Materialism

Aaron Rodriguez

Watson

American Literature

March 4, 2014

Materialism

H.L Menken believes that idealism is the chief curse of the world and not materialism. His argument is respectable however it is disagreeable. Materialism leads to many more problems in life than idealism. His statement is especially disagreeable in The Great Gatsby.   

  In The Great Gatsby the focus of the characters are on materialism. Due to this lifestyle choice they live an unfulfilling life which leads to death or being miserable. The first character who portrays the materialistic lifestyle is Gatsby. He throws a lot of parties in order to find purpose in his life. He tries to show off all his possessions to complete strangers hoping that he will impress them and want to know him better. He completely fails at this attempt. He creates a community who uses his party to get drunk and have sex but dose not appreciate Gatsby throwing the party and trying to befriend him. Gatsby is also constantly trying to flaunt what he has to Daisy to make her fall in love with him. He does this when he shows her his shirts. This is his attempt to show Daisy what she does not have and she ends up crying. She does not fall in love with Gatsby but feels sorry for herself. Gatsby decides to do this because he thinks Daisy loves someone for their money since she is married to Tom. Gatsby is one materialistic character however he is not the only character who is materialistic.

  Daisy is a character in the book that is also materialistic. She is tricked by the people around her into believing that she should not have opinions and be a fool. When she talks about her daughter she says “And I hope she’ll be a fool that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool” (Fitzgerald 17). Daisy makes this statement hoping that her daughter will have no opinion and be like her. Materialism has caused the women in the book to believe that the only thing women have to offer is their looks. This trumps any ideas they have on important subjects and further trying to better themselves. They then have a stagnant lifestyle of pleasing their successful husbands.  Daisy is one of these people who act this way towards Tom who acts in any way he wishes because he is rich

  Tom is my final example of a materialistic character. His materialistic beliefs cause him to be lustful and cheat on his wife with Myrtle. He does this because he believes that the rules of marriage do not apply to him because he is wealthy. Tom is also judgmental towards Gatsby because of his materialistic beliefs. Tom thinks that Gatsby is a bad person even though he has not strived to get to know Gatsby personally. Jordan says to Tom “if you’re such a snob, why did you invite him to lunch?’ (Fitzgerald 122).  This shows that Tom’s arrogance is flamboyant to the people around him that they begin to question his decisions. All these characters are in the end Gatsby dies, Daisy runs away and Tom kills himself. Their lives could have been very different if they had not let their riches consume them.

  The characters in the book could have had different lives if they had used their money to benefit the world. This could have led to happiness because they would have felt good that they are helping the less fortunate. Their ideal lifestyle would then have become to help others. This is how the wealthy people in the real world live their lives.

     In the real world most rich people live fulfilling lives that help the good of the world. They are trying to make their mark on the world and create a great legacy. They do not wish to show off their possessions to others but show off their accomplishment which is living idealistically and not materialistic. The people who live materialistic are soon forgotten because the public do not know them or know them for bad things and the human race tends to try to forget the bad things that happen in the world. They people who live idealistically try to create a memory which will last through many generations. This has caused the American Dream to shift to idealism. In conclusion materialism is the chief evil while idealism is actually good because different people have different ideals.