Wealth and Its Side Effects

People believe wealth will solve all of their problems. They think being rich will result in happiness. I used to have this same opinion myself but pieces like The Great Gatsby and "DBAR" have changed my mind. I realized that there were consequences that followed with owning an extreme amount of money. Things like greed and imprisonment could easily consume an individual and cause them to live an unfulfilling life such as Gatsby and Braddock Washington.

In The Great Gatsby, a man with everything one could want is reduced to watching a woman in between two bushes. Even though Gatsby has a house that's "a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy" (Fitzgerald 7), his life is actually filled with emptiness. As the book progresses, the readers are introduced to Gatsby's unrequited love for Daisy and how he "stretched out" (24) for her. The extent of his fondness for her can be seen when he chooses to "wait all night if necessary" (154) between some bushes in front of her house. Also, he throws all of his lavish parties just to impress Daisy. Gatsby doesn't live life for himself but to impress a single person. He can't enjoy life until that person is in his possession, but since he will never achieve his dream, he will forever be a hollow individual void of enjoyment. It's ironic as wealth in this time period should allow a person to be free and do whatever they want but in his case, it imprisons him and keeps him from moving forward.

Washington can also be regarded as a rich white man who is confined to his wealth. His diamond that is "as big as the Ritz" (1) causes him to become greedy and store it all for himself. He spends his life guarding his diamond mountain by murdering all his guests and any pilots that attempt to scout his land. This ultimately leads to his demise as he has to blow up his "house of jewels" (25) and effectively killing his motivation to live, literally. Just like Gatsby, Braddock was restricted to keeping watch over his mountain of wealth. Both of their lives had no true meaning, and none of them lived life to the fullest. They died without really living at all.

 

The Unescapable Past

Up until this point in the book, Jay Gatsby's past has been nothing but rumors and gossip. The readers don't know what's true or false. Even though this isn't the turning point in the novel, I believe it's the turning point of how the audience sees him as a person. We can finally observe what influenced Gatsby to become the man he is today.

Jay Gatsby actually turns out to be a fake name he created in order to shake of his low social standing and to envision himself as a wealthy man. He rechristens himself from the name James Gatz in order to leave all his humiliation of his poor self behind. It's seems odd that the Gatsby in the present who throws lavish parties every night is the same person as the seventeen year old who had to do "janitor's work with which he was to pay his way through" (Fitzgerald 105) college. We also learn that Dan Cody is the epitome of what Gatsby wants to become. Dan is basically his "God" because after "he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior" (104), Gatsby began to avidly follow him. This moment in his life was essentially the chance he needed to achieve his dreams. The passage above emphasizes how social class was very important in this time period and how Gatsby's sensitivity towards status is his determination to succeed.











However as I read The Great Gatsby, I kept wondering why Gatsby allowed rumors like how "he killed a man once" (48) or how "he was a German spy during the war" (48) to circulate, because his status would surely have started to become damaged if people had start to believe these words. But after examining this part in the book, I feel like I have come to a conclusion: he let's those fake rumors spread and keep the citizens interested in order to hide his true past.