The Religion of Money in The Great GatsbyAt the beginning of Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw, Mr. Under Shaft exclaims in response to another's question: "well, I am a millionaire, and that's my religion" (Shaw 103). Many people look to the sky for the power that will enable them to live in the world. Others, like Shaw's Mr. Under Shaft, look to more earthly subjects to gain their power and symbolize their status. Often these topics, such as money, wealth, or physical beauty and ability, give their owners an overbearing sense of power and ability in everything they do. Some people become so obsessed with their materialistic power that it becomes their religion and guides them in everything they do. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the character of Tom Buchanan is introduced and portrayed as someone who allowed his physical abilities, money and wealth to become his religion and guide him in his actions, thoughts, in his beliefs and his words. Nick, the first-person narrator of The Great Gatsby, presents Tom as "a national figure in a sense, one of those men who achieve such acute and limited excellence at twenty-one that everything that follows smacks of anti-climax ” (Fitzgerald 10). . In college in New Haven, Tom relied on his physical abilities, being "one of the most powerful players to ever play football" (Fitzgerald 10), as well as inherited wealth to give him the power and prestige necessary to be perceived as better than the others. improve. Early in his college career, as Nick seems to suggest, it was this supreme physical prowess on the football field that allowed Tom to have supreme reign over everything off the field. But, after college, the football legacy ended, and with it, Tom'... middle of paper... chose to "make a short, deft move [that] broke her nose with his open hand" ( Fitzgerald 41) rather than admitting that the other party might do something without his explicit permission. From his first introduction at the beginning of the first chapter of The Great Gatsby to the end of the second, Tom strives to constantly remind everyone around him of his power through his actions, thoughts, and words. Like royal subjects loyal to their king, he believes that everyone is beneath him and must respect and obey his every wish. Through the mastery of Fitzgerald's poetic hand, a character was created for whom wealth became a religion and God became a personification of himself. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner-Simon, 1992. Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion and Major Barbara. New York: Bantom Books, 1992.