Money in The Great Gatsby Essay Example

Money in The Great Gatsby Essay Example Money in The Great Gatsby Essay Money in The Great Gatsby Essay Essay Topic: The Great Gatsby In the novel, â€Å"The Great Gatsby†, money is prevalent. You almost cannot turn a page without running into its presence and influence. Characters in the novel strive for this ideal, often destroying themselves during this process. Often they are reduced to shallow shells of their former selves, all the while telling themselves they are happier because of it. They tell themselves that cheating on their hardworking husband, staying with someone who does not love them, or even giving up on their passion for writing, to work on Wall Street. Everyone wants to climb to the top by running over others, but nothing is left when they get there. In this novel money is the ticket to the good life, the driving force. Fitzgerald sets up the novel into different social groups. The rich are the group most satirized during the novel. There is the old money, new money, and no money.However back then there was a criterion you had to meet to be considered elite. People like Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker are elite. They were born into the money they have. They haven’t lifted a finger their whole lives.The people of East Egg, the â€Å"old money†, have not worked for the money they have. They have established wealth over many generations and see the money as an essential part of themselves. Spending time at parties drinking, having sex, and many other such pleasures, is what they do to busy themselves. For the â€Å"old money† people, the â€Å"new money† people are less than. Gatsby has had to work for what he has. Whether it was illegal or not, he still had to work. He is only recently affluent; it is not bred into him. He grew up and lived his life poorly; he cannot possibl y be the same as the Buchanan’s or Baker’s because he knows what it is like to fight for what he wants. For the people who are â€Å"new money†, being new is not necessarily a bad thing. They have a little more insight of what it is like to not have wealth and status. They ha