The Great Gatsby Wealth Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
| Quote #1 In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. |
Nick paints the portrait that, despite his wealthy family, he maintains a removed objectivity. This of course, is entirely untrue, as is evidenced repeatedly throughout the novel.
| Quote #2 "I can’t say anything in his house, old sport." |
Gatsby feels unable to speak in the Buchanans’ house because of the barriers of wealth. Although he has money, it isn’t the kind that allows him into Daisy’s world. Even her voice, the very essence of her character, is off limits for him. In fact, Nick and Gatsby find commonalities in feeling excluded from the Buchanan’s world. Nick’s description of Daisy as "the golden girl" also brings us back to the epigraph, a quotation quite useful for this scene. (See "What's Up with the Epigraph?" for more.)
| Quote #3 "Self-control!" Repeated Tom incredulously. "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out […] Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white." (7.229) |
It is ironic that Tom’s scorn for Gatsby’s is based on his background – Gatsby’s lack of money, education, and class – and not the fact that Gatsby has been sleeping with his wife.
