Old Money vs New Money

Sam Reichert       

Throughout the Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is a constant conflict between the people with old and new money.  For some reason, the people with old money think that they are better than the people with new money.  They think that it is in their blood, and that they were born with power and the right to use that money.  For example Tom is always thinking of himself as being superior because he was born with a great fortune.  However I think that the only thing that distinguished the old money people from the new money people, before the new money people received their money, was the fact that they were born into money.  For the most part, all I see in old money people is that they are selfish, and arrogant, and they do not care about other people.  They think that they should be given things, because they deserve it.  For the most part, these old money people did not have to work or earn their money.  They were just given it.  However the new money people had to work for their money.  They were not given the luxury of just being born into money.  I think that characteristic is something to admire in the new money people.  They worked hard to get where they were, and I think it is unfair and not right for the old money people to not acknowledge them.