Devante Qualls

Ms. Rodier
English4 / 3B
February 12, 2015
More Money, More Problems
Perhaps since the beginning of established societies, the lives of the rich and even famous
has always been glorified by American culture and still to this day, that remains the case. With
the recent advancements in technology such as social media, the internet, and global television
networks; the world has never been more connected and lives of the famous have never been
more open, or so we think. Media has portrayed the lives of the rich and famous to be flawless
in a sense and for us, those who arent as fortunate, we aided in that stigmatism; through our
idolization of their star-power. The common assumption is that money solves all issues, and the
more money you have, the fewer problems you should have, in theory. However F. Scott
Fitzgerald tells a different story in his novel, The Great Gatsby. Instead, he sends the story that
contrary to the common assumption, the life of the rich and famous is more like more money,
more problems and that actually the wealthy can be awful and careless people. In the novel,
Fitzgerald brings Nick Caraway to the forefront, Yale graduate and bonds salesman. Nick
narrates the story of his first year moving in to the affluent West Egg neighborhood and the
constant chaos that he witnessed being around the wealthy.
If any character defines the issues and the message of this story, it was Tom Buchanan,
the wealthy and powerful husband of Daisy. With him, Fitzgerald showed us how money doesnt

buy social equality. Around the time when Nick first encountered Tom, Tom expressed his belief
in Social Darwinism and white supremacy. This was most likely Fitzgerald writing from personal
experience as he was often around the wealthy being a successful writer. If we don't look out the
white race will bewill be utterly (pg. 12), Tom was obsessed with the preservation of his
race. He didnt support the mingling of races and wished to see the Aryan race maintain their
privilege in the world; portraying perhaps how unwelcome integration was at the top of the food
chain, especially in the 1920s.
Fitzgerald used the relationship between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby in order to
represent many morals. Among those, one that stands out prominently is that money doesnt buy
ones love, or perhaps even deeper into the plot; love cannot be obtained with your worth. Gatsby
spent almost his entire life obtaining large amounts of wealth and power mostly for one reason,
Daisys heart. He basically reinvented himself to impress her. He spoke about fixing everything
just the way it was before (pg. 110). He had hoped that he could rekindle what they had once
shared. However it appeared that Daisy was only using him as a distraction from her struggling
marriage with Tom; as she ultimately dropped him like a play-thing in the end, where she
seemingly on purpose, avoided Gatsby before and after his death. It was the textbook example of
the good guy never wins, with Gatsby being the good guy and Tom being the antithesis to that.
Fitzgerald took this relationship to show us that in most cases, the good guy never wins the girl.
The relationship between Daisy and Gatsby served many purposes, as pointed out earlier.
Fitzgerald also used Daisys sudden disinterest towards Gatsby to symbolize how money doesnt
necessarily buy happiness either. The themes are similar but, Fitzgerald correlated this theme in a
broader sense. Gatsby was unable to be truly happy even with his new found status. He felt he
wouldnt be genuinely happy until Daisy loved him and her heart wasnt influenced by his

wealth. This was also portrayed with Dan Cody, Gatsbys late mentor (pg. 99-100). Cody was a
self-made, multimillionaire, but unfortunately he was unable to find true happiness, due to
women attempting to separate him from his money and his compulsive drinking. This is the
reality of many wealthy people, as they find that they can no longer trust those around them.
Nicks views and personal beliefs can be seen as influenced by the personality of
Fitzgerald. Especially, when you take into account the parallels and connections that can be made
between the story of Nick and the life of Fitzgerald. As, such there are points in this story where
Nick as the narrator, cracks and opens up to the audience about current events in the novel. In
these moments the author speaks to the audience through Nick. This perhaps most prominent
when Nick rants about how careless and inconsiderate the rich and powerful can be to those
around them. He describes Daisy, Tom, and others in the West Egg as rather selfish and
careless to the lives that are in their hands. The comment wasnt without warrant as throughout
the book, those mentioned lived rather carelessly. Jordan Baker, the wealthy tennis player,
symbolized this the most. She showed a rather shallow attitude and was nonchalant to practically
anything that didnt interest her. She is inconsiderate of any agenda other than her own. A prime
example of this was in Chapter 3 while driving with Nick. She basically explained how she
doesnt bother to be careful because, Well, other people are, (pg. 58). Jordan epitomizes the
spoiled celebrity in our society and the issues that attitude brings.
Nicks change throughout the story cannot necessarily be classified as a progression,
but more as a self-realization. It cannot be labled as a progession because that would imply
that as a person Nick, somehow grew more positively as a person, which even to him wasnt the
case. Instead, Nick began to see reality differently, and realized that his environment wasnt
making him a better person morally. By Chapter 9, Nick had a new outlook on not just the West

Egg and its patrons, but on the world as a whole. This is where perhaps Fitzgerald shares another
personal belief by using the West Egg and the people of the neighborhood to symbolized the
more affluent neighborhoods in America and the more affluent people in America . In the
beginning, Nick was excited and optimistic about his future in the West Egg, but the more he
witnessed the actions of those around him, the more he began to resent the neighborhood and the
wealthy. They were careless people, Nick narrated. They smashed up things and creatures and
then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, (pg.179) he followed. Fitzgerald
felt like the affluent classes of people were horrible people. He used this instance to show that
even though these people have all of their financial issues secure, they still live carelessly by
being inconsiderate of the people and things around them.
Celebrities and the wealthy are heralded in our society and many of their lives are envied.
In America, naturally the wealthy and famous fight hard to maintain their image and status
because their image and status is their means of income. Fitzgerald ironically says that as they
try to maintain their lifestyles, they constantly live carelessly and put their lifestyles at stake of
being taken from them. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that it is all a big, phony, unfair,
charade. He wanted to teach us that the grass isnt always greener on the other side, sometimes
we idolize people who at the end of the day make the same mistakes we do. This perhaps came
from his unsuccessful attempt at fame during his time spent in Hollywood and as a writer.

Citation:

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 2004 ed. New York: Scribner, 1925. 180. Print.