Money has become such a primary concern that people nowadays cut off all ties and relations with their families just to get a quick buck. By doing so this makes a person lonely and isolated with nothing but their wealth to show out and flaunt at people. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald the author develops the idea that money can control a person's actions and attitude, through imagery and the shallowness of the upper-class.
Fitzgerald illustrates through imagery that there is always someone constantly judging you on your actions. For example, "The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic -- their retinas are one yard high"(23). .
Fitzgerald may have used the eyes of doctor Eckleburg in order to create the illusion that God is watching over and judging the people in the valley of the ashes, namely Tom Buchanan and how he's flaunting around his indiscretions in front of everyone. In the novel, the eyes appeared faded, dull, and lifeless which could send a message that their society is crumbling and turning into vast nothing. Fitzgerald also illustrates that even with money you can not hope to achieve your goals and dreams. For example, "On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more"(179). Gatsby house could represent the American Dream that he wished to obtain, but failed to do so. Gatsby set out to reinvent himself so he got the money, cars, clothes, and the house, and all for what? For Daisy who he wanted nothing more to be with him, but in order to get Daisy Gatsby had to change who he really was.
Fitzgerald demonstrates in The Great Gatsby that money is valued over things like marriage, children, family, and love. For example, " All right.I'm glad it's 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"(17).
