ipl-logo

Corruption In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

1307 Words6 Pages

Can having power turn into corruption? The wealthy characters in the 1925 novel "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald were corrupted by their power. The novel analyzes how power can lead to vanity, greed, and disregard for the law. The main character, Jay Gatsby, is an excellent example of how money and power can lead to corruption, as he uses his riches to buy people’s loyalty and get what he wants.

This novel depicts the theme of power, wealth, and corruption. At the movie's beginning, Tom Buchanan, one of the richest men in the country, receives a call from someone after he gets off his horse. He answers the phone and tells the person on the other side that he told them not to call him at his house. Nick Carraway, the narrator/main …show more content…

Right after that, the phone rings. Tom’s wife, Daisy, and her friend, Jordan Baker, know that the person on the other side was Tom’s mistress from NYC (Chapter 1). As a result of his powerful status, Tom expresses his racist views and is in an affair with another woman. Tom's words and behavior are unacceptable, yet they don't feel they can do anything to challenge him. This highlights the power dynamics that exist between the dominant and oppressed classes. Later on, Nick gets invited to his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, big celebration. He’s the only one invited. Nick meets Jordan at the party and searches for Gatsby, eventually encountering him. Nick informs Jordan that “Young men don’t just drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a place on Long Island”. Jordan responds with “He told me once that he was an Oxford man. However, I don’t believe it”. Then Gatsby calls Jordan over to talk to her about something. After that, she tells Nick that “it all makes sense” but claims that she couldn’t tell anyone about what Gatsby told her. So Nick is left with an unknown. (Chapter 3). There is something more profound and completely different beneath Gatsby's opulence …show more content…

As portrayed by Jordan, Gatsby is a lovesick, innocent young soldier who is desperately trying to win the heart of the woman of his dreams. Now that Gatsby is a fully developed character in the novel, Nick's respect and disdain for him become clear. While the love-sick soldier offers hope and genuineness, Gatsby, the corrupt business owner, represents greed and ethical corruption. Nick's opinion of Gatsby continues to evolve as he learns more about Gatsby's life. His perception of Gatsby is drastically altered as he discovers Gatsby's true identity and the nature of his wealth. This makes Nick increasingly wary of Gatsby, as he is no longer the innocent young man he once was. While Jay, Daisy, Tom, Nick, and Jordan were hanging out in an NYC hotel, Tom asks Jay about life in Oxford. But Tom asks the question in a semi-aggressive way. Jay responds with “It was 1919, I only stayed there 5 months. That’s why I can’t exactly call myself an Oxford man” (Chapter 7). Gatsby is using his power to lie about his education so that everyone will believe where his wealth came from. Tom is not convinced and continues to probe Jay, who then gets angry and tells Tom to stop. Tom's aggressive questioning

Show More
Related
864 Words | 4 Pages

Being “James” Gatsby he could never win his biggest obsession. He wanted more than what life was going to give him spontaneously so he worked to make himself more than he already was: a self-made millionaire. He wants the girl so as a result he hides what he came from and how he became who he

Read More
808 Words | 4 Pages

After that he truly noticed how humble he looked on the outside, Gatsby keeping a cool and caring facade. At second glance, Nick noticed Gatsby sounded like he was hiding or concealing something, which he finds out was the truth about Jay Gatz later on. Tom later on reveals some truth about how Gatsby acquired his life now; all by chance of fate. Not only is Daisy in tears from the sight, Jordan and Nick speechless, but Gatsby is stunned by the information Tom attained from his sources. Nick also through the whole time they knew, was told bits and pieces of Gatsby and his credibility was tested, and was now somewhat trashed because of Tom’s

Read More
1091 Words | 5 Pages

The information that Gatsby does tell is mostly lies and Tom isn’t believing them. " 'I'd like to know who he is and what he does,' insisted Tom. ' And I think I'll make a point of finding out'" (108) Tom does investigate Gatsby and find out that he is lying about where his wealth and fortune comes

Read More
760 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby tells Nick about how

Read More
852 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby is telling Nick all about his past to attempt to bond, but all of the information is false, “He hurried the phrase, ‘educated at Oxford” as if it had bothered him before. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces” (66). Gatsby boasts to Nick that he had gone to Oxford, but Nick notices that he seems a little bit nervous as he boasts about his education, as if he were, as Jordan said, lying about his past. He feels the need to lie about his successful education to brag about his completion of the American Dream, which he actually corrupted for himself. Gatsby had his future set out for him in his own mind, “Jay Gatsby sprang from his platonic conception of himself.

Read More
1299 Words | 6 Pages

Nick went back and forth in trusting Gatsby. Nick had heard so many rumors and he was confused and curious

Read More
433 Words | 2 Pages

The man at the table explained that he was Gatsby. Jordan then explains to Nick that Gatsby is claimed to be an Oxford man. Jordan also explains that she likes large parties better than small parties because they are smaller and more intimate. At two o’clock Nick and Jordan made their way inside. He explained that there were many wives fighting with their husbands about leaving.

Read More
703 Words | 3 Pages

In this book money is shown to cause corruption in Gatsby, Tom, and in relationships in the book. Corruption can occur in many types of ways weather it is in some ones position and status, in a relation causing destruction to the relation, also corruption can just cause a person to change be two faced. Gatsby is a character that is shown to be corrupt. In the book Gatsby tends to be distant from everyone and no one really knows who he is or where he came from therefore he has acquired

Read More
1416 Words | 6 Pages

While money may be an essential aspect of life, becoming wealthy often leads to more trouble than it is worth. Many people during the 1920’s earned money rather easily, whether that be through honest, hard work, or more underground illegal methods. Those who pursue wealth, however, seem to find themselves consumed by the promise of money. As they become more and more desperate to climb the ladder of success their morals seem to be left further and further behind. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the character Jay Gatsby to illustrate how newfound wealth can lead to corruption and ultimately a disastrous end.

Read More
482 Words | 2 Pages

Fitzgerald’s work in writing the Great Gatsby warrants extraditionary literary quality as to how elegantly he materializes words into elaborate scenes. The first direct confrontation with the famed parties of Gatsby appear written so immersively as to envelop the mood of the text to let Nick know that “the party has begun” (Fitzgerald 45). The mood grows so immersive as to allow the continual visualization of “the lights [growing] brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun and [how] now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher” (Fitzgerald 44). Fitzgerald words the descriptions in such a way that Nick’s surroundings appear as a coherent living party which combines all those specific,

Read More
142 Words | 1 Pages

The corruption of people and society is one of the prominent themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. The characters in the book are consumed by their own greed and desire for wealth, which leads them to indulge in corrupt practices. The society depicted in the novel is one that is superficial and materialistic, where people are judged based on their wealth and social status rather than their characters. The corruption of people and society is exemplified by the characters' immoral behavior, such as Tom's infidelity, Daisy's recklessness, and Gatsby's shady business dealings. Fitzgerald uses these characters and their actions to criticize the moral decadence of the American society of the 1920s.

Read More
671 Words | 3 Pages

In response to this argument, Tom becomes infuriated and breaks Myrtle’s nose. As the summer progresses, Nick quietly observes the extravagant parties that occur every weekend at his neighbor’s mansion- and one day he even receives an invitation to one himself. It is during a party that Nick runs into Jordan Baker and has the chance to meet the man known as Gatsby in flesh. As the night goes on, Nick and Jordan spend most of their time together and in the midst of one of their conversations, Gatsby’s butler approaches Jordan and tells her that Gatsby wishes to speak with her alone. Through this private conversation with Jordan, Nick later learns more about his mysterious neighbor, his history with Daisy, and his quest to one day reunite with her.

Read More
1314 Words | 6 Pages

To start, Gatsby has grown fond of his manipulative behaviour, using it on each character he comes across. His tendency to lie to people to attain his own interests implies a lack of moral character turning Gatsby into the anti-hero of the novel especially when he is avoiding every conflict even when Nick caught one of his lies that he “‘inherited your money.’ ‘I did, old sport’ he said automatically, ‘but I lost most of it in the big panic—the panic of the war” (Fitzgerald 90) proving his anti-heroism by shunning the truth for his own benefit. Additionally, the tool of deception is abused by Gatsby exposing his dark nature as an anti-hero in his character relationships. He used his false identity to exert control over others around him and his influence has a huge impact Nick believes Gatsby is “worth the whole damn bunch put together” (Fitzgerald 154) showing the idolization beginning and the scepticism disappearing.

Read More
1909 Words | 8 Pages

An important theme in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the corruption of morals because of wealth. It doesn’t matter if one comes from old or new money, wealth will corrupt the morality of even the humblest. The first example of wealth corrupting morals is in the indifference to infidelity between the married Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. The next example of wealth corrupting morals is seen in Jordan Baker’s actions to keep her luxurious lifestyle. Third, Jim Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth lead to the corruption of his morals.

Read More
828 Words | 4 Pages

At the beginning of the novel Jay Gatsby’s wealth and identity are a great conundrum. Since Gatsby’s identity and history were a mystery, many speculated his involvement in World War I as a spy or assassin. Other hypothesized Gatsby was a man of oxford who inherited all of his wealth from inheritance. As Nick Carraway meets Gatsby for the first time, the readers receive the first true glimpse of Gatsby’s character. At first, Jay Gatsby presents himself during one of his parties when Nick was searching for him.

Read More

More about Corruption In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Related Topics

Open Document