Gatsby and the Wells of Wealth
Yuri Ishikawa
Jared Pangier
American Literature
25 April 2017
Money and Love
What makes up a successful life? What makes our life wealthier? I would say it’s money and love. Money isn't a direct meaning of wealth but it is a tool that could help us achieve wealth. However, it doesn't mean people should be filthy rich. I believe "enough money" that secures a stable life would also guarantee a successful life. Love is the most powerful force you can have by your side and people can’t live nor feel happiness without it. Loving who you are, loving your family, loving your work and loving everything you do. These two are what makes life wealthy and it will not stand if either of them is missing.
What makes us happy? For 75 years, researchers at Harvard have been examining this question, following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s through war, career, marriage, divorce, parenthood, grandparenthood, and declining years. In year 2013, George Vaillant, who directed the study for more than three decades, published Triumphs of Experience, a summation of the insights the study has yielded. Vaillant found several answers. However, he found the powerful correlation between the warmth of your relationships and your health and happiness in old age. People often say money doesn't buy happiness. However, according to a study from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, it does. Up to about $75,000 a year. The lower a person's annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she feels. But no matter how much people make more than $75,000, they don't feel any greater degree of happiness.
Gatsby, a wealthy man and the owner of a luxurious mansion where extravagant parties are often hosted, is described by his friend Nick, "it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again"(Fitzgerald 4). Gatsby's dream is to be with Daisy, whom he fell in love with. For that dream, Gatsby worked hard to create his wealth and his persona. He became a person who “willing to do anything” to get closer to Daisy. He knew Daisy would never accept him as a poor man. She was wealthy and she married a wealthy man and she could never leave her husband. She certainly wasn't the type of woman that would fall in love with a poor man. Gatsby did many of the things he did in order to get to Daisy. The best evidence of this may be his wild parties. We know from the beginning that Gatsby throws extravagant parties in the hopes that Daisy will wander in. When he is finally reintroduced to her and the novel begins to spin around the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby couldn’t live his life with Daisy but if he didn’t become rich, he wouldn’t have met Daisy.
Wealth and success are the desire most people have and we put so much effort to get them. But the meaning of success is so different to every person. Some people may feel happy when they are with their family. Other people strive for academic success to become highly educated as they can, and some people are much more career focused. Even within those groups, their main marker of success depend on people’s condition: the power they have, the money they earn, or the good they do. Therefore, it is obvious that every person has one’s own way to reach success. Yet, to reach their own goal, money and love are unnecessary things.
Works Cited
Frank, Robert. “The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones
&Company, 7 Sept. 2010, blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2010/09/07/the-perfect-salary-for- happiness-75000-a-year/.Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.
Waldinger, Robert. “Transcript of ‘What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness.’” Robert Waldinger: What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness | TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript | TED.com, TED.com, Dec. 2015,www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness/transcript?language=en. Accessed 26 Apr. 2017.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Royston, Hertfordshire: Large Print hop, 2014. Print.