Examples Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

Many of us as Americans look past the largest examples of greed in our society, perhaps in fear of discovering greed within ourselves. Stepping on or even killing another human being is a repercussion many are more than willing to face only after they have reached their goals. In a world with so many people in it, competition is an essential part of a human beings life, but when is it justified for competition to become deadly? Some would say these days too much money is just not enough money anymore when in fact, nothing has changed except what a dollar’s worth. Materialism is a powerful domain in Fitzgerald 's work especially in the novel the great Gatsby, where the idea of materialism improving a person’s overall significance, is
exposed as an epidemic that distorts reality with common and frequently false assumptions that are still just as common today. Fitzgerald portrays the roaring 1920s as a period of tarnished morals and social values demonstrated in the era’s greed, prejudice and empty pursuits of pleasure.
Consider all of the things that we buy, the sizes of our houses and the balances we struggle to pay off on credit cards. Its stress that so many are willing to endure on account of a lifestyle many in America especially now just can’t afford. The clearest example of this today is in pop culture where a lavish lifestyle is portrayed on television so elegantly that the main goal for most “normal people” isn’t self-betterment or self-worth but simply net worth. Gatsby believed that wealth was the only element that would allow Daisy to fall in love with him. Furthermore, what daisy was to Gatsby is what money is to our society. It’s essentially a paradox that has corrupted our perception of what real jubilation
is.
Gatsby strived simply to uphold the perception he created for himself rather than becoming what he wished to be and at that in a shameful way. In present day society, the way someone has attained money is far less relevant than just that fact that that person has money. Driving a nice car and owning a big house is less about the comfort and more about the perception those material things give off. The perception Gatsby created for himself was meant to impress daisy, and today the money most Americans make is meant to impress people that we don’t even know or particularly like but still so many live just as Gatsby did.
However, Gatsby was right about one aspect of the perception he created for himself. He had hoped it would impress daisy and it did, but ironically it didn’t last forever. Like daisy our society has been conditioned to fall in love with money and all its trappings, but still some of us value more than just money and as a person falls in love with materialistic pleasures, it gradually becomes just as important as it really is and for some to the point where money is their downfall both literally and figuratively. Therefore, the hustle for money in many cases is simply a tool used to make up for a lack of something else. And that is precisely why we are still an incredibly materialist society, just like the 1920s one that Fitzgerald criticized.
Furthermore, also just like daisy, what money in general can buy essentially has no worth when compared to the things it cannot such as wisdom, compassion and love to name a few while Ironically, the need for money trumps all else. The sad truth to this society is that love compassion and wisdom isn’t valued at first, because during the race and struggle to attain money, it becomes easier to value the gift of life in itself. Just like the characters in the book, from outside events in both the country and the world, we live as though there is no tomorrow or even a need to worry about one.
Pharmaceutical companies are one of the largest grossing industries that have complemented the tobacco industry for many years. While it is common knowledge that cancer kills, our government has allowed it to strive all in the name of money. Like other drugs like heroin and cocaine, there are some health benefits but those drugs are illegal for recreational use. When it comes to drugs a nonexistent grey area has been created to make money at the cost of giving millions of people cancer to date. Clear Evidence that all in the hustle to attain lavish amounts of money some will sell their soul and deal with the repercussions later.
The American dream portrayed in the great Gatsby was presented as an accomplishment everyone can attain, however only in an environment not as corrupt as today. No two situations are the same and when a presidential inauguration raises more money than a charity meanwhile world hunger still exists its clear to see that not everyone follows the same set of morals. The 1920s were fueled by money. It was and is the very most important aspect of almost everyone’s life. And while we all need it to survive, relinquishing ourselves of some of the basic things that make us human like the ability to communicate, love, and show compassion can only lead us together down a road that eventually becomes normal. And tradition is the underlying most used reason to do things the wrong way verses the right way.
Reality television shows like survivor unfortunately relate very well to the everyday mindset of a highly competitive work world as well. Participants will do whatever it takes to win usually money. Just as Gatsby was killed because of a woman, our society has witnessed trivial killings for sneakers and even smaller less expensive possessions. Meanwhile those with more money and less of a reason to fight over it and kill for such small amounts of money hold themselves to a higher regard because of that. Failing to realize that while they are rich, many struggle to find a meal from day to day making the rich no different from the poor as just as absorbed it material things as those with less money.
Gatsby’s long term goal to become extravagantly rich and win daisy his long lost love back is the root of most dreams in America.
Television has a way of portraying the rich as happier than or even better than those that are not rich. Although many know that perception to be completely false, much of the American dream is to become rich enough to buy a perception that cannot actually be bought. Furthermore, while many spend their time trying to attain that glass perception, very few strive for that perception to be a reality first verses an image they only hope to uphold by filling in the gaps. Gatsby, lived a life and created a persona that was reflect ant very little on who he really was and all because he wanted to be perceived as wealthy when wealth is no different than beauty, skin deep. Realistically, money, a man made tool has turned so many of us back into the animals we once evolved from And has remained justification for killing someone else. Whether by drugs or weapons because of a misconception that was rarely challenged and has now become a widely accepted tradition, money was everything in the 1920s, and money is everything even though it can’t buy
everything.

Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. S. (1925). The Great Gatsby.
Revolution, B. M.-L. (n.d.). Michael I. Phillips.