Preview

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Wealth

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
498 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Wealth
Courtney Davis
January 30, 2015
AP Lang
Definition Rough Draft

!
!
!

!

Wealth is defined in the Webster Dictionary as a state of being rich and having material

prosperity. When asking who is the wealthiest person alive, people will most likely respond by saying Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey. Why does wealth have to be related to materials and money? These things only bring out the worst in everybody. Wealth shouldn't be measured by how many bills are in ones wallet but rather the prosperity and happiness one has.
Societies definition of wealth makes a “wealthy” person seem like they have everything going for them. However, the fact of the matter is that “wealth” creates jealousy and greed. For instance, I really wanted the new iphone 5, and once I got it I wanted the iphone 6. There is never an end to the list of things that people want. Materials may satisfy people for a day, but in the long run people are left feeling empty. It becomes an obsessive cycle only creating greed.
Buddha stated, “He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.” Jealousness of other people’s money is what makes people steal and commit other disgraceful acts. Without this system, crime would decrease significantly. People are always associating wealth to money but it doesn't have to be a negative term.
Last year I read a book, The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, in which Jay Gatsby becomes rich overnight. Gatsby believed that the “wealth” would help him win the love of his life, Daisy. However, once he died for Daisy, she didn't even come to his funeral because she was scared of others opinions. He seemed to think that “wealth” would solve all of his problems,

but he went after the wrong kind of wealth. All Gatsby needed to “fill his emptiness” was wealth of love and someone who cared about him.
People tend to think that the more money they have, the farther they will go in life. One may have a miserable, well paying job. What personal values does this have on life? At the end

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is perhaps one of the most recognized authors associated with the literary flowering of the 1920’s in America. The concern of most authors during this time was of the materialism that had suddenly swept the country. Credit was easy, interest rates were low, and corruption abounded. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays how the American dream of success was extinguished until it was nothing more than greedy desire. The sanguine American dream that had turned no one away and had given all an equal opportunity for happiness and success was no longer. Through use of his main character, Jay Gatsby,…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Can money buy happiness? This age old question is a recurring theme in the novel The Great Gatsby. Throughout the novel we see that wealth creates loneliness, isolation and corruption in people. Through the examination of the main character’s behaviours present in The Great Gatsby, it is clear that wealth negatively impacts people.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    - Someone can build wealth is to buy more stuff that makes money and buy less stuff that loses value.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most people want to believe that money will buy you happiness, but Gatsby is a great example of how this is not the case. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby and Daisy becomes careless people because they believe that money will protect them forever. Gatsby went well out of his way to make money just to get the attention of Daisy. The desire for money drives all of the characters in The Great Gatsby to make poor choices that will come back to hurt their relationships and ruin their lives.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Theodore Parker once said, “Wealth and want equally harden the human heart.” All hearts…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gatsby wanted to be rich but his main motivation in obtaining his money$ was his infatuation for Daisy Buchanan. Hence with trying to get back together with Daisy as his main objective, Gatsby has taken the path of crime and illegal activity in order to achieve his goals. The path that has compromised on his morals and value. It is seen throughout the novel that this means to achieve his envisioned end was clearly not justified. Even through his bootlegging activities, Gatsby was unable to attain his goal as he was not born in to wealth and does not possess the lofty social status that comes with that. As such we see how his dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption that wealth causes and the unworthiness of the goal as it truly…

    • 134 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    riches (The Great… 3) In the novel, Gatsby thinks that wealth is the solution to all his problems,…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Money In The Great Gatsby

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Money can’t buy happiness, but Gatsby tried to use his resources to relive and perfect the past. “After all, wealth is not the most important factors in our lives. It does not bring anyone happiness or love. Gatsby could not use money to buy Daisy’s love. Also, although Gatsby knows a many important people, who come to his party before, after he dies only a few people come to his funeral. Wealth and power are gone away with Gatsby” (Boonto 1). This is a perfect example that money cannot truly make a person happy. Gatsby had people that took advantage of his wealth and came to his parties, but he hardly had friends. Nobody cared about him after he died. The characters in “The Great Gatsby” tried to make their lives perfect with their vast monetary resources.…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Charles Koch’s net worth is almost $40 billion, Giorgio Armani is worth $6.1 billion and Taylor Swift is only worth $250 million, Koch is the 9th richest person on Earth (World’s Billionaire’s List). Money and power go hand in hand; CEOs are almost always part of the wealthy upper class. Money gives people, not only their economic place in society, but also their social class, it decides the types of people they have connections with, there are exceptions to this, but income plays a major role in a person’s life. Sadly, the easiest way to have influence and authority over a society or at least a group of people is to have vasts amounts of money; of course, there are others who have power and influence without money, however people who are remembered…

    • 1913 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wealth, well wealth is a very complex thing to really comprehend under any circumstances. There are many ideas about what wealth really is, but wealth can mean different many things to people. However this does not mean that all of the ideas don’t really mean anything; they do but those ideas will have an effect in day to day life, the economy and social ideas. For instance in Carnegie’s Wealth he makes it a point to pin point certain things in society that have caused it change rapidly, and the influence they have had in the ever changing society of his time.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby is F. Scott Fitzgerald's most renowned book, and still one of the most read novels in American literature. A book with this much success was obviously was a product of great influence. The Great Gatsby draws many extensive parallels between F. Scott Fitzgerald's life and this novel. These similarities range from basing characters off important people from his personal life to interweaving intricate love relationships he went through into the novel to recreating the American Dream. The book comes as a direct result of many of the events in Fitzgerald's early life.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gatsby’s parents “were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” thus meaning that Gatsby had no status and no wealth. Over the years, he managed to gain status by making a lot of money and managed to create the image he wanted to have based on his dream; this is the first part of his dream that he managed to realize.…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby Money

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The description of Gatsby’s house, from the beginning of the book to the end shows how money cannot buy love and or happiness. In the…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A second issue, is the fact that many newly rich people become paranoid for many reasons. Firstly, after becoming rich, they can’t distinguish a real friend from one that is just interested on their money. Secondly, after lottery winners spend their money with useful things, they start to waste money with useless addictions like casinos, horse races, and money bets. Besides spending money with those addictions, newly rich people start to live this addicted annoying life, which being respected is a synonym for being rich.…

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The weight of importance of money and status in American society are deeply connected. Status is linked to money: higher paying jobs result in both higher status and greater financial standing. Having large amounts of money allow one to have a status parallel to it, (i.e. Paris Hilton has a high social status because of her family’s money). The weight an individual existing in American society puts on status vs. money also varies. Some residents of the United States place a great importance on being recognized for their accomplishments and having the respect of their community. Others see money as the way to gain access to both the essentials and luxuries of life. It is difficult to separate the two, as one is seen as an attribute of…

    • 189 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays