Does money really buy happiness?

The answer to that question requires an existentialist scale. A scale that can measure the degree to which you indulge, adhere, and identify yourself.

In The Great Gatsby, these situational and emotional elements are the determinant of Jay Gatsby's (the protagonist) fate. They are the driving force behind his decisions, and most importantly, they structure his inevitable fate.

But before any of that, Fitzgerald presents money in a dualist and complex form. In his fictitious, fantastical world, money (in Gatsby's eyes) is the sole entity to attaining his vision; it's the only way he can have Daisy (his lover) reciprocate her feelings toward him. But in the real terra, the reader can see how money is the perpetrator of Gatsby's heart. It may only be paper, but its value manipulates Gatsby into pushing his limits internally. Money forces Gatsby to indulge and adhere without consciously realizing that he is losing himself.

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