Gatsby's MoneyThree Works Cited by F. Scott Fitzgerald Materialism began to become a main theme in literature during the modernist era. At that time, the economy was good, which made jazz popular, smuggling common and a meaningless business (Gevaert). This negative view of money and crass materialism in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby constitutes a modern theme of the novel. Throughout the novel, the rich possess a sense of carefreeness and believe that money produces happiness. Throughout history, the wealthy have had a carefree feeling about money and material goods that are generally inaccessible to most. The great examples of this carelessness are the huge parties organized by Gatsby; everyone was present: the party guests “[arrived] at dusk. . .” (Fitzgerald 111) and stay until dawn, and "sometimes they [come] and [leave] without having met Gatsby at all, [come] to the party with a simplicity of heart that [is] its own entry ticket” (45). Gatsby invests a lot of money in these parties, even though he doesn't benefit from them at all. However, he continues to have them because he believes that happiness can be bought (101), that glitter and glitter will eventually make Daisy love him (Swilley). For Gatsby, he has to keep throwing these parties. Gatsby is new money and he needs to show off his money and prove to the world that he is rich (Karen). In addition to his elaborate parties, he wears extravagant pink suits with gold ties and drives an eye-catching yellow car. All this he does to attract the attention of Daisy (Gatsbylvr). On the other hand, the opposite is true for Tom. Karen says Tom is old money so he doesn't need to show the world he has money. Tom doesn't need Gatsby's glitz; his house is set up to his liking and he appears to be more conventional - Tom rides a horse rather than driving a flashy car (Karen). The idea that money can bring happiness is another modernist theme prevalent in The Great Gatsby. According to Sparknotes, Fitzgerald exemplifies this idea. He himself, in his own life, also believes this. He postpones marriage to his wife until he has enough money to support himself (SparkNotes). Fitzgerald's delay in marrying his wife and Gatsby's quest to buy Daisy's love parallel each other (Gatsbylvr).