Money and love The Great Gatsby is a story that involves love and money. It shows the materialism that is entwined within relationships. It shows us that love is important in a relationship but more than that is the importance of money and status.
. The story shows very effectively that money cannot buy happiness and love. In this story, Jay Gatsby has been motivated to accumulate wealth so that he could get his love, Daisy, back. Gatsby associates Daisy with wealth, good upbringing and glamour.
Gatsby had met Daisy, who was from a rich family, and fallen in love with her.Even at the very beginning of their relationship Gatsby knew that Daisy is looking for a wealthy husband, so he gave the impression that he was rich also. He had to leave and serve his country and when he came back he found out that Daisy had married Tom. Tom Buchanan was from a wealthy background and this made Gatsby even more adamant on acquiring wealth. Gatsby gives Daisy the impression that he is from a wealthy family when he is not.
So this relationship started on deception and gives importance to wealth. He is involved in bootlegging and organized crime to achieve his desire for wealth.He guys an enormous mansion very near to Daisy's house. He throws lavish parties to impress everybody, and also he secretly hopes that Daisy would one day attend his party. He provides his guests with sumptuous food and an endless supply of alcohol.
His guests see the opulence that surrounds Gatsby but still talk about him in whispers of how he could a cold-blooded killer. He impresses his guest with his Rolls- Royce and entertains them with a live band but all this is done with the hope of Daisy gracing one of these parties.Once Gatsby finds out that Nick is related to Daisy, he starts to impress Nick with his lath by offering to take him on his plane and then to an island. Nick finds Gatsby English accent fake but still thinks that Gatsby is a better person. He sets up a meeting at Nicks place. Gatsby sends his gardener to trim Nicks lawn and then comes himself to check inside Nicks house.
When Daisy meets Gatsby, she does not show much emotion. Then Gatsby takes her to his mansion and starts to show her his newly acquire wealth. He shows her his artifacts, his expansive clothes and his extravagant mansion and only then Daisy feels some emotion for him.This shows how much Daisy cares for material possessions. Daisy is lured by Gatsby show of opulence.
Gatsby even has told a much exaggerated story that he attended Oxford University in order to gain social status. To Gatsby it was a class and wealth gulf that separated him from Daisy. In the end, it is social status that determines whom Daisy went with. Tom is from a socially higher class status then both Daisy and Gatsby, so Daisy chooses him over Gatsby.
Gatsby had spent his five years of life gaining wealth so that he might be acceptable to Daisy but it did not bring him any happiness.Daisy is from an aristocratic background and finds it difficult to separate herself from her social class. She loves her social status more than she loves Gatsby. Everything that Gatsby has done so far had been done in the hopes of getting his love back. He has reinvented himself into a cultured, wealthy person but in vain, since Daisy chooses to stay with Tom instead of him.
Tom and Daisy were able to get together because of their class similarities and also from having similar financial background. Tom Buchanan was extremely rich and this might have cemented the reason why Daisy chose to marry him and stay with him.The wedding ceremony was done in an extravagant manner and Tom presented Daisy with an expansive necklace. So Daisy is bedazzled by the show of wealth at the beginning of their married life and then later she seems to be satisfied with her lifestyle of a rich wedded lady even though she was caught in a loveless marriage. Tom was from old money and he was able to provide Daisy with everything she wanted except love. Daisy knew of his affairs Just three months after their marriage, but was complacent about them.
It would seem she was getting satisfaction from all the wealth surrounding her husband, his name and their home.Love was not as important to Daisy as wealth was, so she was happy. Tom was not around even when Daisy was giving birth. Tom exploits his social status and money to get what he wants.
He has a wife who turns a blind eye to his extramarital affairs. He finds mistresses in the lower class so they will be subordinate to him and he dominates them both mentally and physically. Daisy even offers to give him her pen so that Tom could get a "pretty but common" girl's number (Fitzgerald 105). Tom and Daisy's marriage is founded upon money and social status; and this is the only things keeping them together.
It also shows their marriage as farce. Tom and Myrtle have a relationship that is based not on love but money and sex. They are both using each other. Tom gives Myrtle expensive gifts and she is happy to provide him with her sexual favors. She thinks that Tom is so enamored with her that he will leave Daisy for her.
At first Tom treats her nicely but then he gets violent with her and hits her. He seems to look down on her and everybody in her class. He lets Myrtle dress in nice clothes and behave as the mistress in their apartment but is not supposed to talk about Daisy.This shows that, at least in Tom's eyes, Myrtle is not good enough to talk about Daisy because of the difference in their social and economic class. The dog leash is a symbol of their relationship. It shows that Tom is the master and Myrtle as the subservient pet.
He controls her with his money.. He is amused by her but does not respect her. This is shown when he degrades her at the party. " Tom broke her nose with his open hand" (Fitzgerald 37). Myrtle is happy in this relationship because she is getting everything that money can buy.
She does not see anything wrong in their loveless relationship.She is happy to odor expensive clothes and pretend that she is the mistress of the house and has many servants at her command. Wilson and Myrtle are also caught in a loveless marriage. George Wilson is a garage owner but he is poor. They live in Ash Valley above their garage. Wilson is overworked but is eager to make a better life.
He works hard to please his wife. Myrtle is unhappy in this relationship but does not do anything until she meets Tom. She is enchanted by the grandiose idea of becoming Tom's wife. Myrtle is lured by Tom's wealth in having an affair with him.Wilson is not aware of this but when he suspects meeting he locks Myrtle up and decides to move away from Ash Valley.
So in this relationship money is shown as being of utmost importance. Wilson did not have money so love was withheld from him and since Tom has money, he is showered with love. When Myrtle sees Tom driving a golden car with Jordan beside him, she becomes upset and tries to talk with Tom but is hit by this very golden car which had Daisy behind its wheels. The golden car here is a show of opulence which Myrtle dreams of but unfortunately the car is the harbinger of death.And finally, all the characters are unable to demonstrate any kind of love or loyalty to NY one apart from themselves and to money. Thus, in Great Gatsby, wealth is separated from class.
And it also does not recognize love. It is possible to become very wealthy yet not be accepted in the upper society. Money negates any ill feelings in the case of Tom and Daisy. They are able to run away from trouble and ignore it also. Being poor has much harsher effects on people such as the Wilson. Myrtle was unhappy with her poverty stricken life and ran after money which finally kills her.
And as a result her husband kills himself after killing Gatsby.The glamorous life f the Buchanan is contrasted with the poverty of the Wilson. All the characters seem to revere money and expect love to come along with it. It seems that money is the root of all evil is true for these characters. The characters belief that money can buy them love and loyalty is shown to be wrong.
Desire for money makes Daisy stay in a loveless marriage, with an unfaithful husband. Love for money makes Myrtle involved with a rich man. Gatsby thinks that money will ultimately bring him his love but that happens only fleetingly. The story shows effectively that money cannot buy happiness and love.
