As Scott F. Fitzgerald describes, the 1920s were a time of great downfall both socially and morally. As the rich get richer, the poor are left to fend for themselves, without help of any kind. Throughout Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the two richest "races" of people constantly clash in an ongoing battle of different lifestyles. West Eggers, best represented by Jay Gatsby, are the nouveau riche, with little or no sense of class or taste. Their polar opposites, the East Eggers, are represented by Tom and Daisy Buchanan; these people inherited their wealth from the richest old families in the country and treat their money with dignity and social grace. Money, a mere object in the hands of the nouveau riche, is unknowingly squandered by Gatsby in an attempt to bring his only source of happiness, Daisy, back into his life. During his countless wild parties, he squanders thousands upon thousands of dollars in failed attempts to attract Daisy's attention. For Gatsby, the only way to capture this happiness is to realize his personal "American dream" and end up with Daisy in his arms. Gatsby's obsession with Daisy is somewhat detrimental to himself and those around him; his actions destroy relationships and end up killing two people. Tom Buchanan and his comrades in West Egg, although they have everything they could want, lack something essential: a heart. The soulless creatures of the West Egg believe that all must bow down to them and their glorious wealth and do as they please, when they did nothing to deserve the money in the first place. “His speaking voice, a gruff and hoarse tenor, added to the impression of angriness he conveyed. There was a... middle of paper ... His undivided obsession with Daisy leads him down a slippery slope that ends with him floating face down in her swimming pool with gunshot wounds in his back. “The contact of a group of leaves caused it to rotate slowly, tracing, like the transit leg, a thin red circle in the water” (Fitzgerald 162). Through the use of symbolism and criticism, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to elucidate the lifestyles and dreams of people of various natures of the 1920s in his novel The Great Gatsby. It uses specific characters to refer to various groups of people, each with their own version of the "American Dream." Most poor people dream of going "from rags to riches", while some members of the upper class use others as motivators. Regardless, no matter how obsessed someone may be with their "American Dream," Fitzgerald believes that achieving them is all implausible...