Corruption In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, is acclaimed to be one of literatures finest and most memorable. A morally accurate allegory of our nation, the novel is rich with symbolism and beautifully lyrical description. However many have critiqued that it’s ending does not live up to the complex storyline that leads up to it, arguing that the book leaves many loose ties. Although the conclusion to The Great Gatsby is argued to be an ‘empty ending’, it enforces the conclusions Nick, and furthermore Fitzgerald himself, have come to: the carelessness of the Jazz Age as well as the transformation of America from idyllic to corrupt and how that corruption has destroyed the American Dream. As Nick reminisces upon the events that the

Fitzgerald embellishes on this through the actions of all the characters, but is especially seen in the aftermath of Myrtle’s death, when Tom sets up Gatsby in order to protect Gatsby and neither Tom nor Daisy bothers to attend Gatsby’s funeral. When Nick discovers that despite his flaws, Gatsby was “worth the whole lot of them” (154, ch 8), he is ultimately condemning the carelessness of all these characters. Nick further criticizes the carelessness of Tom and Daisy in particular when he encounters Tom in the final pages of the novel: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (179, ch 9 ). Tom and Daisy are not the only characters to be condemned of carelessness, but rather everyone that Gatsby associated himself with. Even though there were hundreds of people that attended his parties and were willing to take advantage of his wealth, the only people to attend Gatsby’s funeral are Gatsby’s father, the owl-eyed man, and Nick. Although there were many people who claimed to ‘know’ Gatsby and to be ‘old friends’ with Gatsby, they only cared for the extravagance brought by his wealth. This idea is highlighted when Gatsby’s father ironically says, “’Let us