Big House = Big Bucks

 Throughout this whole book we begin to understand what an important role money and status plays in the society. At the beginning Nick states about his family that:” we have a tradition that we’re descendants from the Duke of Bucceluh.”(3). Nicks family originates from a Duke, giving them relevance and importance inside society. He continues: ”but the actual founder of my line was my grandfathers brother who came here in fifty-one.”(3). Nicks family prefer to lie about their actual founder who was probably a nobody and say they come from a Duke which gives them status inside society. We can observe this same type of behavior in Gatsby, who hasn’t had money his whole life. Gatsby likes to tell people that he was an “Oxford man.”(49) This self-given status made Gatsby seem like a well-educated man whose parents could pay for his college education perfectly well. Gatsby has his own way of showing that he has money and status and that is his house and the parties he throws in it. Gatsby perceives his gigantic house as a symbol of his richness. When he and Daisy reunite after so many years, at Nick’s house, Gatsby says: ”I want you and Daisy to come over, I want to show her around.”(89) Gatsby wants Daisy to see how much he has accomplished since they last met by showing her his house because his house is huge, like a mansion, and for him it is a symbol of richness, his richness.