Hana Schneider
Gold 3
Mayerhofer
4/8/15
Money in the Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men Money and currency have played a large role in the world for many years. This was very clearly demonstrated in both The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The two novels took place in two very different time periods which were only about ten years apart. In The Great Gatsby, money is much easier to come by and dreams are alive in the roaring 20s. In Of Mice and Men, which took place during the Great Depression, money was much more difficult to obtain and it was far less common. Dreams in Of Mice and Men were just that: dreams; wistful longings for something more. In both stories, money a large factor as it impacts…show more content… He knew he had a big future in front of him. And ever since he made a success he was very generous with me.’” (pg 172, Gatsby’s father. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald). He is a self-made man who rose above his hardships and poverty and made himself wealthy, “At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden.” (pg 40, Nick. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald). This is something many people dreamed about when immigrating to America. In essence, Gatsby is the perfect American citizen; a nobody who made himself a somebody through wealth. When he was killed, his death seemed to demonstrate the death of the American dream. This is ironic seeing that the actual death of the American dream occurred just a few years after the novel was written. The stock market had crashed, sending America into the Great Depression, the time Of Mice and Men took place. In this story, the American dream had all but disappeared. While in Gatsby, that is what most people strived for, in Of Mice and Men people consider themselves lucky just to have a plot of land, “’Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch and work up a stake and…show more content… During the 20s, money was expendable and even if a person was poor, they were not too badly off compared to the 30s. Many people had elegant parties and everything was beautiful and rich, “I lived in West egg, the- well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them.” (pg 5, Nick. The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald). In the Great Gatsby, for most characters, money came by naturally and was able to just be thrown around, “But they didn’t. And we all took the less expendable step of engaging the parlor of a suite in the Plaza Hotel.” (pg 126, Nick. The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald). In Of Mice and Men it was a completely different world. Most people were broke or had five to ten dollars at most, “George spat on the floor disgustedly. ‘We got ten bucks between us.’” (pg 59, George. Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck). Everything was very cheap and people still could not afford much. Money went to cat houses and alcohol, and people worked until they were no longer useful, “’They’ll can me purty soon. Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk houses they’ll put me on the county.’” (pg 60, Candy. Of Mice and Men,