Gatsby Essay, Research Paper

Victor *********

10/12/96

Block 3

” Whenever you fell like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this

world haven’t had all the advantages that you’ve had. ” These words by Nick

Carraway’s dad should be taken into consideration when looking at one of the themes

of the first chapter: the destroying effects of wealth. This theme will focus on Daisy

and Tom Bucchanon. Some examples of this theme are Tom’s mistress, his overall

attitude of people, and Tom’s and Daisy’s overall feeling of each other.

Adultery can often be an effect of too much wealth. Tom showed this by the

fact that he had another woman in New York. It showed the destroying effect of wealth

because Tom felt that since he had enough money, he didn’t need to be faithful to

Daisy. Instead, the superficial power of money has led him astray from his wife. The

fact that you have money doesn’t mean you can do whatever you please.

A marital relationship should be heavily based on love. I got none of that love

from Tom’s and Daisy’s marriage. Their constant irritating remarks, and interruptions

make it seem that there is no love between them. They seem like a couple in their 80’s

who are sick and tired of each other. The fact that they came from rich families

probably attributed to their snobby behavior.

The attitude in the first chapter showed a lot of the ugliness attributed to wealth.

Tom especially showed little and at times no sign of a pleasant attitude while Nick

visited his home. He always found a way to throw in that he was better than Nick, “I’ve

got a nice place here.” and when he blurted out that he had ” never heard of them ”

(the company that Nick was working for) just to make him fell superior to his wife’s

cousin. Very rarely does money bring out the good in people and Tom is probably why.

In this essay, I told about the effects that came from the destructivness of

wealth. Tom felt that because he had $money$, he could treat his wife anyway he

wanted to and it was OK. None of these effects would be accepted in this time without

some action by people, but people back then seemed too afraid to speak up about it.

Over time, I think people have learned to reject this status, but it will be a while before it

is totally gone.