https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg en-us 2020-04-15 15:40:24 UTC 2025-04-08 03:23:35 UTC hello@padlet.com meinhardta https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/508803022 In the first chapter of The Great Gatsby, there is one reoccurring theme, Money. One could argue that money itself is the same, the value of it not changing. However, money is very different depending on how you persevere it.  Let´s take a closer look at Tom Buchanan. A man who has grown up with wealth and never had a single worry about it, inheriting that wealth from his family. The way he perseveres that money is very different from someone who grew up poor and struggled to survive. Tom Buchanan looks at money as something he's always had, an "old friend" you could say. a poor person looks at money as not only a necessity but anger, it rules their life and without it, they can not survive.

But we also see the flip side of this, Nick Carraway the narrator and main character of The Great Gatsby is someone whom was also born into wealth but choose not to live off the old money. Rather, he left home to make his own life, his own money. When we talk about money and how we as people perceive it, Nick too looks at the money his parents gave him, and the money he earns as different. One being the money he worked hard for, and the other as an inheritance. 

Even today, we see this kind of thing still occurring. There will always be people trying to prove they're better than you.  However, we have families like the Waltons who have grown up with a huge amount of wealth who actually do use some of it for good. Organizations like the Walton foundation help local communities, especially here in NWA. And I'll always be incredibly thankful for that. It just proves that not everyone who is born into money flaunts it around and try to be better than everyone else.

It doesn't matter where you start, all that matters is how you choose to live the life given to you.]]> 2020-04-15 15:43:25 UTC https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/508803022 meinhardta https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/523293500 2020-04-22 15:08:38 UTC https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/523293500 meinhardta https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/539515699 2020-04-29 15:30:23 UTC https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/539515699 meinhardta https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/549753275 Chapter 4: The Truth
In chapter 4 we learn some very important information about Gatsby, more importantly why he is so friendly with Nick. A "Game-changing" moment in this chapter is when Gatsby has Jordan explain to Nick that he loves Daisy and would like to uses his status with Daisy to get to her. After reading this I was actually kinda upset, not only is Gatsby afraid to be honest with Nick, but he also uses people to get what he wants. I think that if Gatsby was a true man, he would go talk Daisy on his own, be honest with her and tell her how he feels. Rather than going through other people to make there meet a coincidence

Chapter 5:
What is your perception of Nick by the end of this chapter?
By the end of chapter 5, I'm starting to think that Nick is actually trying to be help Daisy get out of her horrible relationship with Tom. He may not say it out loud in the book, but I think he deeply dislikes Tom. As far as Gatsby goes I'm not sure that Nick truly trusts him either, and also sees Gatsby as an opportunity to possibly get into a new business venture. Nick seems to also look after others more then himself, which can be a self-destructing quality in a person if not managed correctly

]]> 2020-05-04 15:53:57 UTC https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/549753275 meinhardta https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/566412378
 What differentiates the wealthy from the poor, aside from money?

At first glance, when we look at this question there's a lot of things that might come to your mind "Lifestyle, friends, houses, cars" But out of these things i think the most important things that differ between someone that is poor vs someone that wealthy, is how they act. For example in the Great Gatsby, when we see Tom talking to Wilson his mistress's husband we see him treat him with very little respect, messing with him and toying with his emotions. Theses people, both men have one thing that separates them. That being wealth, and what comes with it. Wilson tries to please Tom, with the hopes of him buying a car for him as he desperately needs the money. We see this multiple times throughout the book, especially with Tom. When Tom meets someone who he considers to be wealthier than himself, he does what most people do in his situation. Assume he's doing something illegal or in this case "Bootlegging". Now don't get me wrong, I've met wealthy people that are quite the opposite from what I have just described to you, but for a lot of them, they preserve the world this way.

But wait, There's more.

I want you to Meet Benjamin Chen
(See Image below)

Benjamin, the founder of the Goldrush Rally crashed his Porsche while driving intoxicated during the lockdown in New York City, hitting 3 cars and attempting to drive off after doing so. However, this is not the first time Mr. Chen has done this. Over the last five years, Mr. Chen has crashed a little over four exotic cars while driving under the influence. Because of how he carries himself and how he acts he not only puts other people's lives in danger but has been doing so for years. Any normal, poorer American wouldn't be doing this, nor should he.

So to answer your question " What differentiates the wealthy from the poor, aside from money?"

it's how they treat other people. How they value others, who may not be as well off as themselves. In perfect world people no matter how wealthy they are, skin color or any other description would treat everyone else as equals.]]> 2020-05-12 02:03:40 UTC https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/566412378 meinhardta https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/581447085 2020-05-19 03:19:31 UTC https://padlet.com/meinhardta/ei2ghtpk5oltqkvg/wish/581447085