Wealth as Sinister
Definition of Wealth
- Wealth is seen as sinister within the novel due to the fact that it is often abused and gained through unethical means.
- The first character described in aggressive and sinister tones is Tom Buchannan: "His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" (Fitzgerald 7).
- When Gatsby is first revealed, Carraway says "I could see nothing sinister about him" however, later in the novel, once the truth about Gatsby is revealed he revises this to "I wondered if there wasn't something a little sinister about him, after all" (Fitzgerald 50, 65).
Big Questions
What Does This Mean For American Society?
According to Merriam-Webster, wealth is defined as an abundance of valuable material possessions or resources; riches. The state of being rich; affluence. All goods and resources having value in terms of exchange or use. A great amount; a profusion.
- What is the role of wealth in The Great Gatsby?
- Is wealth used as a negative element or a positive element within Fitzgerald's novel?
- Why is Tom Buchannan's wealth seen in an unseemly and aggressive manner whereas Gatsby's is seen as redeeming and hopeful?
- Is wealth a key element in the demise of the main characters?
Wealth as Disillusionment
- Wealth functions as disillusionment within the novel due to the fact that despite his efforts to gain wealth and gain Daisy, in gaining his immense wealth, Gatsby loses everything he could have ever hoped to have.
- "...he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass." (Fitzgerald 161).
Wealth as Necessity
Wealth as Hope
- Wealth is clearly seen as a necessity within The Great Gatsby due to the fact that within society at this time there were essentially two different types of people, those who had money, and those who were struggling to survive. This is clearly seen in the novel as Fitzgerald explains the difference between life in the Eggs and life in the Valley of Ashes.
- "...ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air" (Fitzgerald 23).
- Wealth functions as hope throughout the novel due to the fact that, in gaining it, Gatsby believes he will be able to win back the love of his life, Daisy.
- "He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths -- so that he could 'come over' some afternoon to a stranger's garden" (Fitzgerald 79).
- "He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes" (Fitzgerald 91).
- The theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American Dream (Decker).
- Gatsby's enduring popularity may be attributable to the fact that while it was written in the 1920's about the 1920's, it tells a story that history has repeated over and over ever since (Barbash).
- As many times as we have lived through the cycle of ill-gotten gains leading to catastrophic collapse--maybe the wages of sin really is death-- the story never becomes stale or dated (Barbash).
- ... it [the novel] manages, while poetically evoking a sense of the goodness of that early dream, to offer the most damaging criticism of... deficiencies inherent in contemporary manifestations of the American vision itself (Decker).
Why I Chose The Great Gatsby
Questions???
Wealth in The Great Gatsby plays a key role and may almost be seen as a character itself. For this reason, as well as the fact that the wealth issues within The Great Gatsby mirror those in American society in the 1920's and today I felt that the issues with wealth were ones worth looking at and The Great Gatsby was one of the best texts to use in order to complete this analysis of the role of wealth not only in the novel but in America as well.
Thesis
Roles of Wealth
In Fitzgerald's novel, wealth is used as a symbol of both hope and disillusionment, and while it is seen as necessary in the society within The Great Gatsby, it also possesses sinister undertones.
Research Process
- Original Topic: Wealth is a corrupting factor within The Great Gatsby.
- Difficulty finding sources on such a specific topic
- Found information on multiple views of wealth within the novel
- Found a lot of information on the way the novel relates to America in the '20s and today
- Revised my topic to trying to discover the multi-faceted role of wealth in the novel.
- Innocence corrupter
- Destroyer of Dreams
- Unconstant
- Extravagant yet lacking
- Necessary
- Hopeful
The Role of Wealth in The Great Gatsby