Mo Money, Mo Problems is especially true in the case of lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare, just as can be seen in The Great Gatsby’s story of Jay Gatsby. Both figures found themselves within a sudden abundance of “new money,” with Shakespeare’s being from the American lottery, and Gatsby’s being from illicit bootlegging. Both men arguably found themselves in merely parallel situations, especially made discernible by the involvement of antagonistic women.
In 2010, three years after Shakespeare’s $17 million full lottery payout, his body was discovered by investigators with two bullet wounds in the chest behind a Plant City home owned by Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore. Moore was found to have become acquainted with Shakespeare a year after his payout, in which he had already given away or loaned a majority of his winnings. Eventually, Moore had come to obtain authority over what remained of Shakespeare’s money, then promptly murdered him after he had grown suspicious due to his sudden loss of control over his own funds. Throughout Moore’s court trial, Circuit Judge Emmett Lamar Battles, accredited her with the descriptions of “the most manipulative person,” “cold,” “calculated,” and “cruel” (White). I find that within this case, many parallels can be drawn to the situation regarding Gatsby and Daisy, without any regard to the fact that Moore received the justice that Daisy additionally deserved herself.
Furthermore, Daisy herself could also be found synonymous with the same descriptions given to Moore by Judge Battles. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Daisy found herself infatuated with Gatsby’s new wealth rather than his own human individuality. She was responsible for the vehicular manslaughter that sparked a domino effect leading to Gatsby’s death, and then promptly disappeared after the fact. She cried over Gatsby’s beautiful shirts yet couldn’t shed a tear for his wrongful murder. Daisy allowed Gatsby to further develop his love for her, which was fallaciously reciprocated in his eyes, whereas she truly only cared for his prosperity. She manipulated him into thinking she loved him when in actuality, she only loved his money. Unlike Moore, however, Daisy was allowed to flee the scene and suffer no repercussions for any of her actions.
Alike Shakespeare, Gatsby’s body was also discovered to be lifeless due to a gunshot wound. Both men’s riches led to them living fallacious realities, inviting manipulative women into their lives who would ultimately be the reasons they no longer lived. The parallels in their situations show definitively that having more money can, will, and does lead to more problems (and in their cases, fate).
White, Gary. “Woman Convicted of Killing Lakeland Lottery Winner Abraham Shakespeare Seeks New Trial.” The Ledger, The Ledger, 13 July 2023, www.theledger.com/story/news/local/2023/07/13/woman-convicted-of-killing-lottery-winner-abraham-shakespeare-seeks-new-trial/70409263007/.