Consider of money and the presence or lack of it–wealth and poverty–on the shape of the story and on the lives of the characters and their personalities.
Money plays an important role in the behaviors of the characters in The Gilded Six-Bits. The playful interactions between Joe and Missy May involved Joe giving coins to Missy May, and Missy May digging through Joe’s pockets to find money. This interaction with money represents the idea that money is something that is heavily desired. Joe and Missy May were happy despite their low income. However, unfaithfulness occurs when money is introduced to the story through the character of Slemmons. Slemmons, somebody who is seen as very wealthy, is also seen by Joe as someone who is “better ” than him, which puts forth the idea that money is power.
The value of money was definitely a significant symbol in the characters’ decisions and actions. You suggested a great example of Missie May and Joe’s desire for money, I also think their increasing desire of wealth would eventually lead to their loss. The concept of betrayal can be seen when Slemmons was introduced and played apart in the story. Personally, I believe if it wasn’t for their lust of money, everything would have been normal. If Joe didn’t give Missie May the wrong impression of him favoring money more than love, she wouldn’t have committed adultery.
Going along with the idea that money is heavily desired, I think that it also causes people to do things out of the ordinary in order to try to obtain it. However, I do not necessarily think that either Joe or Missy May saw money as power rather a social and economical booster. With Missy May hearing how Joe talked about the money, she figured the “right” thing to do was to have an affair with Slemmons in order to obtain it. Missy May’s motivator could have been to make her husband happy in the long run, granted she did not get caught. And even though she failed in getting gold money, they returned back to living the happy lives that they had beforehand.