In the bible, James chapter four verse seventeen goes on to say, “Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do it commits a sin.” This relates to The Great Gatsby because many of the characters knew about wrongdoings, but chose not to do the right thing and tell someone. Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s innovative novel The Great Gatsby proves that a person’s unwillingness to report a socially immoral act makes them just as morally wrong. Nick is the best example of how failing to reveal an immoral act can make one just as morally wrong. This is evident through Nick’s knowledge of Tom’s affair, Nick helping Daisy and Gatsby have an affair, and Nick realizing his wrong after hearing about the events following Myrtle’s death. While there are many examples of how a person’s unwillingness to report a socially immoral act makes them just as morally wrong, one of the most significant examples of this is how Nick did not do anything when he found out about Tom’s affair with Myrtle. “‘Why-” she said hesitantly, “Tom’s got some women in New York. … “She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?’” (Fitzgerald 15). Jordan Baker is explaining to Nick that Tom is having an affair and that she had no right to call while they are having dinner. This is the first that Nick hears about Tom’s mistress, but not the last. Nick then goes on to meet Myrtle, the other half of Tom’s affair, in Chapter two when he and Tom went into town together.
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby to criticize society’s modern custom, hypocrisy. In the story, Fitzgerald emphasizes appearances. The Webster dictionary defines the word as, “an impression given by someone or something”. The author discusses how people love to make things appear as something different, something they dream and yearn for. Fitzgerald uses three major characters to describe the main behaviors of hypocrites in society: first we have those, such as Nick Carraway, that claim to have animosity towards the delusions of society, yet they become accomplices of what they despise. Then we have the individuals who are like Tom, who demand that others follow their virtues, even if they don’t follow them themselves. Finally we
In many instances, Gatsby showed signs of selflessness. But, if the reader were to dig deeper into the roots of the story, they will be able to see that under the kind acts and good deeds, Gatsby’s intentions were always selfish. After the car scene, Tom, Jordan, Daisy and Nick returned to Daisy and Tom’s house. As Gatsby waits outside of the home, Nick, unknowingly, asks Gatsby whether or not Daisy was driving. Gatsby replies saying, “Yes, but of course I’ll say I was” (Fitzgerald 143). When Gatsby took Daisy’s place in the murder of Myrtle, although seeming kind-hearted, his only reason for this was to earn Daisy’s love and to impress her. Gatsby has somewhat put up an image of himself to be the pure and almighty man that deserves Daisy more. Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby’s business partner, mentions to Nick of Gatsby’s chivalrous actions towards women saying, “Yeah, Gatsby’s very careful about women. He would never so much look at a friend’s wife” (Fitzgerald 72). Although Meyer Wolfshiem’s comment on Gatsby about him being a gentleman, and how he would never look at another man’s wife, Gatsby proceeds to exceed all expectations and have an affair with Tom’s wife, Daisy Buchanan. Yes, some might say his only reason for doing so was out of true love and destiny but, in either case, it was morally wrong. In every action that Gatsby commits for Daisy, his selfishness secretly hides beneath it, shading itself from light so no one will approach the real man that lurks behind the curtains of self pride.
Why do we often look up to the higher class? Why do we crave the fabulous lifestyles of the wealthy and famous? Murder, cheating, gambling and wild parties are just some examples of what went on in The Great Gatsby. First of all, the rich were also criminals and may have gotten their endless money in illegal matters. Secondly, most all of the rich characters shown throughout the book were unfaithful to his or her spouse. Thirdly, the wealthy were lavishly wasteful and did not seem to care about others. Finally, a character that expresses immorality the most is Tom Buchanan. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, his intentions were for people to learn to know that being rich or the hunger for money can lead to the immoral actions including some
“the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired”(Fitzgerald). From this Nick puts Gatsby as a pursuer and Daisy as the pursued. Nick is essentially stereotyping people with four niche stereotypes that are accurate for very few people. Nick tells gatsby “You’re acting like a little boy” and that Gatsby was being rude. Nick rarely tells people what he thinks of them and their actions. It was a rather condescending statement towards Gatsby, who was already embarrassed.(Fitzgerald 88). One of the few times Nick tells people how he feels about something it’s negative. Throughout the story Nick never tells Daisy about Tom’s affair and Never tells Tom about Daisy’s. Nick also could have told Mr.Wilson from being surprised. If either Tom or Daisy knew they would have divorced ending horribly dishonest relationship. This would have benefited everyone. Mr.Wilson knew that if he did not go west his wife would leave him, but if he knew before he could have either ended the affair or his marriage. If he had told anyone instead of standing by and doing
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, an unfortunate and rather tragic love story is told. The narrator, Nick Carraway, plays quite a big role in the novel. He ends up knowing quite a bit of vital information about nearly every character in the book, and what he chose to do with that information greatly affected the tragic ending of this book. Throughout the novel, Nick is trusted with several secrets and choses to keep all of them to himself. He doesn’t once cross or wrong anyone. Although this is usually considered a good thing, if Nick decided to share this vital information, the tragedy at the end could have been avoided, or at the very least been less extreme.
As a society, America has created certain ideas and stereotypes of each class including the citizens within them. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses around the superficial communities of West and East Egg, and their misconceptions of one another. The citizens of East Egg, such as Daisy and Tom Buchanan, frown upon the up-and-coming men of West Egg. This includes Gatsby, who dreams of the riches they take for granted. Gatsby, who obtains his money through dishonest means appears villainous, unsuccessfully attempting to join the wealthy and elite society of East egg. However, there may be more to Gatsby's story. As Nick, the narrator, says he is “worth the whole damn bunch put together”(154). Through his descriptions and comparison of Tom’s house and Gatsby’s house, Fitzgerald reveals the true nature of the two men. While Gatsby appears to be morally corrupt, in the end he actually has pure intentions, instead it is Tom who emits negativity and is ungrateful for his life.
“The only people you have to look out for in life are the people that don’t care about anything or anyone” (Alde). In The Great Gatsby by, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom and Daisy are just those people that are not to be trusted. They have no regard for other’s feelings and live life without facing the consequences. Tom and Daisy show that they are careless people through their insensitive, thoughtless and selfish acts.
Cheating, spending, killing, although wealth seems glorious it comes with its consequences and some choose to face them and others don't. In the book the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the statement “wealth breeds carelessness” is greatly supported, the two characters who portray this the most is Tom and Daisy Buchanan. As both Tom and Daisy cheat on one another they have no regard for those they are cheating with, on or even those around the cheating. When the book progresses it becomes overwhelmingly clear that the only thing that either of them truly care for is money. Finally as the book comes to an end and their problems grow more great they use their wealth to escape and because it's so easy to get away fro their problem becomes so small to them although it's extremely great.
Characteristics of Tom stood out to the reader during Nick’s first ever party in New York. While Nick was spending the day with Tom, Tom picked up his mistress, Myrtle, and threw a party in their apartment in New York. A couple other people attended this party. They knew both Tom and Myrtle were married, but they did not seem awkward about it. Myrtle’s sister, Catherine, believed Tom and Myrtle should get married. “‘... why go on living with them if they can’t
The basic principles of living a happy life consist of morals and virtues. But those alone cannot satisfy a human’s selfish desire of wanting more riches and power. The evilness within Daisy created a cycle of problems that she could not escape. Daisy’s greed and corruption led her to take shortcuts and break the principles of a human by cheating on her husband, neglecting her daughter, and betraying Gatsby.
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.
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
Tom and Daisy Buchanan disguise themselves as wealthy, upper-class people from the East, but, when their immorality threatens their reputation, they find they are no better than their heritage, which stems from the Midwest. When Tom and Daisy constantly try to position themselves as having a better reputation, it establishes that they do not have the status necessary to be part of eastern upper-class. Tom and Daisy both initiate affairs in which neither truly care for the person they are having the affair with. Nick witnesses “Tom Buchanan [break Myrtle's] nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 37). Tom uses Myrtle, his mistress, for sexual pleasure, but does not care for her well-being. Tom uses her because his marriage with Daisy was not made for love, but rather to increase their social standing. Daisy also has an affair with her former lover, Gatsby, and after observing his wealth, she develops a relationship with him. Both Tom and Daisy are unsatisfied with their relationship, but rather than tarnish their social status with divorce they choose infidelity. Tom and Daisy’s desperation to maintain their status causes their immorality. Furthermore, in many instances Tom insults Gatsby, especially to degrade his wealth and achievements. For example, Tom says, “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife” (130). Tom knows that he can only cause true damage by insulting Gatsby’s accomplishments. Tom desires to damage Daisy’s
Throughout one’s life, one is constantly told to do what is right despite the consequences or results. In reality these morals are practiced less and less as people worry less about the consequences of ignoring these morals. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald saw the disintegration of humanity early in the 20th century. In his novel, “The Great Gatsby”, written in 1925, he exemplifies the moral decay that surrounds society. He uses symbols such as the billboard of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, who serves as a representation of a forgotten God, to showcase the lack of care for things that were once important, such as morality.
The Webster dictionary defines morality as a moral discourse, statement or lesson. In the novel, “The Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald many of the characters could not be classified as truly moral people who exhibit goodness or correctness in their character and behavior. Tom, Daisy, and George all come to mind as the characters that have done the most moral damage throughout the novel. In the end, these individuals show characteristics of a moral decay in society because the cause corruption and lies, which is why they are morally responsible for the destruction of humanity.