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Cameron Galt

12/2/14

English ¾

Molly Fenn

Money and How it Relates to The Great Gatsby

 

An important topic persistently brought up in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald  is the idea of money. Throughout the book I observed the relationships between characters Tom And Gatsby and how money has not affected their personalities, the idea of The American Dream, and someones worth.

 

The character Gatsby is a mystery, specifically his money. Gatsby grew up as a poor farm boy from North  Dakota. However, always wanted to live with wealth and sophistication. Being a poor and uneducated college dropout he did not have many options. The way he decided to attain his extravagant amounts of money was through organized crime such as bootlegging and trading stolen items, though this wasn’t introduced until much later.  Before Gatsby even says a word in the book, Nick introduces an idea his father once told him about peoples advantages, “‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone’ he told me,’just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you’ve had.(Chapter 1)’” This quote explains how you do not know everyones life, and therefore you could never criticize them for the tough decisions they have had to make in life.  Living by this philosophy justifies what Gatsby did to succeed in life in Nick Carraway’s mind. Gatsby maynot have made a legal decision however, he was able to go from poor to rich in a matter of years which allowed him to fulfil his plan and The American Dream.

 

Gatsby is seen to be an icon for the American Dream in that he wanted to become rich  and then became one of the richest around. The idea of The American Dream is to go from poor to rich in less that a lifetime. This has been the way of America for a long time and does not take into account things such as personality. A german-born American movie Director named Mike Nichols once said, “There's nothing in the American dream about character.” This means anyone, no matter what they do and how they let it affect them, if you work hard enough, you can in fact achieve the american dream. This may not always be the fairest and most equal system since many people work as hard as they can every day of their lives and never will achieve The American Dream, however, everyone still has the ability to dream. This idea is reflected by Fareed Zakaria who said, “Americans have so far put up with inequality because they felt they could change their status. They didn't mind others being rich, as long as they had a path to move up as well. The American Dream is all about social mobility in a sense - the idea that anyone can make it.”  The idea that anyone can make it is embodied by West Egg and especially by Gatsby. Gatsby had a dream ever since he was young to become really rich and as he set out for his dream, he was able to be courageous enough take control of his own future.

 

West Egg is a city solely populated to the newly rich, or those who have attained The American Dream. West Egg is a place in The Great Gatsby located just across from The Valley of Ashes from East Egg, which is populated by those who have been rich for a long time. This shows how the citizens of the two cities were not equal at birth but, overtime, have become equal. Nick describes this situation when he says, “A sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth.(Chapter 1)” The message that Nick is communicating is the idea that money isn’t the only thing that someone can be born into. Some people are just naturally nicer than others. This introduces the ideas of nature versus nurture which strives to identify whether heredity or the environment impacts human development. For example, this would involve whether someone was nice at birth, or if they learned to be nice by the environment around them. Gatsby was born poor but was influenced by The American Dream to become rich and proper however, Tom was born very rich and was handed everything no matter how he  behaved. Even with Gatsby’s inequality from birth in comparison with Tom, Gatsby was able to become a better person.

 

Someone can be defined by many things such as their personality or their money, which are both recurring topics in The Great Gatsby, however, it is important to consider if  money determine what you are “worth”. The character Nick doesn’t think money determines wealth when he says, “They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.” This shows that Daisy and Tom may have been born with  money, but they’re not “worth” anything. However, Gatsby, despite all his ill-gotten money, is worth much more morally showing that money does not define worth.

 

Money and trade have existed throughout time and continuously has made the idea relevant regarding  the morality in ill-gotten gains. This idea relates for the majority of the book and Gatsby was the greatest example of this when his background of achieving The American Dream was revealed. His money was justified in many ways through the character Nick, The American Dream, and you're “worth”. Overall, it was concluded that it is not your money that defines you, but instead, your character.

 

Works Cited

"Fareed Zakaria: 'The American Dream Is Better In Europe'" NewsBusters. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/11/06/fareed-zakaria-american-dream-better-europe>.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.

"Mike Nichols Remembers Papa, Praises Miller: Interview." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-01/mike-nichols-remembers-papa-praises-miller-interview.html>.

 

The Great Gatsby Essay

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