F. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby - 1367 Words

Money, commonly associated with happiness and success, is deceiving because it doesn t necessarily breed enjoyment at all. Lorraine Hansberry s A Raisin in the Sun and F. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby examine the difference between wealth and appreciation of life. Lorraine Hansberry explains this with Walter, a negro father in a poor family who seeks more money than is realistic to bring happiness into the family. Fitzgerald uses the character Jay Gatsby to show that wealth doesn t imply success or happiness. Both characters occupy strikingly different roles in their stories, yet decently portray money s impact on life. In The Great Gatsby and Raisin in the Sun, wealth is made to seem as the key to happiness, but, in essence,†¦show more content†¦Additionally, near the end of Gatsby s experience, the narrator notes after hoping for a call from Daisy that No telephone message arrived...I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn t believe it would come, and perhaps he no lo nger cared (Fitzgerald pg. 161) Before his death, Gatsby realizes his loneliness, and the readers realize that all the wealth he had has no impact on his happiness later on. Additionally, at his grand parties, Gatsby was never seen by the attendees . This suggests Gatsby permitted anyone to come to help him not feel alone. However, it was only that opposite at Gatsby s eventual funeral in which only three people attended. The funeral is an excellent representation of Gatsby s loneliness all along. Diane Telgen in her examination of The Great Gatsby mentions Nick characterizes himself as someone who understands Gatsby better, who wants to set the record straight, and who sides with Gatsby against the world that made him up and then deserted him (Telgen 79). The desertion she touches on refers to the funeral s attendance and how the party s attendees left Gatsby, and how Nick, the narrator, was essentially the only person to want to get to know the man. What Gatsby sought was essentia lly out of reach; he had spent time acquiring money in illegal ways to try stealing the girl of his dreams, but in the process ruined his social life. His focus on money and his love was so