Skip to main content

Money Isn't Everything


In chapter 4, we see even with all of Gatsby’s wealth, he is depressed, and didn’t really have much of a will to live after his family died. 

“He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor” (Fitzgerald 78).  Gatsby’s life is so empty that he uses his wealth and mansion to feel somewhat satisfied.

When we look at celebrities and those with wealth, we wholeheartedly believe that their lives are perfect.  It doesn’t occur to us at all that they could be depressed or be struggling with anxiety.  The saying “money isn’t everything” comes to mind.  Even though one may seem that they have everything to make them happy, we don’t realize that perhaps wealth could be the reason that is hindering their happiness.  Gatsby’s wealth did not fix him, but Daisy did—he found some will to live in her. 

Considering celebrities and mental illness, I believe we should try to remove that stigma that they are not people and experience things like depression and anxiety.  I admit it, when I’ve looked at people like Lady Gaga or Beyoncé, it never occurred to me that their lives were anything but perfect.  Nowadays we see celebrities actively open up and express their experiences about mental health and encourage others to do the same, which should be more talked about.  What I think is quite refreshing about reading The Great Gatsby so far is that we can see how far we’ve come as a society in certain aspects.      

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Polite Speech

We tend to say things we do not mean in order to make ourselves appear as a good person, like “let’s keep in touch” and “it’s nice to meet you.”   It is not always clear whether we are actually pleased to meet someone, or just do not want to come off as rude.   In the course of saying things we do not truly mean, the expressions that we use become meaningless.   As a society, we care too much about the way others perceive us.   We would rather say something such as “how are you” instead of being transparent.   We create this fake, forced, first impression because we are trying so hard to appear “perfect.”   We then continue being “polite” because we do not want to be labeled as a bad person.   However, we are labeled as a good person if we say, “sure, we can definitely meet up,” even though you most likely won’t.   I am not saying we should stop being polite because it is something we do everyday and it would be silly to stop doing it. ...
2 comments
Read more

Because Of Him

Everything we ever did was for him.   While we were robbed of our girlhoods, everything was gifted to him on a silver platter.   Our lives revolved around him, constantly.   When he was tired, we made his bed.   When he was hungry, we cooked for him.   When he was bored, we entertained him.   And what do we get in return for our constant beck and call? Nothing.   We get nothing.   She is the most educated out of all of us, but she cannot work because of him.   We make fake flowers for a living.   She obtained a job as a maid in order to escape from them.   She met a man and secretly held a relationship with him, but it was all destroyed because of him.   It was the only thing that allowed her to escape but men like him destroyed her freedom.   We kept it locked inside for too long, and now we revolt.   He barely remembered that day; the most important one.   The day I found the twig with the maple leaf...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trail of Tears

  When trying to find an episode of the American Life, I wanted to find a story that was not at the top which would have probably been already picked, so I chose the Trail of Tears. In the episode, two Cherokee sisters Sarah and Amy Vowell recount their experience of driving through the Trail of Tears. Another reason I chose this particular episode is that Native American and Indigenous history overall greatly interests me and have not been educated on the Trail of Tears all that much. I can say without hesitation that the American school system has failed me in the way that I learn more about my country’s history in my AP English class than history at all. I also believe that I should not have to wait until college to hear the real, raw story—the story that Sarah and Amy know all too well. One thing that I learned from this episode is the horrific events that Sarah and Amy’s ancestors had to experience has resulted in generational trauma, yet they are conflicted. They feel a nee...
Post a Comment
Read more