Megan Slusser
Mrs. Valentin
H English 11
23 December 2015
Effects of the Desire of a Prosperous Reputation In the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, most of the main characters are very wealthy people. They live in the most enormous homes, in the richest of areas of New York, in other words East and West Egg. Obtaining their sophisticated reputations is the key factor to becoming the richest and most powerful people in their society. Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby are described as the most opulent people in the novel, which means they are always in the spotlight. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald displaces the desire to acquire a prosperous reputation, which inspires characters’ actions and decisions throughout the novel. Tom has …show more content…
Everything from his lavish mansion in West Egg, to his outfits he wore everyday, showed the amount of money he had. The West Egg was described as where the new wealthy people of the city of New York lived. Gatsby did not inherit his money through family fortunes like Tom, but by his involvement with bootlegging as well as other illegal business. “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” (Fitzgerald 133). Money was not just handed to Gatsby, he fought for it. Gatsby knew all the consequences for becoming rich, because he risks going to jail for being part of illegal business to become a rich man of East Egg. Gatsby uses a different strategy to upholding his prosperous reputation, by throwing lavish parties for anyone to attend, “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars…The lights grow brighter…and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music” (Fitzgerald 40). Each party was more grand then the last, which showed off all his riches to the city and to the love of his life, Daisy. The main reason Gatsby worked so hard to become a very rich man was to impress Daisy, and intrigue her to fall in love with him, as well as his wealthy reputation, and his new
Mrs. Valentin
H English 11
23 December 2015
Effects of the Desire of a Prosperous Reputation In the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, most of the main characters are very wealthy people. They live in the most enormous homes, in the richest of areas of New York, in other words East and West Egg. Obtaining their sophisticated reputations is the key factor to becoming the richest and most powerful people in their society. Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby are described as the most opulent people in the novel, which means they are always in the spotlight. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald displaces the desire to acquire a prosperous reputation, which inspires characters’ actions and decisions throughout the novel. Tom has …show more content…
Everything from his lavish mansion in West Egg, to his outfits he wore everyday, showed the amount of money he had. The West Egg was described as where the new wealthy people of the city of New York lived. Gatsby did not inherit his money through family fortunes like Tom, but by his involvement with bootlegging as well as other illegal business. “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” (Fitzgerald 133). Money was not just handed to Gatsby, he fought for it. Gatsby knew all the consequences for becoming rich, because he risks going to jail for being part of illegal business to become a rich man of East Egg. Gatsby uses a different strategy to upholding his prosperous reputation, by throwing lavish parties for anyone to attend, “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars…The lights grow brighter…and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music” (Fitzgerald 40). Each party was more grand then the last, which showed off all his riches to the city and to the love of his life, Daisy. The main reason Gatsby worked so hard to become a very rich man was to impress Daisy, and intrigue her to fall in love with him, as well as his wealthy reputation, and his new