The Great Gatsby Essay on Emptiness of Humanity

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, takes place in New York City in the 1920’s. There are two suburbs known as the West Egg that was full of people who were new to their wealth, and the East Egg where people were born into privilege. The author writes about a man named Gatsby, who is a materialistic and conceited millionaire and lives in the West Egg. F. Scott Fitzgerald stresses that there is an emptiness of the upper class by using the characters and setting. Throughout the entire book he uses the color green to portray wealth. 

Money is something most people do not come across easily and they have to work hard for it. Gatsby always tries to find new or better ways to win over Daisy’s love, but Nick was looking for Daisy to bring her a cup of lemons and flowers. “The flowers were unnecessary, for at two o’clock a greenhouse arrived from Gatsby’s, with innumerable receptacles to contain it” (Fitzgerald 90). This quote shows that Nick puts a lot of thought into his gift for Daisy as he bought her lemons, while Gatsby only cares about what will make him look good.

Another example of Gatsby’s lack of appreciation for material things is when Gatsby threw all of his shirts out in front of Daisy like it is nothing to her. “While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher—shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue” (Fitzgerald 99). Daisy is overwhelmed by the way Gatsby nonchalantly threw around his clothes like it is does not mean anything to him. This quote suggests that Gatsby takes his money for granted and does not truly appreciate what he has.  

If money is the thing that can buy your happiness you will never appreciate your gifts if you do not learn to value your money. Although Gatsby was not born into his money he never understood how lucky he truly was. “It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants, but it was already Jay Gatsby who  borrowed a row-boat, pulled out to the TUOLOMEE and informed Cody that a wind might catch him and break him up in half an hour” (Fitzgerald 105).

This quote highlights that Gatsby did not really take pride in his clothes or care if he ruins his clothes, he knew he had plenty more so if these items got torn up; it would not be the end of the world. Later on in the story we find out that Gatsby drives a Rolls-Royce with the top features in it. “He felt the hot, green leather of the seat” (Fitzgerald 128). The author uses this quote to point out how Gatsby has sunk his money into this car when he could have spent his money on plenty of other things. Gatsby may have all of the materialistic things he might want, but none of his objects will buy Daisy's love. 

I believe the author did an excellent job portraying how you can buy the whole world and still never be satisfied with what you have. If you do not appreciate your money and work for it, you will always feel empty. This is a significant topic and is relevant even today. People back then and now have always been obsessed with money and how others will see them. However, if we do not take a step back to realize how we got to the point we are at, and how we should value our money, we will always feel empty. You can buy all the items in the world, but you can not buy love.