What Is The Great Gatsby Materialism
In 1931, James Truslow Adams said, “The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone… regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” However, this dream had become the pursuit of material prosperity and Americans easily assumed that happiness would automatically accompany their material success. Several characters in The Great Gatsby, specifically Gatsby, Daisy, and Myrtle, ended up unsatisfied after chasing an impossible dream. Fitzgerald uses the recurring motif of the search for the American dream to show that materialistic values will lead to dissatisfaction in life.
Jay Gatsby was always determined to achieve his dreams, starting at a young age, when he was …show more content…
He “considers himself supremely able to proclaim money… and… he chooses to monetize… not paper, but Daisy herself,” (Little 7). Gatsby is blinded by the American dream more than any of the other characters in the sense that it took over who he was. No matter how hard Gatsby tried to live up to his dreams, he would never have been able to achieve them because “Daisy tumbled short of [Gatsby’s] dreams not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion,” (Fitzgerald 101). During his reunion with Daisy after five years, Gatsby has somewhat of a realization that Daisy can’t amount to the illusion he created. Nick sees “the expression of bewilderment come back into Gatsby, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness,” (Fitzgerald 101). But Gatsby fails to admit that to himself, and goes on, still trying to recreate his past relationship with Daisy. In his quest to impress Daisy, Gatsby “comes to believe himself… above the restrictions of society and morality,” (Pearson 3). Daisy was perhaps one of the most materialistic characters in The Great Gatsby. Even her voice “sounded like money,” and she represented the careless nature of the wealthy, specifically of the old money society. “Her whole careless world revolves around this illusion: that money makes everything beautiful, even if it is not,” (Telgen 6). Over the course of the novel, Daisy is portrayed as an empty character
Jay Gatsby was always determined to achieve his dreams, starting at a young age, when he was …show more content…
He “considers himself supremely able to proclaim money… and… he chooses to monetize… not paper, but Daisy herself,” (Little 7). Gatsby is blinded by the American dream more than any of the other characters in the sense that it took over who he was. No matter how hard Gatsby tried to live up to his dreams, he would never have been able to achieve them because “Daisy tumbled short of [Gatsby’s] dreams not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion,” (Fitzgerald 101). During his reunion with Daisy after five years, Gatsby has somewhat of a realization that Daisy can’t amount to the illusion he created. Nick sees “the expression of bewilderment come back into Gatsby, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness,” (Fitzgerald 101). But Gatsby fails to admit that to himself, and goes on, still trying to recreate his past relationship with Daisy. In his quest to impress Daisy, Gatsby “comes to believe himself… above the restrictions of society and morality,” (Pearson 3). Daisy was perhaps one of the most materialistic characters in The Great Gatsby. Even her voice “sounded like money,” and she represented the careless nature of the wealthy, specifically of the old money society. “Her whole careless world revolves around this illusion: that money makes everything beautiful, even if it is not,” (Telgen 6). Over the course of the novel, Daisy is portrayed as an empty character