fitzgerald puts emphasis upon, is the idea of old money versus new money. Gatsby’s amassing of wealth, he believed, finally put him on the same level with Daisy’s world. Despite his having the same amount of money as people like Tom, the book makes it evident that the newly acquired wealth and familial wealth are viewed differently. Tom’s reaction to finding out about Daisy and Gatsby’s affair perfectly illustrates this difference, “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr.Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife… next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.”(130). First off, despite Gatsby’s exorbitant wealth, Tom still views him as a nobody because Gatsby does not come from a rich family. Secondly, Tom, an extremely racist man, equates someone from a rich family associating with someone who is not, to an interracial marriage, which is preposterous to his character. Fitzgerald presents this idea so as to comment on Gatsby’s and people in generals greed in money and