Is Gatsby Richer than Tom? While both characters are rich, it is implied in the novel that Tom has more money. However, at that time, what most people cared about was how you would get your money. Gatsby is still involved in organized crime secretly- meaning that he is technically working to keep his status.
Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. The character is an enigmatic nouveau riche millionaire who lives in a luxurious mansion on Long Island where he often hosts extravagant parties and who allegedly gained his vast fortune by illicit bootlegging during prohibition in the United States.
According to the Forbes “Fictional 15” of 2010, a list of the richest fictional characters by net worth, Jay Gatsby is ranked #14 on the list with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. However, GoBankingRates' investigation reveals that Jay Gatsby's spending on high-ticket items threatens his future rankings.
The Rolls Royce-driving, Plaza Hotel party-throwing, Long Island-dwelling Gatsby, according to the compilation, is worth a cool $1 billion — and there's more where that came from. Epitomizing Jazz Age decadence, what would a modern day Jay Gatsby lifestyle cost us?
The main resource of Gatsby getting all his money from is from bootlegging. Wolfsheim says “...these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know”. Gatsby never grew up into money, selling alcohol illegally made him become rich because alcohol was illegal in the 1920s.
Though Gatsby has always wanted to be rich, his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for Daisy Buchanan, whom he met as a young military officer in Louisville before leaving to fight in World War I in 1917.
Cody was a heavy drinker, and one of Gatsby's jobs was to look after him during his drunken binges. This gave Gatsby a healthy respect for the dangers of alcohol and convinced him not to become a drinker himself. When Cody died, he left Gatsby $25,000, but Cody's mistress prevented him from claiming his inheritance.
We are told that Gatsby came up from essentially nothing, and that the first time he met Daisy Buchanan, he was “a penniless young man.” His fortune, we are told, was the result of a bootlegging business – he “bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago” and sold illegal alcohol over the counter.
After returning home from war, Gatsby purchases a 12-room mansion in West Egg, Long Island (West Egg is thought to be a thinly veiled stand in for Great Neck, LI). Lamm estimates that an estate like Gatsby's would cost $30 million today, even after the collapse of the housing market!
In his novel, money is divided into two types: new money and old money. New money is the fortune that self-made characters like Gatsby have. Old money encompasses the inherited money owned by Daisy and Tom.
Nick Carraway's Background
Nick grew up in the "middle West," (what we call the Midwest), in a wealthy family that was "something of a clan" (1.5). His family made their money from a wholesale hardware business his grandfather's brother began after sending a substitute to fight for him in the Civil War.
Gatsby was born "James Gatz," the son of poor farmers, in North Dakota. However, he was deeply ambitious and determined to be successful. He changed his name to "Jay Gatsby" and learned the manners of the rich on the yacht of Dan Cody, a wealthy man who he saved from a destructive storm and ended up being employed by.
Tom tells George that the car belongs to Jay Gatsby who lives in West Egg. George walks to West Egg where he shoots Gatsby in his pool, killing him instantly, before taking his own life. Gatsby is 32 years old. Of all Gatsby's high society friends, only one, Owl-Eyes attends Gatsby's funeral.
In the novel, Jay met Daisy in 1917 when he was 27 and she was 18. The present setting of the novel is in 1925 so that would make Jay Gatsby around 35 now. Daisy Buchanan is 26 years old since she was 18 in 1917; she is married to Tom Buchanan who is 30 and went to Yale at the same time as Nick.
The Great Gatsby, Third novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925. Set in Jazz Age New York, it tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth.
Gatsby grew up in an impoverished family in rural North Dakota. However, his path to success was neither clean nor legal; he participated in organized crime, specifically the illegal distribution of alcohol and trading stolen securities.
Jay Gatsby, the lead character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's book, “The Great Gatsby” lies all the time. He lies about the origin of his wealth, he lies about his love life, he even lies about reading the great books in his library.
Traveling with Cody to the Barbary Coast and the West Indies, Gatsby fell in love with wealth and luxury. Cody was a heavy drinker, and one of Gatsby's jobs was to look after him during his drunken binges. This gave Gatsby a healthy respect for the dangers of alcohol and convinced him not to become a drinker himself.
Apparently, he started off penniless and made his money selling illegal, over-the-counter liquor in his drug-store empire during the first two years of prohibition.
Tom reveals to everyone how Gatsby made his fortune through illegal bootlegging, which catches Daisy off guard. She never questioned how Gatsby became rich. Although the wealthy conducted business with bootleggers and drank their alcohol, bootlegging was still looked down upon.
Who got Gatsby's Money when He Died? The novel does not say who inherits Jay Gatsby's money at the end. By details that F Scott left behind, we can guess that either the inheritance would go back to his parents or other family members, but not to Daisy.
Gatsby reveals details of his and Daisy's long ago courtship. He was enthralled by her wealth, her big house, and the idea of men loving her. To be with Daisy, he pretended to be of the same social standing as her. One night, they slept together, and he felt like they were married.
Gatsby is only in love with Daisy because of her identity and what she represents. He is unable to forget the past where Daisy once saw him as a perfect man in her eyes and can't accept his new reality. Gatsby's want of wealth and power only proves that he only loves the idea of her and not actually her.
To Gatsby, the innocent and naive Daisy comes to embody the American dream, in other words wealth and social status, a goal he will have reached by winning her hand.