Morality in "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay examples

Throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows that Daisy is self-centered and careless at heart; she is a dreamer who fails to face reality. Continuing an affair with Gatsby with no real intentions of leaving her husband eventually leads to the death of Gatsby. In return she shows little to no concerns over the death of her “love” Gatsby and returns into the arms of her corrupt husband. Tom, who is also unfaithful in their relationship has a mistress of his own who is killed in a car accident while Daisy was driving. Tom as well shows no remorse in her death and moves on like nothing ever happened. Daisy and Tom are the prime example of corruption in both material success and with what wealth can bring; “They instinctively seek out each other because each recognizes the other’s strength in the corrupt

In chapter four, the author uses the theme immorality through the character Daisy. Daisy is a popular and wealthy woman that has no values and no purpose in life. She also doesn't have much interest in life so she goes out to one social scene to the next; usually she is dressed in gold and silver. She has a daughter Pammy, but her daughter does not give any meaning to Daisy's life. Daisy falls in love with Gatsby, who is a solider stationed in Louisville. However, her family does not approve of Gatsby because he can not give her any wealth or stability. Therefore, she marries Tom while she is with Tom she has an affair with Gatsby to help her escape her boredom. Jordan mentions Gatsby's name to Daisy and she responds by saying, ""it must be the

Daisy is a vain lady. She marries Tom for money and status, and turns her back on true love and happiness, which is represented by Gatsby. Her American Dream is to enjoy a luxurious and comfortable life given to her by, hopefully a man who truly loves her, and whom she also loves. The corruption of her human values begins when she decides not to wait anymore for Gatsby, her real love, but to take the opportunity that Tom Buchanan offers, which are money and status. Her choices reveal her vain and superficial nature hidden beneath her beautiful and innocent look. When Gatsby returns with wealth and status in order

A final character that succumbs to the lure of wealth and discards their morals is Daisy. Daisy is involved in a marriage with a man she is unsure of her love for. Tom is unfaithful, and has been involved in several affairs, yet Daisy remains married to him. Long ago when she was involved with Gatsby, she had ended the relationship

In the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Wilson is a morally ambiguous character. George plays into the overall theme of the book which is a blatant lack of morality. Most of the characters in the book have no morals because no matter what they do, their money can always get them out of a less than desirable situation. George Wilson is not like the other characters because he does not have money to help him out of a situation, yet he still abandons any morals he has because of his rage over the death of his wife Myrtle. In this book, George Wilson transforms from a man that readers pity to a man who loses all morals and murders Gatsby simply on intuition.

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

Although Daisy may seem sweet, it is difficult not to over think her actions throughout the book. If Daisy was always in love with Gatsby as she proclaimed she had been, then how did she move on so quickly? It is tempting to jump to the conclusion that she had only married Tom for his money. Additionally, it is evident that Daisy is aware of Tom having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Knowing this, was Daisy truly in love with Gatsby after he returned, or was she only acting this way in retaliation to Tom’s affair? If both of these theories are true, that qualifies Daisy as the most selfish person in the novel. These actions cause us to question Daisy’s character throughout the novel; however, there is one incident that is unmistakably an act of selfishness. While Daisy was driving Gatsby and herself home, she ran over Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress. Some believed it was an accident, but Daisy never stopped driving. “The ‘death car,’ as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment and then disappeared around the next bend.”(Fitzgerald 144) Because she was in Gatsby’s car, he inadvertently took the blame and eventually got himself killed. The author merely discloses that Daisy and Tom had gone away never to return. Was Gatsby’s death a result of Daisy’s selfishness? Daisy’s selfish desires destroyed relationships and

To what extent of a person becoming more well- known, popular, rich, and more or less famous is the limit to their values, morals, and true self? Many during the age of 1920 started to be faced with such a question. How does it happen and how do their morals go so quickly out the window when faced with a new and higher social or economic state? In this story Gatsby was a fine young man with dreams and aspirations for his future and who he wanted to become. Him deep down still had these morals inside of him, but with the increase in his wealth, like many others, these morals began to fade to the background. Fitzgerald is able to show us how Gatsby and the people he surrounded himself with lost their morals through when Daisy left Gatsby for Tom, and when Gatsby was killed.

So with that being said, he turns to making his money by illegal ways like bootlegging. Daisy is to blame for most of Gatsby’s problems because of the way she feels about money, she has affected other characters due to this issue. Gatsby has to be the most affected by Daisy and her decisions, like not waiting for him when he went to war. Daisy has Gatsby head over heels, no matter what she does, he cannot stop obsessing over her and will support her in everything she decides to do. Even to the end of the book where she kills Myrtle, Tom’s mistress with Gatsby’s car. Despite the fact that he knows that she killed a person, he still wants to take the blame for her. A little before she killed Myrtle, Tom finds out about the affair she was having with Gatsby. Tom confronts them about it and Gatsby comes clean to him and tells him what he thinks is true. Which is that Daisy loves him not Tom and she wants to leave him, yet daisy is speechless because at some point she did love Tom and is not so sure she wants to leave him. Gatsby ends up dead because of Daisy bright idea of killing someone and her husband Tom blames it on Gatsby knowing that Wilson was going to kill him. This shows the type of person Daisy is, so she has made many decisions in her past that eventually came to hunt many others in the present till the end of the book her

Despite Daisy being a dislikeable character, there are some instances in which the reader feels sympathetic towards her. A big factor is the affair that Tom has with Myrtle. Daisy knows that what her husband is doing, but she still stays with him for the fact that they have a daughter together and for financial support. When Nick first sees Daisy's daughter, she says, "I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." By this she means that if her daughter is in the same position she is in her marriage, she won't know of the affair that her husband might have. The reader feels bad for Daisy because she is not being treated the way a wife is supposed to be treated. That is why she is yearning for love, and Gatsby was there to give it to her. Another time is at the hotel suite scene. She doesn't know who to choose from-Tom or Gatsby. She's torn between two lovers, and both of them have their own reasons for loving her, and why she should choose them. Gatsby has a lot to offer her, and loves her for who she is. He succeeded in life just to be with her. Although Tom is having an affair, he questions her about their love, and that Gatsby cannot take his place.

There are many themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby in which many people can relate to today. Fitzgerald demonstrates a lot of themes that have to humanity and its many flaws. One of the major themes in Fitzgerald’s book is the theme of selfishness and its negative effects on the characters and the people around them. According to the Oxford Dictionary, selfishness is “lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.” In more simple terms, it is when a person puts his or her own needs in before others. There are many characters in this book that depict this characteristic through the story.

Daisy is one of the socially eccentric characters who is most responsible for Gatsby's death even though she did not pull the trigger largely because of her carelessness with the people around her. There are many points in

Daisy, like her husband, is a girl of material and class at heart, and Gatsby being her escape from a hierarchist world. Daisy has just grown up knowing wealth, so in her greedy pursuit of happiness and the “American Dream” Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby's heart and life were compromised, without claiming responsibility on her part. Daisy was “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville...” (116) Jordan says, describing early affections between Daisy and Gatsby. She goes on to say, “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” (116) . Daisy was a fancied girl who has Gatsby tied around her finger, Jordan explains that he was looking at Daisy “...in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time...” (117). Daisy, abusing Gatsby’s love for her uses it to create security and protection, greedily and selfishly allowing him to take the fault. While Daisy’s beautiful, alluring traits turn her into an innocent, naive flower, she plays the ultimate villain.

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.

Daisy grew up spoiled due to the vast wealth she obtained from being ‘old money’, which caused her to become selfish and self-centred. Daisy had become selfish to the point that she has an expensive and materialistic desire or want. When Gatsby shows Daisy his mansion, she gazed in awe as “she admired […] the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils […] and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate.”(Fitzgerald,97) Daisy, all along, does not have feelings for Gatsby, but more for his money and expensive possessions, as she revealed her true self during Tom and Gatsby’s argument. Daisy is selfish even if money was not involved, as she does not feel grateful for Gatsby taking the blame for her killing Myrtle Wilson. For instance, when Nick tells Gatsby about Mrytle dying, Gatsby replies “’Yes,’ he said after the moment, ‘but of course I’ll say I was.’” (Fitzgerald, 154) When Daisy cried in Gatsby’s mansion, she was crying about her actions in killing Myrtle, meanwhile she does not care about Gatsby’s act of chivalry. Furthermore, Daisy takes advantage of Gatsby by taking Tom along to Gatsby’s party, when Daisy was personally invited to essentially go alone. When Gatsby saw Tom appearing to his party, Gastby with a light temper has a conversation with Tom. He says “I know your wife’, continued Gatsby, almost aggressively.”