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Examples Of Virtues In The Great Gatsby

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A life without virtues can be a meaningless one to live. Some people may acquire an obscene amount of material goods and fill their bank accounts with large sums of money while expecting all problems in life to go away. However, money alone cannot give the happiness that faith, hope, and love can. This can be seen in The Great Gatsby when Nick describes Tom and Daisy as being a restless pair. They “drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.” The manner in which Daisy and Tom move around the country shows that they are not happy with their lives. They depend on their old money and rich friends to keep them happy, but the lack of love in their broken marriage and relationship with God prevents them …show more content…

This lack of virtues can be seen as a prevalent problem in America and is much more deep-rooted than many people may think. Lewis Lapham states that when a man pursues the American Dream, he must have physical signs of wealth as a way to show his successes and help him believe he is happy. It is important to note that since the American Dream can be so empty when it is unaccompanied with faith, hope, and love, one must have physical signs of wealth in order to convince himself of happiness. If someone is truly happy, then surely he does not need something to convince him of it. Americans usually can measure the success in their lives by the amount of wealth or material possessions they have. In order to truly be aware of their successes, they usually acquire more and more material possessions in order to assure themselves that their success is valuable and useful. However, simple material possessions do not truly make someone happy on their own. Faith, hope, and love from oneself and others can satisfy one’s need for happiness. One can truly feel success when surrounded by loved ones since it benefits them and creates happiness all

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