Gatsby Essay, Research Paper
The Materialism of Society in The Great Gatsby
Every person has a yearning in her heart, a desire for
greater happiness she needs to fill. Whether it be love, power,
knowledge, or social status, every person at one time strives to
fill an emptiness through material gain. Materialism is the
tendency to prefer material possessions and physical comfort to
spiritual values (Isaacs 924). Today s society is occupied with
materialistic things. The Great Gatsby is a prime example of
this. This materialism of society is shown in F. Scott
Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby through the following characters:
Jay Gatsby and Tom and Daisy Buchanan.
Fitzgerald found the wealthy glamorous and destructive.
Although he was wealthy, Fitzgerald was never accepted. He was
always on the outside looking in. His obsession for material
characterized him as an author and a man (Magill Critical 966).
He thought his money would make him a better person. Fitzgerald
felt as if the loss of vision was as bad as the illusory
quality of ideals of culture (Magill American 367).
Materialism is one of the main themes in The Great Gatsby.
America had produced an idealism so impalpable that it had lost
touch with reality and a materialism so heavy that it was
inhuman (Mizener 101). America is considered as the continent
of lost innocence and illusions (Way 110). There are many
misunderstandings in today s materialistic society. One can t
buy integrity with money(Bruccoli 52), and young men think that
riches change the past and can recapture love (Martine 9). Both
of these ideas are false. American society has a constant
reliance on money for emotions and identity (Bruccoli 46). The
Great Gatsby is interpreted as a warning to future generations
(Magill Masterplots 2652). The warning is to not base ones life
on material things, because this could lead to a downfall.
Jay Gatsby is a successful bootlegger. He came from poverty
and ignorance (Bryfonski 244),and has come into a new wealth,
which is derived from his business. Although Gatsby achieves
this success, he fails to realize how money works in society
(Tate 104). He thrives on material things. He owns a huge
estate, has expensive belongings, and splurges his money for
show. Jay Gatsby stands for American idealism- so he loses touch
with reality (Lehan 114). He assumes that material possessions
are the way to his dream,and he looks on material things to
satisfy this search (Bryfonski 244). Finally, Gatsby sees that
attaining an object brings a sense of loss and not fulfillment
(Way 107). In the end, he is destroyed by the materials.
Gatsby is in love with Daisy Buchanan. He has loved her
since he was a young man. When he is sent to fight in the war,
Daisy meets Tom Buchanan and marries him. Years later, Gatsby
and Daisy are reunited. By this time, Gatsby is wealthy and
feels as if he is worthy of her love. He still loves her as much
as the day he left and is willing to do anything to win her over.
He thinks that her love can be bought (Bruccoli 51), and tries to
recapture her through his material possessions (Martine 10).
Gatsby is the foolhardy idealist who cannot take the
common-sense view, who refuses to accept an equivocal love
(Piper 102). When Daisy leaves him at the end, he loses
everything. He loses his youth, hope, and expectancy. (Lehan
Daisy Buchanan, is a Southern Belle from Louisville,
Kentucky, and comes from a wealthy family. She is entangled in
materialistic values. Her life is full of money, power, and a
high social status. When she speaks, her voice is full of money
(Lee 55). Daisy loves to go out to parties to dance, drink, and
have fun. She is married to Tom Buchanan, but their relationship
is not a model relationship. They are both unfaithful to each
other, and neither of them seems to care. Daisy has a basic
insincerity towards her marital situation (Piper 108).
Daisy loved Jay Gatsby when she was younger. Although she
loved him, she could not marry him because he was poor. Rich,
young girls did mot marry poor boys. Daisy had two powerful
sources of attraction; they were money and sex (Bloom Modern 90).
That is what attracted Gatsby to her. She was the substance of
Gatsby s dream (Bloom 90). He lived for her. When he found her
again, he expected her to be a damsel in distress waiting to be
rescued (Piper 124). Tragically, she did not meet these
Tom Buchanan came from a wealthy family. He graduated from
Yale as a football legend. Tom was arrogant and obnoxious and
stood for a materialism that was inhuman (Lehan 114). He gained
his assurance from his money and position in society (Bloom
Modern 92). Like Daisy, Tom wasn t faithful for he was having an
affair also. He was a corrupt man and was conceived as the
embodiment of evil by Fitzgerald (Piper 138).
The world of the Jazz Age in which Fitzgerald lived and
wrote The Great Gatsby, was brimming with materialistic values.
Fitzgerald conveys a sense that the original, more spirited
meaning of the American dream has been corrupted by greed (Bloom
Bloom s 37). In the book The Great Gatsby, each character is in
pursuit of happiness through material fulfillment. The book
describes the materialism of an age. It was written in a time
where values were more concerned with self-fulfillment and
happiness than anything. In The Great Gatsby, the pursuit of
happiness through material gain is vain and pointless.
Fitzgerald was not strikingly optimistic about the process of our
nation being damned by our materialism, or of our dreams
surviving its entanglement with a particularly expensive object
(Bloom 24). The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates
the materialism of society through these characters: Jay Gatsby
and Daisy and Tom Buchanan.
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