Money is said to be the root of all evil, and simultaneously, a great escape from the consequences following the villainous acts committed by one who has been corrupted by wealth. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, Greed plays a major role in the way many of the characters act towards one another. Greed is a mentality that can never be satisfied and almost always leads to suffering instead of the gratification that some individuals expect to receive from hoarding as much money as possible. In the beginning, readers are almost blind to the fact that wealth can, and will, later in the book, destroy someone’s life. However, as the book continues readers slowly open their eyes and see that money is beginning to deteriorate relationships rather than ameliorating them. The effects of greed will never be valuable no matter where a person is in life; this lesson helps to shape the plot of The Great Gatsby.
Money and materialism seemed to be a couple of the most obvious reasons for the characters to spark conflict, especially considering all of the characters have been rich for the majority of their lives. Daisy, for example, was more in love with money and valuable objects than any human being; she wanted to stand out in the crowd. The way Gatsby and Nick talk about her voice says it all: “Her voice is full of money… That was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it…. High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl….” (Fitzgerald, 120). What daisy and some people would call “love” was more like greed, and she didn’t care at all about how someone felt, as long as she had money, she had an escape route from whatever emotional, financial, or legal problems that stood in her way. In Daisy’s case, as well as Tom’s, her morals did not seem to matter because she a strong defense, otherwise known as wealth, property, and class. As stated by Nick, “…[She] smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into [her] money or [her] vast carelessness…” (179). Daisy used her money as not only a source of class and entertainment, but also a hiding place.
On a similar note, tension can be and has been built up by more than just selfish tendencies. Suspicion and hatred are also prominent factors leading up to conflict. As Gatsby grew closer and closer to Daisy, Tom became suspicious and later learned about the affair the two were having. “[Daisy] had told [Gatsby] that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as some one he knew a long time ago” (119). As Tom realized what was going on, his hatred for Gatsby grew stronger and stronger until he eventually reached his breaking point. The conflict that was sparked in that very line is the beginning of Gatsby’s prolonged demise and the start of Tom’s redemption.
Given these points, the characters’ consequences created by these antagonisms are completely opposite to what most readers want to happen. For instance, Daisy and Tom, the most greedy and inimical characters in the book, get away with not a single charge or scratch on their arm, however, Gatsby, the one man every reader wanted to see succeed, was left floating lifeless in his own pool. The prices that were paid for the way the characters acted towards each other ended with the protagonist in his own blood and with the snobby ones running off, never to be seen again, which may lead to a question: If greed and hatred are such bad deeds and only bring negativity to life, then why did Daisy and Tom get to roam free? What some people fail to realize, however, is that because of Tom and Daisy’s greed, their lives have never been, and never will be, satisfactory and enjoyable; they already live in misery. Daisy could have been cared for and loved by a man who has thought of her all his life, instead she was bought, like an object up for auction, by Tom with a pearl necklace and all of his old money. “…the day before the wedding he gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars” (76). These two will never know what contentment feels like nor will they ever take a breath and realize that money and class are not necessarily what leads to happiness.
To put briefly, greed, hatred, class, and snobbery will always lead to a dreadful ending. These sources of tension shape the book as a whole from start to finish by creating a storyline based upon wealth and the American dream. Greed especially coincides with the American dream in The Great Gatsby because both the American dream, and what the characters see as financial prosperity, cannot be accomplished. Each character wants to achieve a goal or goals in the book, and yet, not a single one completely reaches their objective, or in this case, American dream. As the novel shows, a greedy person can never achieve their goals because they will never be satisfied with “enough”.
