Examples Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

Throughout the Great Gatsby, wealth and status is a key theme. As a result of these themes shallowness and immorality is something that presents itself in characters throughout the novel quite frequently. For a person to be shallow it means that they lack emotional and intellectual depth, an example of this being someone who judges another on their looks or quantity of money they possess. Immorality can cross with this idea of shallowness due to the fact that as a result of the characters shallowness they become immoral or do immoral things, however it is when a person goes against the accepted ideas of what is right within society. Both of these themes are shown throughout the Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald and a way that Fitzgerald shows this immorality and shallowness is through female characters in the Great Gatsby.

New York City, overwhelmed with success, money and image in the 1920s was drowning in corruption. F Scott Fitzgerald composed a riveting novel, The Great Gatsby, which follows the journey of several characters dealing with love, greed, confusion and lust during the 1920s. Fitzgerald illustrates the corruption of the American dream by allowing us to follow the downfall of Jay Gatsby, revealing the reality of the American dream.

In The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald there is a narrator named Nick Carraway. There is a debate of whether Nick Carraway is trustworthy. Nick Carraway believes these words, “It’s more that he was a German spy during the war” (Fitzgerald 48). Another example of Nick Carraway being dishonest is when he says these words to Daisy, “No, he’s not… It’s a bona fide deal. I happen to know about it” (Fitzgerald 122). On the other hand, there are other thoughts that Nick Carraway is trustworthy. Nick Carraway is a dishonest character because he believes one of the rumors about Gatsby and when Tom was on the phone, he lied for Tom saying he wasn’t talking to his mistress.

Success, formerly signifying the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, however, it has become poisoned by the narcissism of humankind which redefines it as the state of being financially superior to others. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the outlook on the American Dream during the 1920s was crafted through a myriad of events and characters depicting this civil dilemma. By definition, the American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (wealthy), if they exert the required effort on their arduous journey. Having said that, the American Dream thus presents an illusion of an American society that neglects issues such as: systemic racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and income inequality. Furthermore, it also postulates a myth of class equality, yet the reality could not be further from this. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates how fantasies driven by materialistic ideologies can lead to inevitable corruption and demoralization in society. Notably, this is exhibited through the daily struggles of George and Myrtle Wilson, the conspicuous bigotry of Tom and Daisy Buchanan as well as the ambition and passion of Jay Gatsby.

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, characters are depicted as corrupt human beings influenced by their own personal agendas. With an indistinguishable line between right and wrong, they remain unaware of the consequences that follow their actions. Daisy Buchanan is portrayed as the “golden girl” of her time. She is the woman every man wants to call their own, although they only focus on her superficial features rather than personal qualities. Throughout the novel, her true self begins to unfold, displaying how she misleads others to protect her social stature and reputation. Daisy’s submissive nature continuously hurts the people she cares about by allowing her to engage in dishonest activities.

The Great Gatsby is an exceptional piece of American literature written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in 1925. It follows the story of 32-year-old Jay Gatsby, from the perspective of newcomer Nick Carraway. He moves to West Egg, and settles down next to Gatsby, who throws lavish parties for the neighborhood. Eventually, we find out that Gatsby is pining away for Daisy Buchanan, his love five years previous. He pursues her, but it turns out to be his pitfall. In the end, Daisy accidentally hits someone, for which Gatsby takes the blame and gets shot while swimming by the husband of the woman Daisy hit. The tragic ending can be attributed to one person; Jay Gatsby. He was responsible for this terrible tragedy because he lied about his character, he refused to deal with the present situation, and he ruined Tom and Daisy’s marriage.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is about a writer named Nick Carraway. He leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922 . Nick chases his American Dream and ends up living next door to a mysterious, party-loving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, who is  across the water from his cousin, Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals that the upper class society is corrupt from money. This is best proven through Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom.

The Great Gatsby is about how corrupted the American Dream was and how it affected many individual’s lives. The characters in the novel have a huge role in portraying the corruption and lifestyles of those living the dream during the 1920’s. Due to the idea of a success promise that the East had to offer, many westerners packed their lives up and headed that way in hope of a better life. Nick Caraway, one of the main characters, is one of the westerners that took the gamble of moving east during this time period. Nick who was originally from Minneapolis- St. Paul, wanted to experience what New York had to offer. “Instead of being the warm center of the world the middle-west now seemed like the rigid edge of the universe- so I decided to go east and learn the bond business. Everybody I knew was in the bond business so I suppose it could support one more single man” (Fitzgerald 20). In the summer of 1922, he decided to rent a house in what is known as West Egg, Long Island. The only connections Nick had in the East were his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan, whom he had met at college years ago. Daisy and Tom, along with their young daughter lived in the East Egg. The mansion next to Nick’s house belonged to Jay Gatsby. In the beginning of the novel, Nick makes it known to readers that he hasn’t seen Gatsby even though he was throwing large, loud, and outrageous parties almost every night. However, when Nick and Gatsby do meet they become rather close and by the end of

The Great Gatsby is a novel based off of the American dream, which is something that everyone strives for. The author of the book F. Scott Fitzgerald has his own American dream to become a well known writer, and to have the girl of his dreams, and throughout the novel this dream reflected in The Great Gatsby within in the characters Gatsby and Daisy. Fitzgerald had developed the character Gatsby by incorporating some of his own dreams. For example Gatsby has a forbidden love for Daisy, but he cannot have her because she does not want to leave her husband, Gatsby also wants to do everything he can for Daisy but since she will not leave her husband Gatsby is doing all of this for no reason, and in the

Deception in The Great Gatsby The Roaring Twenties embodied a time of raunchy rebellion fed by wealth, sex, and booze. Social structures were challenged, and traditional morals were broken. The characters in The Great Gatsby are notorious for their secrets, deceptions, and lies. In “The Ways We Lie”, Stephanie Ericsson presents a variety of the different ways people lie; from “small falsehoods” (159) to “living a lie” (167), the characters, Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald fall in ascending order on the spectrum.

In The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan are two wealthy but careless residents of East Egg, New York. Jay Gatsby, Daisy’s old boyfriend, lives in West Egg and recently became wealthy, as opposed to the inherited wealth that she and Tom have. Gatsby is still in love with Daisy, and throws parties every weekend in an attempt to get her attention. Towards the beginning of the novel, Gatsby invites the narrator Nick Carraway, who is also his neighbor and Daisy’s cousin, to one of his parties. In chapter three of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick uses vivid imagery, figurative language, and syntax in descriptions of Gatsby’s parties in order to communicate both the enticing appearance of wealth, as well as its destructive nature.

The Corruption of the American Dream and Society, first took place in the 1920’s, also commonly known as the “roaring twenties”, when this new ideology erupted. Therefore, this idea of the free market and opportunity took over the market industry, especially in stocks. People started seeing possibility to become very wealthy without anyone to stop them. They ended up liking this lifestyle which boosted the decay of the American Dream and Society. Where people could care less about the true meaning of American Dream which is about freedom, hard work and prosperity; instead, people had begun to care a great deal about social status. In addition, The Great Gatsby, which is set in the heart of the “roaring twenties”, where F. Scott Fitzgerald ties his thoughts and his life experience of this damaging effect on the people into his book. Using the main characters he shows us how the men and women in his life were, how they were caught up in all of this. In addition to the downfall of the American Dream the reader can also pick up the themes of corruption of Society and the emptiness behind the glamour of the Jazz Age from the characters.

Nick sees Gatsby as the beacon of human perfection a man with a dream so pure it couldn’t be corrupted by anyone. Nick sees this once incorruptible dream in the “Gatsby believed in the Green light, the orgastic future…” (Fitzgerald 180). Nick’s tone shows that he saw Gatsby’s dream not what the end goal was but what the dream symbolized. The dream of Gatsby was treated so poorly as if it meant nothing to everybody, and Nick could sympathize with this dream for, in the beginning, Nick was much the very same way weak and vulnerable to the power of everyone else. Gatsby’s dream only grow the more he wanted to achieve it and Nick grows in character from watching Gatsby never give up on it. Gatsby teaches Nick to be dignified indirectly and teaches him to see the world as a place that is formal and filled with dignity. When Gatsby is murdered because of the corrupt people around him, Gatsby’s dream dies with him, and Nick is tormented by the absence of the once great Gatsby. Nick later walks the streets of the once great wonderland and sees its wonder no longer, “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction” (Fitzgerald 176) Nick has been taught by Gatsby that the world should be seen as formal and be dignified, and with this knowledge he realizes that the

While readers are shown this message through the downfall of greed many times, there is an emphasis on the topic specifically during the last conversation Nick and Gatsby have. Nick says to Gatsby, “you’re worth the whole damn bunch put together”(154 Fitzgerald). While this certainly isn’t a typical compliment, it comes as a surprise to readers because of Nick’s character. He was advised by his father to be careful when passing judgement on people, a recommendation that changes the telling of the entire story. Nick rarely expresses an opinion on the moral value of the people around him, and Gatsby is no exception. Based on this fact alone, the few words go a long way. In order to best understand why Nick believes this to be true, it is important to understand what makes Gatsby different from all other characters. Judging on face value, Gatsby is no different from every other person living in East or West Egg. He has excess wealth, throws too many parties, has a list of petty and meaningless relationships, and is portrayed as a liar from the beginning. At the same time, he seems careless and irresponsible, as well as socially awkward. None of these characteristics make him stand out from the crowd of equally stuck up characters. The most relevant difference that sets Gatsby aside from the crowd is that he has a goal besides making money. Tom and Daisy appear to be living in order to make money; it is as if their final destination is simply more wealth. Gatsby is separated from this group because his ultimate goal is to restore his past relationship with Daisy and is using money as a way to accomplish his goal. While the two concepts seem to bleed together, a clear distinction can be made in the purpose of having wealth. The Buchanan’s want money simply to

The West Egg is home to Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, and Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man known for often throwing luxurious parties in his king-size mansion. Gatsby and Nick both strive to escalate on the ladder of social class. The West Egg is known as the “less fashionable of the two [eggs]” (Fitzgerald, 5). The West Eggers want to fit in with the East Eggers, yet it’s nearly impossible. No matter how much money people like Gatsby earn they will never be equal to those like Tom. People like Tom have a history of family title which has been formed over numerous years. Family title and ranking is extremely important and plays a large yet significant role in The Great Gatsby.