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 …show more content…
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 …show more content…
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