Corruption In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

With the prohibition of alcohol, the World War, and the formation of new things like banks, the ‘20s were full of wealthy businessmen and even wealthier mafia men. This vibrant image of booze and broads is shown quite perfectly in the tale of a man named James Gatsby. But not only does the audience see the booming nightlife they also see the corruption in these one percenters’ daily lives. In this novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald makes it evident that with Wealth and Power, comes dishonesty, deception, and eventually… death.
Throughout the book, characters are seen driving nice luxurious cars. Fitzgerald did this because of the immense wealth it took to own an automobile at the time and the responsibility automobile owners possessed. As

After one of Gatsby’s grand parties, Jordan decided she would drive herself and Nick around town when they got into an argument about Jordan’s rotten driving. So on the defensive Jordan says “‘They’ll keep out of my way’... ‘it takes two to make an accident’” (Fitzgerald 42). Jordan’s wealth through professional golfing has brought her the power that this car holds. And yet she is an utterly careless driver assuming that everyone around her will get out of her way because why should that responsibility fall on her? Her ideals have been twisted by the newfound power and wealth she has attained. Her views of safety for herself and the ones around her have been completely corrupted. Sweet lovable Daisy is also seen driving a car, but something much more tragic happens. As she is driving through the valley of ashes on her way home after dusk, Myrtle runs out into the street waving her hands above her head when “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… Myrtle Wilson [lie], her life violently extinguished…” (Fitzgerald 84). Daisy, the representation of wealth

Depictions of violence and carelessness throughout the novel show how evil people become when in contact with large amounts of money or power. Specifically, this is seen when Tom and his mistress are at a party when his mistress Myrtle mentions something about Daisy, without hesitation “[m]aking a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke [Myrtle’s] nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 30). By Myrtle bringing up Daisy it threatens Tom’s reputation, for it would not look good to be cheating on your wife. A bad reputation could ruin people’s image of Tom and the Buchanons severely damaging Tom’s income of wealth and power so he quickly shuts Myrtle up to salvage his reputation. The image of Tom assaulting Myrtle like that leaves the audience in shock at how someone could so easily do that to another human being. However, it is not that Tom was born a terrible person, it is that his wealth and prowess throughout his life have molded him into the monster that is shown before us. Fitzgerald likes to use images of violence to get his point across but in some cases, it’s not so obvious. For instance, when Nick was meeting Wolfsheim for the first time Nick had noticed Wolfsheim’s cufflinks which Mr. Wolfsheim replied with “Finest specimens of human molars” (Fitzgerald 48). How Wolfsheim got human molars is unknown; however, he sure is not a dentist, leaving