Money: sweeter than honey but truly destructive. It makes man's life easier, while its lack imprisons him in the streets of misery. It increases his social status, while his absence leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while the lack of it makes him useless in the eyes of society. Considering these two paths, it takes most no more than a second to decide to chase wealth. Blinded by the self-destructive American dream of “Marie Antoinette's music halls and restoration salons” and “toilets of pure dull gold,” most murder their morals and harm others in the process (Fitzgerald 5.91). Rich or poor, you can guarantee two things: the poor want to be rich and the rich don't want to be poor. The result is a “rotten mob” that has no real value, because it demoralizes itself to prosper economically, not realizing that dollar bills will have no value in its grave (Fitzgerald 8.154). In the midst of economic depression, the thirst for wealth cannot be quenched; the need for copper coins is as persistent as snow in a Chicago winter. Desperate, hungry and perhaps even angry, the former peasants of the 1930s, who have lost everything to the demonic dust and the claws of the capitalist bank, take the easy path and become "part of the monster" that tore them from their homes , stripped away every last shred of self-support they clung to, and, more importantly, destroyed the unity of their families (Steinbeck 5.48). They, without a second thought, throw their ethics into the roaring flames, becoming nothing more than puppets who crush the dreams, independence, and families of others. Victims turn into aggressors, destroying the values ​​they once treasured, all for "three dollars..." ....middle of paper ......sets boundaries. At a time like this, we should be focusing on unifying our society and stabilizing its morals, but instead we allow greed to consume our lives. On one thing Steinbeck and Fitzgerald can agree that money has a detrimental effect on humanity. We, as misguided human beings, will do everything to become part of the wealthy mass of our capitalist economy, and those who are already part of it will do everything not to leave it. We place a higher value on money than on morality, simply because it is physical. We forget that, in the end, money will be worth nothing, but our characters – what we believe, what we value and what we act on – will remain imprinted in the minds of all who have known us, or the case, like us with Gatsby, he hears about us. Works Cited Fitzgerald, FS 1925. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner.Steinbeck, John. The grapes of wrath. Penguin USA, 1939. print.