J.T.

Kench

5/6/24

Smith

English F-Block

Spiritual vs Monetary wealth in the Great Gatsby

In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, and the subsequent film that followed

much later, the tale of love goes much deeper than it seems and can serve to symbolize

the inferiority of wealth versus having non-monetary spiritual value. Examples of this

can be seen throughout the early and late stages of the story between Daisy’s fight

against the inferior status of women at the time, and Tom and Gatsby’s shared pursuit of

Daisy. During these quests, money, in terms of importance, takes a backseat as the

interpersonal struggles in the story make it so having crazy fortune does not seem to be

emotionally fulfilling to any of the wealthy people described. Ultimately, Fitzgerald

prioritizes spiritual wealth over monetary wealth in the novel; the film amplifies this by

the film’s visual effects showing Daisy and Gatsby’s emotions in real time and adding

additional dialogue between him and Tom, proving happiness is more than just money.

In the very first chapter of the book and the film, we come to see Daisy’s

discontent with her situation, that being her relationship with Tom, despite having all the

riches that money can buy. Upon Nick's visit to the Buchanan residence, he finds that

Daisy is quite distraught with her current circumstances and her relationship with Tom,

and how he is constantly cheating on her with a woman from New York. Talking to Nick,

she says… “Well, I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical about

every­thing.” (Fitzgerald 16). The lavish lifestyle of the Buchanan family isn’t enough to
be fulfilling to Daisy, she wanted to be loved, which she didn’t feel as though she was,

due to Tom running off and cheating on her all the time, which was quite reflective of the

gender double standards of the time. Additionally, she remarked about Tom’s absence

during the birth of their daughter. Later continuing on in the conversation about her

daughter, Pammy, she said to him… “ ‘I'm glad {Pammy} is a girl. And I hope she’ll be a

fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.’ ”(Fitzgerald

16). This brings to light another aspect of the novel, which highlights the struggles

women were facing during the time regarding equality. Living in wealth was not enough

for a woman of Daisy’s status, she and many other women wanted control over their

own lives which is well depicted in the book and the film.

One aspect of Gatsby’s and the characters of other rich people is how their

character and status is not solely defined by their wealth, but by their important

characteristics and personal relationships with others. Such can be clearly seen in the

“Fit of Rage” scene, when arguing with Tom Buchanan for Daisy’s love, Gatsby says to

Tom, “The only respectable thing about you is your money, and I have just as much”.

This exacerbates the fact that each character's spiritual wealth is not defined by the

amount of money they have, but the other emotional treasures they have, such as

Daisy. This scene also includes Gatsby’s actual explosion of anger, which is triggered

by Tom when he says the following to Gatsby as a response: “We are all different...I am,

they are, she is”. The reason why this is significant is because it shows how, although

money is commonplace between the two, they see themselves as nothing alike. Of

course Daisy rather obviously wouldn’t want to be with a poor man, but the fight for her

love draws out the flaws and strengths in each one of their characters, breaking from
sole monetary wealth. Daisy’s emotions were better portrayed by the movie as we see

her grief and responses in real time, as the entire situation is going on. Both men put

their wealthy persona aside, and have a battle of strong character, proving what is really

of the utmost importance for Daisy.

Fitzgerald’s work could be seen as a masterpiece from its ability to utilize

emotions to its advantage to portray deeper messages than what they seem on the

outside. Of course, words can only go so far, and in the film, they can portray actual

emotions and feelings more accurately and leaving less room for interpretation. The

main thing this applies to is the sadness that sets upon every main character in the

book by the end of the novel, involving broken hearts and broken spirits. It becomes

prevalent that this spirit is all that actually matters to them, as their lavish lifestyles leave

much to be desired in the realm of actual personal fulfillment. The scripting in the book

coupled with the real imagery of the film allows for a greater understanding of what

actually matters to those in the film, that being love, and not money.

Skill N Foundational Proficient Advanced

Y

Thesis Establishes *previous and *previous and

a basic Indicates the Effectively & clearly
claim relationship conveys the
Mentions between texts relationship between
both texts Claim is a texts & and the
Specifically reasonable message or
mentions or interpretation interpretation that
alludes to a and moves can be determined
critical lens beyond Clearly developed
summary throughout essay
Developed
throughout
essay
Claims Makes a *Previous (and) *Previous (and)
statement Somewhat Considers the thesis
that requires considers the of the paper
evidence to thesis Effective use of
support Somewhat transition
developed words/phrases
through Clearly developed
paragraph through paragraph

Evidence Includes *previous and *previous and

evidence Includes multiple Includes a variety of
from both pieces of specific, meaningful,
texts (either evidence/ and well-chosen
quotes or examples that evidence that relates
examples) clearly relate to to the thesis
Most the thesis,
evidence individual claims,
relates to and critical lens
lens Includes multiple
pieces of
evidence in each
body paragraph

Analysis Somewhat Explains how Explains

explains evidence well-selected points
how supports topic of comparison
evidence sentence of among evidence
supports individual and their connection
topic paragraphs to the thesis
sentence Explains how
and thesis evidence
supports the
thesis of the
essay
Some use of film
specific
vocabulary

MLA Some elements missing No errors in MLA format

or some errors in MLA
format

Conventio Shows Most quotes are All quotes are

ns evidence of correctly correctly integrated
basic integrated Shows evidence of
proofreadin Follows essay careful proofreading
g organization
 Shows evidence
of proofreading

Fluency Simple use Demonstrates Strong use of of

of use of grade vocabulary, diction,
vocabulary level vocabulary, sentence structures
Simple diction, sentence
sentence structures
structures Accurate use of
text specific
vocabulary