Power In The Great Gatsby

The world is steered by those who have the most power; these powerful individuals stand in the highest ranks of the social class. However most of these individuals are not born powerful, many have to work in order to get where they are and some find themselves lost in the depths of illegality to obtain their riches and luxurious lifestyles, they do whatever it takes to obtain the so highly pursued American Dream, that sounds so distant yet obtainable in just two words. In the Novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the humble beginnings of a boy named Jay Gatsby soon blossom into extravagant lifestyle full of power because of his efforts to win the heart of his past lover, Daisy once more. Although many think The Great Gatsby is about …show more content…
From the likes of Tom Buchanan to Jay Gatsby and Meyer Wolsheim, there’s a notable contrast between the ways these men all obtained their power, or high status in the Social Class. However Daisy Buchanan notably had an influence so great it overpowered any of these men’s wealth. Daisy’s power is seen in the way she manipulates other characters to her advantage, her voice has a powerful influence on the men in the story. Her voice something so charming had a tone to it so rich that Gatsby viewed it as something really valuable and Nick thought of it as something so royal, “Her voice is full of money…It was full of money-that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it…. High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl” (Fitzgerald 120). As Gatsby describes Daisy’s voice being full of money he realizes that her voice is the most delightful and amiable feature, her voice the manifestation of wealth hence why Gatsby calls it full of money. Nicks following complementary lines, describing Daisy as the king’s daughter demonstrate the quality that made Gatsby become attracted to daisy to begin with. That quality was wealth and status, which Gatsby admired in her. The intoxicating effects that Daisy’s voice had on the men in this novel is seen in the way they describe her voice, the way they see her as royalty which reflects her engulfing power over all other …show more content…
The American Dream was more than that and many people were able to achieve their own idea of the American Dream. Various people had to sacrifices their life’s in their native home in order to come pursue this distant dream. Some were able to overcome the odds and claw their way past these challenges to finally fulfill their American Dream, which for some is wealth, others a stable life and future for their kin. An example of this is Horatio Alger, a sick little boy affected by asthma through his whole life, he wasn’t able to talk until his seventh birthday, however he went on to become an honors student at Harvard who later on would sell millions of stories that many boys and girls would read. “There was a very long period during which most boys- and many girls- who were brought up in the United States enjoyed Alger. He was, without a doubt, America’s all-time best selling author!” (Gardner 62). This strong motivated sick little boy went out to become one of the greatest authors. His hard work helped him reach his idea of the American Dream, Horatio did what he loved and turned his passion into success. However Horatio Alger quality of work lacked and his the American Dream that he reached was pure fortune. He wrote stories that many read and this helped him reached his American Dream, but all he ever cared about was money and not his quality of work. “Horatio Alger’s literary quality, modern critics