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In the modern context, the concept of ‘old’ and ‘new’ money is difficult for an average reader to understand. With a massive influx into the ranks of the hyper-rich by those who have gained their wealth through means like the Internet, values and perceptions of these concepts have drastically changed. Today’s culture among developed nations romanticizes the concept of a ‘rags-to-riches’ story, a self-made person who makes their own fortune through hard work and entrepreneurial efforts.
In the environment of the American
In the 1920s, however, this was not the situation at all. It was a coarse and crude method to build one’s own fortune; the only wealth valued was the money that sailed its way across the Atlantic! In the economically prospering New York, you either didn’t have it, you had it, or you had it far before anyone else. This world was the world F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in while creating his initially unsuccessful novel, The Great Gatsby.
In the story Fitzgerald created while under these influences, the divide between old and new money isn’t just a conceptual difference, it’s a tangible one. The elite of the wealthy, or the ‘Old Money’, (people such as Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s affixation) live in the neighborhood of East Egg, while the nouveau riche (those perceived as lacking in good taste and ostentatious because of their newly acquired wealth), including the titular character, have settled West Egg. These two eggs are pretty much identical to the casual observer, yet to a ‘sophisticated’ eye the differences are painfully obvious.
The gaping social chasm between Gatsby and Daisy has impeded their relationship from its very beginning. Gatsby doggedly made his fortune with one goal in mind; winning Daisy. With a lot of work, scrupulous and unscrupulous, the name Jay Gatsby becomes staggeringly wealthy, with parties, clothes, and a mansion to prove it. The only problem? What would you do if the love of your life and the inspiration for all of this had gone off and married Tom Buchanan? It seems all of your work has gone to nothing, and there was no point in all of this!
Fitzgerald’s novel is seen from many points of view as a socio-economic commentary and sees The Great Gatsby as a cautionary tale about the pursuit of wealth. Their interpretation of this as an allegory about the dangers of wealth-seeking is supported, in their perspective, by arguably the most famous quote from the text; “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther”. The green light, they say, is a representation of money, and the futility of its pursuance is highlighted by the quote. Someone will always be wealthier than you, the race will never yield a winner.
This point of view does have its flaws though. For example, if I was to entertain the situation where The Great Gatsby was merely an allegory, I would have to assume a few things to be true. To name these things, Gatsby would have to be a mercenary, only focused on money, and Daisy would have to be a symbol of what he could achieve with his wealth. I would, taking these things into judgment, have to ask a simple question. Why does Nick like Gatsby so much? He tells Gatsby many things to do with this, such as “You’re worth the whole damn bunch of them put together”, despite his own proclamation that he ‘thoroughly disapproved’ Gatsby’s way of life. If Nick’s judgment is something I should believe, and I believe that he is as honest as he claims to be in the very first chapter of the book, his to-the-end loyalty (Proven by his attendance at his funeral) to Gatsby must truly be worth something.
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