Great Gatsby Quotes About Money Can't Buy Happiness

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The Things Money Can’t buy;
‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Wolf of Wall Street’.
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he quote ‘money can’t buy you happiness' is never truer than when viewed through the storylines of 'The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Wolf of Wall Street’. This conflicts with the notion that living the American dream translates to happiness. Both texts illustrate the vanity of the American dream; its un-satisfaction and un-attainability and the misery that comes with the pursuit of riches. When people have all the things that money can buy, they miss the priceless things that money does not buy like true love, happiness, and peace of mind. Over obsession with money not only affects your happiness but also those around you.
Various features in both texts show the vanity associated with chasing and achieving (or not achieving) the American dream. Gatsby’s mansion, big and empty shows how his wealth has bought his loneliness for the things he did to attain Daisy’s love. The mansion was one of the things he bought to impress his true love which in turn became his source of misery. He ends up having the property and with no one to share it with showing the emptiness of the American dream after having all the money.
The yacht Jordan agrees to meet the FBI agent Denham in Wolf of Wall Street shows his flaunting wealth while the presence of the agent shows the eventual downfall of Jordan. The agent who ends up proving Jordan guilty shows how money cannot give you things like freedom. Like, Gatsby, Jordan also has a fleet of cars which are mostly for prestige and attention-seeking. Getting money makes people obtain property that they do not need just to impress others.
Gatsby is always throwing parties which are mostly aimed at catching the eye of Daisy. The parties end up crowded with people and Daisy is not impressed with the parties when she attends. The parties are extravagant but in the end leave Gatsby miserable because he does not end up happy. In the Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan’s parties depict a false notion of happiness through excessive abuse of drugs and large crowds. The crowded parties in both texts show who people celebrate with when they have something to gain. Crowded parties and lonely personal lives show how money does not help one to obtain true friendship.
Money is also associated with rampant moral decay and makes sex and affairs to be motivated by money and wealth. The Great Gatsby has many scenes where the characters have affairs, all of which are motivated by money. All the relationships in the novel show how money cannot bring happiness in relationships through the affair Tom has. Gatsby's portrayal of relationships is also built on money since the wealth he has acquired is in the effort to impress Daisy.
The s...