featured image: Johnny McKenna on Unsplash
Money is one of the most sought-after things in the world. When asked if they could have anything in the world, one of the most popular answers will probably be money or wealth. The country’s economy runs on capitalism. As an American, it is imperative to have money or there really is no way to live here. People have to pay bills for all sorts of services, buy necessities like groceries, and pay for housing or rent among other expenses. The society is oriented around the work environment because everyone is supposed to enter the workforce. People go to college to get degrees that will allow them to get better jobs. These jobs then allow them to make money and contribute further to the economy of the country. It is a neverending cycle. The money only truly enables the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer as the distribution of wealth does not change much. There is an attitude that people can improve themselves and advance to another class but it becomes harder and harder for this to be a reality. At least, that is the plight of the modern American.
Wealth in the 1920s was much more scarce but the situation was not much different. The wealthy elites kept their wealth and the lower classes had to work constantly to live. In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway is seen as someone who lives adjacent to wealth. His neighbor is Jay Gatsby who is known for the extraordinary parties and the fabulous mansion. His cousin is Daisy Buchanan known for her generational wealth and her husband Tom has just as much if not more wealth. Money shows up throughout the book, especially in the case of showing the divide between the ideas of where wealth comes from. In modern terms, people use the words old money and new money. In the book, the terms of divide are West Egg and East Egg. Nick lives in West Egg with Gatsby and they are new money. Tom and Daisy live in East Egg and are old money. There are also characters like Jordan, Myrtle, and Meyer Wolfsheim who do not seem to live on either side.
In case the amount of money they have does not seem like a lot, I will say one thing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one dollar in 1922 money is worth $18.17 in today’s money. So the wealth that the East Egg people have is far greater than it seems. If Tom and Daisy made the median wage in the US currently, they would still have $1,354,911.19 because the median income in the US last year according to the US Census was $74,580. This salary is of course calculated from inflation.
So the amount of wealth they have cannot be understated or underestimated. Just think about the items and statements that various characters made regarding money. For example:
“They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.” (Chapter 1)
“His family were enormously wealthy—even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach” (Chapter 1)
“On weekends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.” (Chapter 3)
“And it was from Cody that he inherited money—a legacy of twenty-five thousand dollars.” (Chapter 6)
” I don’t mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities—he had no comfortable family standing behind him, and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world.” (Chapter 8)'” I don’t mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities—he had no comfortable family standing behind him, and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world.” (Chapter 8)
All these quotes demonstrate the significance of wealth in the book whether through outright explanations of money or the backgrounds of the characters. Wealth permeates the setting and attitude of the book and enhances the meaning of the book.
A song that displays this idea well is Money by Lisa of Blackpink which conveys the meaning of throwing out money. Not necessarily for the same reasons as the people in the book are throwing out money. The lyric, “I came here to drop somе money, droppin’ all my money” (Genius Lyrics) represents the singer throwing away her money just because she has so much of it. Gatsby does this through his parties. However, it is ultimately revealed that he throws the parties for Daisy. Tom and Daisy are incredibly wealthy but they do not waste their money extravagantly in the same way. But their money is still a form of protection for them.
Ultimately, money is a temptation that becomes a vice. The Great Gatsby demonstrates this and secular culture today demonstrates this. Wealth represents a lot of things and not all of them are good. Wealth corrupts.
