When reading the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many parallels to modern day society regarding materialism. If the definition is unclear, materialism describes how certain objects have more value than personal or spirtiual morals. Overtime, the value of an object or item loses its worth and ultimately becomes useless. The Great Gatsby describes Gatsby, a rich man obsessed with a blonde girl named Daisy, having luxurious items in order to gain her heart. He flaunts his lifestyle by throwing elaborate parties and publicy displays his riches. Despite all the riches and gifts Gatsby provides for Daisy, it does not tug her heartstrings as much as her disloyal husband, Tom does.

This connects to modern day society where everyone is concerned about getting a certain product but in the end become dissatisfied after its use. The reasons behind materialism vary from depression to fitting in with a certain demographic. Overtime, the value and meaning of stuff begins to fade away and people begin to search for new items. This concerning concept of materialism also begins to tug the moral standards people hold. In South Korean culture, students are bullied if they do not have a fashion item or brand new trend currently going on. This bullying forces a negative mindset to fit in and young people begin to throw away their moral compass to fit in. This can be seen in many songs such as Spinebreaker by BTS, a famous K-pop boyband that has swept the world off its feet. The song talks about how students are forcing their parents to buy high in brands so they can avoid being bullied or ridiculed in school even though some students cannot afford it. Another example would be young adults buying high end brands knowing the high price tag that comes with it. Teenagers especially will convince their parents with every means necessary to buy products from Dior, Gucci, and etc. If they do successful get the product, they post their new shopping bags and stuff on social media only for the fame and attention. This shows how disconnected society has become from realizing the worth of certain items.

In summary, F. Scott Fitzgerald does an excellent job portrayed the materialistic society that has now transfigured into modern day time. The details that are used in describing the materialism between Gatsby, Daisy, and other characters in the story resemble people today and how they disregard morals over objects that will lose its value overtime.