Maximilien Forestell

May 6th 2024

Cameron Smith

G Block

How Wealth Changes Characters in the Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald is a book about a man obsessed with a married

woman. But under the surface the book is, in reality, somewhat a representation of how

Fitzgerald saw the decadent culture of the 20’s which he was exposed to once he gained wealth

and fame from his writing career. The 2013 film adaptation of the book by Baz Luhrman

however changes the plot and the way the characters act to make them seem more insane due to

their wealth rather than enabled. Fitzgerald shows carelessness due to wealth by how he writes

characters such as Jay Gatsby, and the Buchanans as well as how they express their emotions.

Analyzing The Great Gatsby through a marxist lens reveals how money and wealth can make

people act carelessly. Luhrmann's film adaptation contrasts this by how the characters are

portrayed as emotionally unstable due to being enabled by their wealth rather than carelessness.

We can see Fitzgerald version of the characters throughout The Great Gatsby, where

many eccentric and wealthy characters are introduced, and one of the common themes with these

characters that Fitzgerald is trying to portray is their carelessness as a result of their wealth. We

can see an example of Fitzgerald's portrayal of the characters as carelessly wealthy in the books

when Gatsby explains why he bought the house across the lake, with Jordan saying “Gatsby

bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.” Gatsby buying a house just to be

near Daisy, even though he's still scared to go up and talk with her face to face demonstrates how

wealth has enabled him to use needlessly complicated methods to be near Daisy when he could
just talk to her. Gatsby is almost shown as acting frivolous with his money, spending it on

needless parties, also in hopes to get him closer to Daisy without ever trying to talk to her.

However we can also see through Daisy's actions in the story that she as well was careless,

flipping between Jay and then back to Tom when she was too stressed out from the situation,

ruining Jay's life in the process. This is specifically highlighted at the end of the book when Nick

comments “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures

and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept

them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” This quote also

demonstrates Tom, and especially Daisy's carelessness in life, which they've been able to be

because of their vast wealth. Both of these quotes serve to represent how wealth can enable

people to make careless decisions in their pursuits which may lead to actual consequences later

on. And throughout these events, Nick is the anchor for the audience, as he is portrayed as a

more stable and level headed character who sees things objectively, this is likely due to the

author Fitzgerald writing Nick as himself, looking into the world of the rich.

With the film however, we can see someone of the opposite approach to the portrayal of

the characters, rather than being shown as careless snobs, they are more represented as all

slightly insane or eccentric based off of the way they act. This is best seen during the sequence

where Tom Confronts Jay over his relationship with his wife Daisy. In the scene the characters

are seen yelling at each other and progressively getting more agitated due to Daisy saying she

doesn't love Tom but did once, with the scene showing the agitation through quick cuts to

characters' close up faces. Because of this, Gatsby begins to go into a panicked crazed state,

which we can see by the stutter in voice, his wide open eyes and through his continued insistence

that Daisy never loved Tom even after Daisy admitted that she did. It’s also seen earlier in the
film during the scene where his obsession with Daisy is revealed. The film portrays these

characters, specifically Gatsby as rash and somewhat insane characters, who get emotional very

easily, which is made worse due to their vast wealth which enables their actions. Another major

change from the book to the film, is Nick Carraway's portrayal. While in the book he is the level

headed narrator, acting as someone looking into the world of the wealthy, the movie sways from

this somewhat. Nick is portrayed as someone who goes crazy after the events of the film, which

we can see in the scene at the start of the film where it is revealed that Nick has become an

alcoholic, which insinuates that the world of the wealthy ruined his mental state. This reinforces

Luhrmann's version of The Great Gatsby and how he portrays wealthy characters as insane.

Overall the movie and book are overall similar, with the only differences being in the way

the characters are portrayed. However this change in character portrayal changes how the reader

views them as well as how they sympathize with them. Both the book and film keep the main

idea that wealth makes people carelessly reckless which sticks with Fitzgerald's original ideas

about the wealth elites culture during the 1920s which is portrayed in the movie and book.