Great Gatsby Essay
Content
Ivy Chau
Blk 2
4-16-15
None of the Money
The rich seem impenetrable, as if their money and class gave them another set of confidence,
superiority, and perfection. Tom and Daisy are rich people who seem to have everything: the
wealth, the status, and the perfect life. However, in reality, all they have is their money and
nothing more.
To begin with, people who live in East Egg have a high status in society and the old
money to live there. Nick notices this as he describes the East and the West Egg, from his house.
“I live in West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two… Across the courtesy of the bay
the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water.” (5) Nick feels embarrassed
with where he is living as he calls West Egg less fashionable than East Egg, showing that the
East does have an upper hand at superiority or being upper class, than the West. He describes the
East as a place that’s fashionable with white palaces and the glittering on the water, this can be
shown that Nick believes the East to be from a different world than of the West or of normal
people. This world can be portrayed as beautiful or even to the extent of perfect.
No matter how beautiful or perfect a world or dream is, there is always a truth behind
that veil and this is shown, when Nick mentions Tom’s and Daisy’s house. “Their house was
even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion …
The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with the reflected gold and
wide open to the warm windy afternoon.” (6)
A house is where the owner or person living there feels comfortable, safe, and secure.
However, a house can also tell others what the other person is like and their secrets in subtle
ways. First, Tom’s and Daisy’s house is detailed more than what Nick could have thought of
from his house. Not only this, but the windows were wide open, this shows that their secrets or
private information is not disclosed but actually known by everyone. By everyone, this excludes
Nick and so he feels like an outsider to the secrets that he is supposed to know but does not.
However, Nick an outsider was told of secrets that were private. “‘You mean you don’t know?’
said Miss Baker, honestly surprised. ‘ I thought everybody knew.’ ” (15)
The fact that having the house is cheerful with its white and red is another symbolism, as
white mostly stands for purity, new beginnings, unity, but it also represents emptiness and red is
more of a sign of danger, aggressiveness, violence yet it also means happiness.
“Why they came east I don’t know. They had spent a year in France, for no particular
reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully …. This was a permanent move, said Daisy
over the telephone, but I didn’t believe it—I had no sight into Daisy’s heart but I felt that Tom
would drift on forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable
football game.” (6)
Daisy and Tom are like the representation of the colors white and red, together they went from
place to place. Together, they have no place to go back too; they have no home, even though
physically, they have a house where they can call home. “The only completely stationary object
in the room was an enormous couch.” (8) This shows that in their huge house, Tom and Daisy
only have one (show) object that is grounded, when they could have more than just a couch to
ground them. The both of them, truly are wondering around as Tom is restless and Daisy is
willing to go along with it as she believes for a girl in this world the best thing it would be is “a
beautiful little fool”. “I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a
beautiful little fool.” (17) Daisy believes the best way for her to deal with Tom’s affair is to turn a
blind eye and pretend it’s not happening, but at the same times, there’s an emptiness within her
that is only shown when she stops talking and it is revealed. “The instant her voice broke off,
ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It
made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a
contributory emotion from me. I waited, and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an
absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished
secret society to which she and Tom belonged.” (17) Although, Nick cannot see through Daisy
but he believes her in and agrees with what she says, till she stops and there’s this pause. The
pause is what makes Nick doubt her and what she says, that there is this emptiness in her pause
that’s only filled in with her voice. This implies, that Daisy isn’t justt a beautiful fool as she
portrays and is just simply finding another way to deal with her problems.
As Daisy finds ways to deal with Tom’s cheating, Tom on the other hand, finds a way to deal
with his restlessness and his inability to settle down. Tom is the danger and aggressiveness in the
relationship, yet Daisy is content with staying with Tom, to the point where she wants to have
happiness with him. Daisy is the white, the emptiness, yet the hoping for a new beginning.
Tom is the red, the violence/danger; he hasn’t been able to settled down from his twenties
or highest peak. To him getting the money to feeling that highest peak again would be easy, but
it would be hard to experience it again. “A national figure in a way, one of those men who reach
such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax…
Even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach.” (6)
Due to the fact, that now being married and not having the same highest peak in his
twenties or that same experience, Tom cheats to have that thrill again. The best outlet that Tom
thinks is cheating, as he is not completely responsible to the other party and can always toss the
other person aside. However, the cheating is a secret that is breaking up the relationship and
Daisy’s belief in starting over again. “The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook
her head decisively at Tom the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air.
Among the broken fragments of the last five minutes at table...” (15) The broken fragments,
Daisy mentions are like the fragments that Tom missed in Daisy’s life and his child’s, such as the
birth of his daughter, “She was less than an hour old, and Tom was God knows where” (16 -17).
All of this is unfolding before Nick and he feels awkward or uncomfortable in the
situation that is played out before him, but at the same time curious as he does listen to Jordan
Baker and the gossip about Tom’s affair, “‘Is something happening?’ I inquired innocently. ‘You
mean to say you don’t know?…. ‘I don’t.’ ‘Why——’ she said hesitantly, ‘Tom’s got some
woman in New York.’ ‘Got some woman?’ I repeated blankly.” (14-15) Although, he appears
innocent, Nick does not completely say that he doesn’t want to hear about the affair showing his
interests in the (lives of) rich in East egg.
At the same time, he feels interested and curious, Nick also feels disgusted by the East
Egg (more specifically Tom and Daisy). “Nevertheless, I was confused and a little disgusted as I
drove away. It seemed to me that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of the house, child in
arms—but apparently there were no such intentions in her head. As for Tom, the fact that he ‘had
some woman in New York’ was really less surprising.” (20) Nick felt confused on how Daisy can
stand Tom and not leave. While, Tom can just (openly) cheat. Nevertheless, this also displays
Nick’s confusion and disgust towards the rich on East egg and at the same time his interests and
curiosity. This can be seen as an example of how people with so much money from a distance
portrays that they have everything and life is content, when it is not.
Tom and Daisy are people that have so much money to the point where from a distance
no one will notice it. From a distance, it looks like the perfect life. However, that is all a facade
as its all broken fragments with only one stationary object in their life. Like the only stationary
object, the couch in their house, they are centered in one place. They run away for a new
beginning and for happiness rather than confront the problems at hand. Tom and Daisy have the
luxurious life and the time to do whatever they want, but in reality, they have troubles and
problems with each other that they cannot solve with money. The both of them in the end have
each other, yet at the same time they have nothing but their money.
Blk 2
4-16-15
None of the Money
The rich seem impenetrable, as if their money and class gave them another set of confidence,
superiority, and perfection. Tom and Daisy are rich people who seem to have everything: the
wealth, the status, and the perfect life. However, in reality, all they have is their money and
nothing more.
To begin with, people who live in East Egg have a high status in society and the old
money to live there. Nick notices this as he describes the East and the West Egg, from his house.
“I live in West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two… Across the courtesy of the bay
the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water.” (5) Nick feels embarrassed
with where he is living as he calls West Egg less fashionable than East Egg, showing that the
East does have an upper hand at superiority or being upper class, than the West. He describes the
East as a place that’s fashionable with white palaces and the glittering on the water, this can be
shown that Nick believes the East to be from a different world than of the West or of normal
people. This world can be portrayed as beautiful or even to the extent of perfect.
No matter how beautiful or perfect a world or dream is, there is always a truth behind
that veil and this is shown, when Nick mentions Tom’s and Daisy’s house. “Their house was
even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion …
The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with the reflected gold and
wide open to the warm windy afternoon.” (6)
A house is where the owner or person living there feels comfortable, safe, and secure.
However, a house can also tell others what the other person is like and their secrets in subtle
ways. First, Tom’s and Daisy’s house is detailed more than what Nick could have thought of
from his house. Not only this, but the windows were wide open, this shows that their secrets or
private information is not disclosed but actually known by everyone. By everyone, this excludes
Nick and so he feels like an outsider to the secrets that he is supposed to know but does not.
However, Nick an outsider was told of secrets that were private. “‘You mean you don’t know?’
said Miss Baker, honestly surprised. ‘ I thought everybody knew.’ ” (15)
The fact that having the house is cheerful with its white and red is another symbolism, as
white mostly stands for purity, new beginnings, unity, but it also represents emptiness and red is
more of a sign of danger, aggressiveness, violence yet it also means happiness.
“Why they came east I don’t know. They had spent a year in France, for no particular
reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully …. This was a permanent move, said Daisy
over the telephone, but I didn’t believe it—I had no sight into Daisy’s heart but I felt that Tom
would drift on forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable
football game.” (6)
Daisy and Tom are like the representation of the colors white and red, together they went from
place to place. Together, they have no place to go back too; they have no home, even though
physically, they have a house where they can call home. “The only completely stationary object
in the room was an enormous couch.” (8) This shows that in their huge house, Tom and Daisy
only have one (show) object that is grounded, when they could have more than just a couch to
ground them. The both of them, truly are wondering around as Tom is restless and Daisy is
willing to go along with it as she believes for a girl in this world the best thing it would be is “a
beautiful little fool”. “I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a
beautiful little fool.” (17) Daisy believes the best way for her to deal with Tom’s affair is to turn a
blind eye and pretend it’s not happening, but at the same times, there’s an emptiness within her
that is only shown when she stops talking and it is revealed. “The instant her voice broke off,
ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It
made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a
contributory emotion from me. I waited, and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an
absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished
secret society to which she and Tom belonged.” (17) Although, Nick cannot see through Daisy
but he believes her in and agrees with what she says, till she stops and there’s this pause. The
pause is what makes Nick doubt her and what she says, that there is this emptiness in her pause
that’s only filled in with her voice. This implies, that Daisy isn’t justt a beautiful fool as she
portrays and is just simply finding another way to deal with her problems.
As Daisy finds ways to deal with Tom’s cheating, Tom on the other hand, finds a way to deal
with his restlessness and his inability to settle down. Tom is the danger and aggressiveness in the
relationship, yet Daisy is content with staying with Tom, to the point where she wants to have
happiness with him. Daisy is the white, the emptiness, yet the hoping for a new beginning.
Tom is the red, the violence/danger; he hasn’t been able to settled down from his twenties
or highest peak. To him getting the money to feeling that highest peak again would be easy, but
it would be hard to experience it again. “A national figure in a way, one of those men who reach
such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax…
Even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach.” (6)
Due to the fact, that now being married and not having the same highest peak in his
twenties or that same experience, Tom cheats to have that thrill again. The best outlet that Tom
thinks is cheating, as he is not completely responsible to the other party and can always toss the
other person aside. However, the cheating is a secret that is breaking up the relationship and
Daisy’s belief in starting over again. “The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook
her head decisively at Tom the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air.
Among the broken fragments of the last five minutes at table...” (15) The broken fragments,
Daisy mentions are like the fragments that Tom missed in Daisy’s life and his child’s, such as the
birth of his daughter, “She was less than an hour old, and Tom was God knows where” (16 -17).
All of this is unfolding before Nick and he feels awkward or uncomfortable in the
situation that is played out before him, but at the same time curious as he does listen to Jordan
Baker and the gossip about Tom’s affair, “‘Is something happening?’ I inquired innocently. ‘You
mean to say you don’t know?…. ‘I don’t.’ ‘Why——’ she said hesitantly, ‘Tom’s got some
woman in New York.’ ‘Got some woman?’ I repeated blankly.” (14-15) Although, he appears
innocent, Nick does not completely say that he doesn’t want to hear about the affair showing his
interests in the (lives of) rich in East egg.
At the same time, he feels interested and curious, Nick also feels disgusted by the East
Egg (more specifically Tom and Daisy). “Nevertheless, I was confused and a little disgusted as I
drove away. It seemed to me that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of the house, child in
arms—but apparently there were no such intentions in her head. As for Tom, the fact that he ‘had
some woman in New York’ was really less surprising.” (20) Nick felt confused on how Daisy can
stand Tom and not leave. While, Tom can just (openly) cheat. Nevertheless, this also displays
Nick’s confusion and disgust towards the rich on East egg and at the same time his interests and
curiosity. This can be seen as an example of how people with so much money from a distance
portrays that they have everything and life is content, when it is not.
Tom and Daisy are people that have so much money to the point where from a distance
no one will notice it. From a distance, it looks like the perfect life. However, that is all a facade
as its all broken fragments with only one stationary object in their life. Like the only stationary
object, the couch in their house, they are centered in one place. They run away for a new
beginning and for happiness rather than confront the problems at hand. Tom and Daisy have the
luxurious life and the time to do whatever they want, but in reality, they have troubles and
problems with each other that they cannot solve with money. The both of them in the end have
each other, yet at the same time they have nothing but their money.
