English 11
Mr. Thomas
9 April 2013
Money Can’t Buy Happiness
Throughout the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald is sending a message that proves money can not buy happiness. Money is a very influential part of the novel and shapes Gatsby’s entire life. Tom Buchanan represents old money and uses most of his time spending money. Gatsby thinks a great deal about money, but mostly because he will do anything to impress Daisy. It makes him who he is socially, but it does not truly connect to him the way it does to Tom.
Money affects Gatsby and every other important character in the Great Gatsby. Gatsby spends his early life working on a farm in North Dakota as James Gatz. “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people-his imagination never really accepted them as his parents at all” (pg. 98). After getting a glimpse of the wealthy life, he is determined to make fortunes to impress Daisy. When he met Daisy while training to be an officer in Louisville, he fell in love with her. It is learned that Gatsby made his fortune through criminal activity. This shows how Gatsby is really willing to do anything to become wealthier and rise up in the social class. Gatsby believed he needed to do such things to win Daisy’s heart. People like Gatsby are so caught up in money that they lose sight of the other important things in life.
Tom Buchanan is greatly affected by money in the novel. He is an example of old money and was born into an extremely wealthy family. Tom spends his money on crazy things like “a string of polo ponies for Lake Forest” (pg. 5). “It was hard to realize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that” (pg. 5). Although Gatsby is just as flashy as Tom, Tom is arragent and is respected by ever man in town.
Daisy can be described as a gold-digger and is very materialistic. She expects to be paired with wealthy men. Daisy knows that Tom is having an affair behind her back, yet she does not leave him. She is entirely unhappy with her life, but since she is so greatly materialistic she stays with Tom. Eventually, Daisy encounters an important decision, to choose between Tom and Gatsby. Gatsby is the one she truly loves, but Daisy is so influenced by money that she returns to Tom so she can keep her $300,000 pearl necklace.
Money can buy each and every little thing acquired in life, according to the characters of the Great Gatsby. Money replaces true love in the novel. Gatsby is so personally involved in money that he believes it is the only possible way to attract Daisy. Of course, this is not true because a relationship based on money will not last! Daisy already has everything she could ever dream for with Tom and completely ignores her feelings towards Gatsby. Money controls Daisy.
There are two things money can not buy, and those are happiness and true friends. Even with all the money Gatsby possessed and everything he did with is, he never found much happiness. Gatsby tries to buy his happiness through throwing extravagant parties at his house every weekend. At these parties, guests awe over his beautiful, vibrant yellow Rolls Royce and his rare swimming pool. It took an extraordinary amount of money to build and maintain a pool at the time. Guests enjoyed a grand buffet and there were freshly cut flowers all over the place. For example, while touring the house, Nick wanders into the library. There he encounters “Owl Eyes”, who comments that none of the books were cut. When books were published back then, all the pages were stuck together at the top and in order for someone to read the books, they had to cut each page off. The books were just for show and was an instance of unreasonable spending to impress the crowd. Actually, he only became more unhappy as he became wealthier.
Money could not locate and establish true friendship for Gatsby. After Gatsby died, most people did not even care and a very few amount of people showed up to his funeral. Gatsby was taken advantage of because of his money. None of them were his real, true friends, but merely selfish strangers.
Gatsby never ended up with what he originally wanted and he was emotionally dead. He lost all sight of any true meaningful goals like the satisfaction of a true friendship whom he could laugh with and spend time enjoying life with. Gatsby is just like so many people today. Many people are so materialistic that physical things mean more to them than any feeling could. The novel ends with such tragic events that it is completely obvious that what Gatsby was seeking for all his life, was meaningless and did not fulfill him.
Money replaces religion in Gatsby’s life. Gatsby was so into his fortune and physical things, that he never really connected with God. God is almost absent from his life. God is one we always can go to when times are tough. Gatsby had no meaning of life and therefore did not even care about his relationship with God. If God did have a place in Gatsby’s stone heart, Gatsby may have eventually seen the important side of life. Gatsby left the Lord out of his life, and brought money in. He worshipped fortune as if it were a god.
“While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery” – Groucho Marx. This quote is not from the novel, but is such a great example of how Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom’s lives turned out to be after replacing their hearts with money. The following quote by Dorothy Parker is perfect for the novel. “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.” Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy all followed money and found all they ever needed. We clearly understand how God feels about them because of their tragic unpleasant deaths.
In conclusion, it is easily understood that Fitzergald is warning us throughout his novel that being materialistic and using only money to succeed in life will lead to utter failure and a misfortunate end. Wealth only took Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy so far in life. There can be no striving for things you want if you already have all the money you could ever spend. There is no goal and there is no satisfaction.
Money Can't Buy Happiness
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