Great Gatsby

A major theme in The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was that wealth is power and wealth and power corrupt because Gatsby got his money illegitimately just so he could be wealthy, characters in this book only cared about people if they had something to offer them, and people would do almost anything to get ahead socially.

Throughout the book, there were many hints that Gatsby's business wasn't totally legitimate. When Gatsby and Nick were talking about Daisy, Gatsby says, "Her voice is full of money" (Fitzgerald 127). Gatsby's main goal was to win over Daisy, not because he loved her, but because she represented the lifestyle that he wanted. The reason that Gatsby got involved with corrupted business is because he wanted to have Daisy. Also, when Nick was talking about the beginning of "Jay Gatsby" he said, "The truth was that Jay Gatsby sprang from his platonic conception of himself"(104). James Gatz invented Jay Gatsby to be a powerful person because he wanted people to envy him and his lifestyle. He knew that "James Gatz" wasn't good enough, in order to get respect he had to be something he wasn't.

The characters in this book only cared about people when they could use them or take something from them. During Gatsby's funeral, Nick observed, "The minister glanced several times at his watch so I took him aside and asked him to wait for half an hour. But it wasn't any use. Nobody came" (182). Before Gatsby died, people used to come to his house by the hundreds, and after he died, they couldn't even show him the respect that everyone deserves. Everyone was friends with him when he was alive, and throwing parties, but once he died they acted as if he never existed. His own "true love", Daisy, could not even show enough decency to pay her respects. When Nick is talking about Tom and Daisy, he says, "They were careless