How Is Money Portrayed In The Great Gatsby

Wealth is portrayed as the essence of power to people who possess it. This thought that they have the ability to get whatever they want, and avoid any problem. Not in the slightest coming to this realization, materialism can only go so far. Jay Gatsby truly is a prime example of this. Believing his wealth, all the materialistic aspects he’s made will bring him, love. He’s so caught up in his head with fantasies, that all he does outside his head is completely unregistered. Wealth displayed throughout the book shows the greediness, stubbornness, and naive nature of people, accompanied with too much grip on past ideas. Old money and new money show the different structures of how people got their wealth, displaying a basic overview of that person. Daisy and Tom are the representation of old money. This money is essentially handed to them, it is wealth in the family line. With the new money, it’s completely the opposite. Jay Gatsby represents new money and has made his wealth from nothing. The biggest …show more content…
Money cannot buy sense, smarts, love, life. Wealth has caused an illusion that anything a person desires can be bought or obtained by having money. Gatsby believes he can buy Daisy’s love. His thought process is if he can have some sense of stability in that form that will make her love him. He even goes as far as being selfish with saying, “Your wife doesn’t love you...She loves me,” (130). Him speaking for Daisy to Tom when what he said wasn’t true. In his mind, it only makes sense for her to love him because of that root of selfishness. This naive nature Gatsby displays, again and again, is what overall drove him down in the end. The author drives this message with Gatsby because he’s the one overusing wealth the most. He’s the one most infected with its toxin it holds. Ultimately displaying the various uses and uses that aren’t possible with