Materialism Depicted in The Great Gatsby essays

Materialism Depicted in The Great Gatsby essays F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, reveals much about the waste and wealth of America in the "roaring twenties." Through Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald weaves a tale of excess and passion that leads to the destruction of the human soul. Gatsby, a self-made millionaire embodies the exorbitance of this era and pays the ultimate price. This paper will examine how the greed and endless desire of Jay Gatsby turned out to more than he could control despite his grandest efforts. Jay Gatsby is a complex character because he has admirable qualities and despicable qualities. We admire him because he able to attain the wealth he desired despite the fact that he came from a poor family. We dislike him because he was driven by greed and materialism. Gatsby is wealthy, no doubt, but he flaunts it in ways that are tasteless. We know from Nick that Gatsby went to great lengths to redefine himself. For example, we know that his real name is James Gatz and he was from an unsuccessful farm family in North Dakota. He changed his name when he was seventeena change inspired when he laid his eyes on Dan Cody's yacht. It was the taste of greed that Gatsby could never shake. It shaped him from an early age and from this fact, we can see how damaging greed can be to an individual. It is important to realize that Gatsby was not an inherently evil person. In fact, we know that he was kind to those who attended his lavish parties and wanted trouble from no one. However, the flip side of that coin is that his selfish drive for money and wealth that made him In fact, Gatsby possesses an incredible drive to succeed that many people never do. His mistake was focusing it on the wrong thing. It is important to note that it is not wrong to desire wealth, but Gatsby embodies materialism at its worst and displays it with an extravagance that is disgusting. He is also willing to become rich at...