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Ji Yoon Kim (Gloria)

Professor Crum

English 100 +5L

13 December 2018

Materialism and Money and The American Dream

Did the American Dream lose its original meaning of being ‘land full of opportunities’?

Is the American Dream all about money and materialism and not about family and happiness

anymore? Materialism has been part of human’s history for a long time in many forms.

According to the WorldBook, materialism is “the name given to any philosophical view which

asserts that everything that exists is material or physical in nature.” (worldbookonline.com) In

other words, materialism is a way of thinking that material objects are the most important things

in life and money and wealth is above ethics and morality. I believe that this can eventually

destruct people’s lives and the things they possess will start to possess them, instead of them

possessing their materials. Examples of materialism causing chaos can be spotted pretty often

through the chapters in The Great Gatsby, since most characters in the book except Nick desires

for money and wealth. Materialism can be found in both the upper class and lower class.

To begin with, ‘the have-nots’ desires for money and have ambition to do almost

anything to be wealthy. Myrtle Wilson is the typical character in the book that represents the

lower class. She marries George Wilson with no love and gets attracted to Tom because he

looked wealthy when she first met him- “he had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I
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couldn’t keep my eyes off of him.” (Fitzgerald 36) She has an affair with Tom in order to gain

wealth and move to upper class through him. In chapter 2, while Tom, Myrtle and Nick head to

their apartment in New York, Myrtle nags Tom to get him a dog even though she does not have

actual love for it. She just wants the dog because “they’re nice to have” (27) and uses the dog to

pretend that she is wealthier than she actually is during the party. Even though it may seem like

Tom loves Myrtle deeply and his relationship with Daisy seems comparatively weak, he punches

Myrtle and breaks her nose when she shouts Daisy’s name during their fight. I believe that this

shows how even though Myrtle thinks of herself as being in the upper class and is wealthier than

people in lower class, there is an invisible line that divides them with the upper class and it is

almost impossible to cross that line. In fact, according to an article from the Literature Resource

Center, even with Myrtle’s struggle and efforts to reach the territory of the upper class, her status

is revealed whenever she plans or attempts to buy something. She has no experience with

spending money like ‘the haves’ and their consumption. (http://link.galegroup.com) For instance,

even after she gets punched by Tom, Myrtle tries to protect her ‘wealth’ by spreading a copy of

magazines to protect her “tapestry scenes of Versailles.” (37) while “bleeding fluently”, which is

something for example, Daisy would not have done.

Secondly, characters from the world of ‘the haves’ like Tom, Daisy and Gatsby also still

desire for more wealth and obsess on money even with the wealth that they already possess. For

them, money is not the means to maintain their life, but it is the main purpose of it. They live in

luxury and enjoy their extravagant spending. However, for the first few chapters, I did not think

that Gatsby is materialistic and thought that he is different from the other high-class people like

Tom and Daisy who were born into wealth. However, as I read more through the chapters, I

started wondering why Gatsby is only trying to get Daisy back with money, for example by
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throwing a big party to get her to come or by showing off his wealth on the day they reunited by

giving a tour of his castle-like house. According to this article from the Journal of Modern

Literature (Project MUSE), the author examines how Gatsby reconstructed his past in order to

win Daisy back by leaving his own family, changing his name and living as a complete new

person. The author suggests that Gatsby’s symbolic transformation from James Gatz to Jay

Gatsby already showed his desire for wealth before he even reunites back with Daisy. Moreover,

in chapter 3 people attend Gatsby’s parties because they are big and fancy. They have never met

or talked to Gatsby but they spread rumors about him even while they attend the party.

Even though The Great Gatsby was written in the 1950s, nothing has really changed

since then. To be honest, I believe that materialism is still a controversial issue in our society that

is getting worse with time. A personal concept I had of the “American Dream” was about

chasing one’s dreams and happiness- like supporting their family and seizing opportunities,

getting a decent job and being successful. However, now it seems like it is all about what comes

after they achieve the American Dream. Materialistic people obsess on things they necessarily do

not really need, like getting the newest iPhone or a Gucci bag whenever it comes out.

Materialism has turned this society and people into obsessing about wealth and goods- and

nothing is more important to them. I believe that the materialism in today’s society of doing

anything, even immoral things to be wealthy will eventually bring a chaos to the society and

destroy our lives.

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Works Cited

Brown, Kirk, et al. “Materialism, Spending, and Affect: An Event-Sampling Study of

Marketplace Behavior and Its Affective Costs.” Journal of Happiness Studies, vol. 17, no.

6, Dec. 2016, pp. 2277–2292. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10902-015-9694-9.

Donaldson, Scott. "Possessions in The Great Gatsby." The Southern Review, vol. 37, no.

2,2001, p. 187. Literature Resource Center,

http://link.galegroup.com.cerritoscoll.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/A75021744/GLS?u=cerritos

&sid=GLS&xid=649645d3. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.

Meehan, Adam. "Repetition, Race, and Desire in The Great Gatsby." Journal of Modern

Literature, vol. 37 no. 2, 2014, pp. 76-91. Project MUSE,

muse.jhu.edu/article/542175.Accessed 3 December 2018.

Mohanty, Kalpana I. "Green For Go." India Currents, vol. 27, no. 4, 07, 2013, pp. 20.

ProQuest, https://cerritoscoll.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.cerritoscoll.idm.oclc.org/docview/1409207548?accountid=454. Accessed 3

December 2018.

Soll, Ivan. "Materialism." World Book Student, World Book, 2018,

www.worldbookonline.com/student-new/#/article/home/ar348880. Accessed 9 Dec.