The book, The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, F. Scott

The 1920s was known as “The Jazz Age” and it was the time were women became “flappers” and where alcohol was illegal and was full with bootlegers.In this book, Fitzgerald, F. Scott warns about how the desire for wealth corrupts the American Dream.The Selfish thoughts and actions of Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatz, and Myrtle Wilson–and the consequences of those actions–convey Fitzgerald’s warning against the blind pursuit of wealth. Daisy’s “American Dream” is corrupted by the desire of wealth because she chooses money over happiness.Evidence that shows this would be is when Nick says, “There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture, and anybody would have said they were conspiring together”(Fitzgerald 145).

This shows how Daisy is willing to leave with Tom and not to be happy with Gatsby but stay wealthy with wealth. Daisy’s American Dream would be staying with Gatsby and leave everything and start new but chooses to go with Tom, representing staying wealthy.Gatsby even pointed it out when he says, “She only married you because i was poor and she was tired of waiting for me.It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me!”(130).Gatsby points out how Daisy married Tom because she was tired of waiting and because Gatsby was poor but Tom was wealthy. Daisy then is drawn to Gatsby’s newly-acquired wealth.Another thing is that Nick starts to see that when Gatsby, Myrtle, and George have all died, Daisy and Tom are the ones who caused their deaths.He says how they aren’t punished for their recklessness.Nick begins to see how Daisy and Tom destroy everything when he says “i couldn’t forgive him or like him but i saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified,It was all very careless and confused.

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made”.Nick talks about how Daisy and Tom destroy things and it does not affect them because they just go back to their money. Gatsby’s American Dream was to get Daisy back but was also corrupted by wealth by Daisy choosing Tom.Gatsby even treats Daisy as a prize to be won. Evidence that shows how Gatsby’s American Dream is winning Daisy back is when Nick says,“I thought of Gatsby wondering when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.He did not know that it was already behind him, someone back in that vast obscurity byond the city,where the dark fields of the republic rolld on under the night”(180).

Nick talks about how he wonders why Gatsby picked Daisy and why he could not move on from her and understand that you can not repeat the past.He also wondered why he tried so hard to get Daisy back.Gatsby also treats Daisy as a prize to be won.Evidence that shows this is when Gatsby says, “Her voice is full of money”(12).Gatsby says that because she is connected with money here.It allows the reader to see Gatsby’s desire for her,wealth,money,and status.Another quote that shows us about this is when Nick talks about how he then realized that Daisy’s voice was full of money when Nick says, “That was it. I’d never understood before.It was full of money-that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it,the cymbal’s song of it…High in a white palace the king’s daughter,the golden girl”(120).Daisy is materialistic and is drawn to Gatsby again due to his newly-acquired wealth, we see Gatsby is drawn to her as well due to the money and status she represents.

Myrtle chases after wealth and status through an affair with Tom because she feels like she deserves more,while George is doing his best to get business.Myrtle begins to say, “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in and never even told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out. She looked around to see who was listening: “’Oh, is that your suit?’ I said. ‘This is the first I ever heard about it.’ But I gave it to him and then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon'(35).This shows that Myrtle loved her husband when they got married,but then gets disappointed by his lack of cash and status.Myrtle then begins to talk about how she met Tom on the train.

She begins by saying “He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. When we came into the station he was next to me and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm–and so I told him I’d have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied.”(36)She sees how Tom is dressed and immediately knows that he is wealthy and is interested in him and his money.Catherine also talks about how she thinks that she should go away from george and be with Tom.Catherine tells Nick, “She really ought to get away from him,They’ve been living over that garage for eleven years.And Tom’s the first sweetie she ever had.”(35).

This shows that Catherine thinks that Myrtle deserves more than George and should be with Tom since he gives her everything she wants. The selfish thoughts and actions of Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby, and Myrtle Wilson–and the consequences of those actions–convey Fitzgerald’s warning against the blind pursuit of wealth.Fitzgerald’s warns us the dangers of money and the desire to be wealthy.He shows us what happened to the people who wanted to be wealthy and how it affects other people around them.