Text-World Connection

            The world revolves around money. The lives of many people revolve around money. Some inherit millions, some become successful with a huge pay check, some are desperately trying to pay the rent of their house. No matter what situation one is in, money is important…and it can change one’s life. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys those who are born rich through the arrogant Tom Buchanan, those who become rich through time and hard work (and cheating) manifest in the character of Jay Gatsby, and those who fall prey to the power and corruption of money in the character of Daisy Buchanan. People like Tom have never known anything other than being surrounded by wealth and privilege, whereas people like Gatsby are “self-made men”. President Andrew Jackson liked to think of himself as thus; he came from poor beginnings, became an American hero in the border wars against the Indians, and eventually landed himself in public office…without any political experience. Similarly, Gatsby became rich over a period of time. Tom could easily be successful if he had been born into the “Southern Aristocracy” of the Old South in America because of incidentally being a racist and never being a victim of poverty.  Daisy, on the other hand, demonstrates the struggles of being a woman during the 1920’s. Women still did not have many rights, and to many, the only way to positively secure their future and the lives of their future children was through maintaining the wealth they were born into by marrying someone else who was rich (in this instance, that would be Tom Buchanan). In many ways, she is probably very similar to the character of Rose in the movie Titanic, who is constantly pressured by her mother to marry into a wealthy family to secure their wealth and position, just as Daisy is most likely pressured to remain affluent. Also like Rose, Daisy falls in love with someone of lesser means (Daisy falls in love with Gatsby; Rose falls in love with Jack). Both Gatsby and Jack tragically die. Yet, unlike Rose, the possibility of losing all that wealth is too terrifying and unpredictable, whereas Rose decides to leave everything she has behind to be with Jack. Displayed through the characters of Tom, Gatsby, and Rose, Fitzgerald highlights the unfortunate dependence of money in the lives of many people during the Roaring 20’s, and how disastrously important it will always be for most.