A Literary Analysis

of The Great Gatsby

By Axel Llamas
Effects of Wealth in The Great Gatsby
Daisy married Tom Buchanan because of his money but she had fallen in
love with Jay Gatsby previously. Gatsby then becomes successful and rich to
impress Daisy and to hopefully win her love back. He is delusional and too
attached to the past but his intentions are clearly shown as an effort to
attract Daisy. The novel portrays the idea of wealth and the effect it has on
people regarding social class, power, and their choices.
 “Their house was even more elaborate than I
expected, a cheerful red−and−white Georgian
Fitzgerald Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay.”
(Fitzgerald 6)
emphasizes color When Tom and Daisy’s house is introduced, it
motif throughout is balanced between red and white and it is
elegant. The colors represent the characters.
the novel, Daisy is pure and beauty, white, and Tom is
violent and short-tempered, red. The
introduced at the extravagant house represents their wealth
and how it has provided balance in their life.
start of the novel A root to their marriage. Despite all this, Tom
decides to cheat regardless.
 “Making a short deft movement, Tom
Buchanan broke her nose with his open
hand.” (Fitzgerald 37)
Fitzgerald’s Tom had struck Myrtle after she repeatedly
characterization of called Daisy’s name. He didn’t flinch or
second-guess himself. He just hit her.
Tom as a violent, ill- Wealth causes him to believe he is a
powerful man and that his actions would not
tempered man affect him later in his life. His choices are
corrupted and it fuels his social dominance
because of his social class as well.
 “ He came down with a hundred people in
four private cars, and hired a whole floor of
the Seelbach Hotel, and the day before the
wedding he gave her a string of pearls valued
at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.“

Fitzgerald provides (Fitzgerald 75-76)

Tom is rich and it is the reason that Daisy

scenic examples of had chosen to marry him. Fitzgerald
describes how Tom uses his money to entice
imagery Daisy with a scene of extravagant luxury.
Daisy loves Gatsby but she is at bay with
Tom due to his riches. Tom believes that his
wealth is power and that it entitles him to do
what he wishes.
 “A week after I left Santa Barbara, Tom ran
into a wagon on the ventura road one night,
and ripped a front wheel off his car. The girl
who he was with got into the papers, too,
because her arm was broken. She was one of
the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara

Fitzgerald’s use of Hotel” (Fitzgerald 77)

the repetition of Adultery was introduced in Chapter 2 when

Tom introduces Nick to Myrtle. Only Tom is

adultery actively cheating in the novel. Daisy married

him because of wealth and even then he
didn’t value their commitment. Tom is rich
and, because of this, believes that he can do
anything without consequence. Myrtle is
present throughout the entire novel. Wealth
corrupts his morality.
 “"Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy
would be just across the bay." (Fitzgerald 78)

Gatsby fell in love with Daisy when he was

poor and without a path to success. He

Fitzgerald believed she was attracted to those of a

higher social class so he worked hard to

expresses the motif make sure that he was wealthy. He used his
wealth to purchase the house and be closer
of Gatsby’s wealth to Daisy so that maybe one day she’d go and
fall in love once more. He has good
intentions and uses his wealth to express
himself.
 “I think he half expected her to wander into
one of his parties, some night," (Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald 79)

insinuates the Gatsby had extravagant parties to see if

maybe one day Daisy would wander in and
characterization of he will be reunited with her. He uses his
wealth to throw parties in hope that he will
Gatsby as a reclaim a lost love. He expresses his feelings
towards Daisy before anyone knows that he
wandering man loves her. His intentions are clear to him and
are developed throughout the novel while
with little hope developing the reader’s view of the
character’s motives.
 “She only married you because I was poor
and she was tired of waiting for me. ”
(Fitzgerald 130)

Fitzgerald Throughout the novel, Gatsby is using his

riches to try and gain the love of Daisy back
progresses the after the 5 years they spent apart. He uses
wealth as a motivator, as he indicates that
characterization of Daisy didn’t wait for him because of his lack
of wealth. Tom, however, is was and
Gatsby continues to be wealthy which traps Daisy
and he uses it to his advantage to keep her
by his side regardless of what she felt for
Gatsby.
 “She vanished into her rich house, into her
rich, full life, leaving Gatsby nothing. He felt

Fitzgerald uses the married to her, that was all.” (Fitzgerald 149)

setting and Gatsby started out poor and fell in love with
Daisy, but he then believed that riches were

repetition to the only way to gain Daisy’s heart back. This

shows a delusion in which wealth is used as
emphasize wealth a medium to show good intentions in a
wrong way. He wants her to love him again
but he is relying on wealth.
Wealth could either corrupt
people’s choices or give them a
medium to express themselves
A Final Word...
The Great Gatsby is a fundamental book of American Literature that
stimulates the reader’s development of the understanding of author’s
choices and the theme of the novel, which could be easily overlooked
without critical thinking. F. Scott Fitzgerald expertly hides themes within
The Great Gatsby which require the reader to think more critically. This
novel pushed my thinking and it helped me understand how to identify
themes of a novel that are supported through text evidence.