The inheritance of money from previous family members is the starting point for the main characters of "A Thousand Acres" and "The Great Gatsby" because it leads to their future wealth and education. Wealth is not always passed on to them, but through hard, sometimes illegal, work and patience. While wealth and education say a lot about a person and place them in their “class,” wealth and greed can destroy a person and even an entire family. Having all the money in the world doesn't save Jay Gatsby or Tom and Daisy Buchannan. When Ginny and Rose received the estate inherited from their father, Larry Cook, they hoped to reunite his family, but instead they set off a time bomb of separation within their family. All the money in the world can't keep someone alive or keep a family together, so why is there such a drive to live in the ultimate pursuit of happiness and the American dream? In The Great Gatsby, a huge difference between Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby is how they got their money. Tom, a notorious football player, came from a long line of money that he eventually inherited from a long family line. “His family was enormously wealthy – even in college his freedom in terms of money was a source of reproach – but now he had left Chicago and come East in a way that was breathtaking; for example, he had brought with him a number of polo ponies from Lake Forest. It was hard to realize that a man of my generation was rich enough to do this” (Fitzgerald 6). This inherited money brought with it other benefits for Tom who had also received a strong line of personal connections. Unlike Tom, Jay Gatsby had to earn his wealth. Although it is unknown how she managed to get so much money in such a short time, seven...... half of paper......ol teacher for a short time until she returned to the farm with Pete. Ginny married Ty at the young age of 19 and became a housewife. When her mother died, Caroline was left to be raised by her two older sisters who ensured that she left the farm to continue her education at college where she would later become a lawyer. When Ty and Pete take over the farm, greed takes over and suddenly the thousand acres are no longer suitable for the new owners. Large loans are taken out to increase the value of the property by adding state-of-the-art pig barns and larger silos. Even if the money is borrowed, to an invisible eye one might think that the new addition means that they have had a good year and are now putting the money on display and showing how much they can afford. Instead of inheriting the wealth of A Thousand Acres, they inherited the knowledge of how to keep the farm prosperous.