A desire for wealth and success is in every human being, whether they admit it or not. Everyone wants a life of wealth and success, as life seems to become much easier and carefree. However in the pursuit of such a lifestyle one does not always find that the life of the wealthy is as appealing as they originally thought. This is the case for Nick Carraway, as his pursuit for a successful and wealthy lifestyle ends in failure, and a realization of the true evils that being wealthy entails. Throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby, author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, communicates the message that success is not guaranteed if, one solely uses the success of others to develop their own success, this is shown as Nick attempts to use the success of the people
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This is mainly due to the friendship that Tom and Nick had developed, and the value that Nick saw in it. He saw value not in Tom being a supportive and loyal friend, but as a useful connection to the world of wealth. Tom, was one of the wealthiest men in New York, and being in good relations with him, Nick felt was important in his pursuit for success and wealth. This is another great example of Fitzgerald’s message, as it shows Nick needing Tom and his status in order to be successful. An example of Nick using someone else’s success (in this case Tom’s status of wealth) to further his own, which led to failure in achieving his dream. This was addressed in later chapters of the novel as Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby end up in a predicament surrounding the murder of Tom’s mistress Myrtle. Daisy was driving Gatsby’s car which hit and killed Myrtle. Instead of facing the consequences for what she had done, her and Tom left New York. In the last chapter, Nick talks about an unexpected meeting he had with Tom where he tries to defend his actions. However, throughout this discussion, Nick fails to see eye-to-eye with Tom saying that,“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald, 9). Here, Nick describes what he’s realized …show more content…
“Of course I’m not likely to see anybody, but if I do.” …
“Of course you’ll be there yourself.”
“Well, I’ll certainly try. What I called up about is——”
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “How about saying you’ll come?”
“Well, the fact is—the truth of the matter is that I’m staying with some people up here in Greenwich, and they rather expect me to be with them to-morrow. In fact, there’s a sort of picnic or something. Of course I’ll do my very best to get away.” (Fitzgerald, 9).
One of the great regulars to Gatsby’s parties, Klipspringer, makes an excuse to escape going to Gatsby’s funeral. Thus exposing the true relationship between him and Gatsby. Klipspringer viewed Gatsby as a asset, someone who could provide him something, whether it was a place to board (which he often did at the parties), or some other good or service, he was only good to Klipspringer if he could provide something. Now that Gatsby was dead, he really did not want anything to do with Gatsby, as he could no longer provide him with anything beneficial to him. This aligns with the strategies used by people in the 1920s to become successful. People viewed others as tools that they could use to further themself. Nick, was a great example of this in The Great Gatsby with his relationship with Tom that was explained in the previous paragraph. This further demonstrates Nick’s reliance on others to become successful. As he uses historically successful tactics that were used by
This is mainly due to the friendship that Tom and Nick had developed, and the value that Nick saw in it. He saw value not in Tom being a supportive and loyal friend, but as a useful connection to the world of wealth. Tom, was one of the wealthiest men in New York, and being in good relations with him, Nick felt was important in his pursuit for success and wealth. This is another great example of Fitzgerald’s message, as it shows Nick needing Tom and his status in order to be successful. An example of Nick using someone else’s success (in this case Tom’s status of wealth) to further his own, which led to failure in achieving his dream. This was addressed in later chapters of the novel as Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby end up in a predicament surrounding the murder of Tom’s mistress Myrtle. Daisy was driving Gatsby’s car which hit and killed Myrtle. Instead of facing the consequences for what she had done, her and Tom left New York. In the last chapter, Nick talks about an unexpected meeting he had with Tom where he tries to defend his actions. However, throughout this discussion, Nick fails to see eye-to-eye with Tom saying that,“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald, 9). Here, Nick describes what he’s realized …show more content…
“Of course I’m not likely to see anybody, but if I do.” …
“Of course you’ll be there yourself.”
“Well, I’ll certainly try. What I called up about is——”
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “How about saying you’ll come?”
“Well, the fact is—the truth of the matter is that I’m staying with some people up here in Greenwich, and they rather expect me to be with them to-morrow. In fact, there’s a sort of picnic or something. Of course I’ll do my very best to get away.” (Fitzgerald, 9).
One of the great regulars to Gatsby’s parties, Klipspringer, makes an excuse to escape going to Gatsby’s funeral. Thus exposing the true relationship between him and Gatsby. Klipspringer viewed Gatsby as a asset, someone who could provide him something, whether it was a place to board (which he often did at the parties), or some other good or service, he was only good to Klipspringer if he could provide something. Now that Gatsby was dead, he really did not want anything to do with Gatsby, as he could no longer provide him with anything beneficial to him. This aligns with the strategies used by people in the 1920s to become successful. People viewed others as tools that they could use to further themself. Nick, was a great example of this in The Great Gatsby with his relationship with Tom that was explained in the previous paragraph. This further demonstrates Nick’s reliance on others to become successful. As he uses historically successful tactics that were used by