Corruption In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Everyone can see. It is only with corruption, one may lose their sight literally or metaphorically. In the classic novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the consequences of personal corruption are explored and expanded upon. Fitzgerald uses multiple expressions in The Great Gatsby, from experience and his imagination, to express how his characters are blinded to reality by love. Sightlessness is something that is often overlooked as a figment of imagination. Many characters in the novel can be considered sightless -- not literally, but figuratively -- because of love.

Most have heard of the popular phrase, “blinded by love”, which is a significant theme in Fitzgerald’s novel. Gatsby is constantly oblivious to everything that

Daisy is blissfully ignorant to this. She is at a constant tug-of-war between her feelings for Gatsby and Tom, but she loves the both of them for all the wrong reasons. Daisy believes that she loves Tom when really; she is in love with the idea of having a wealthy, well-bodied man in her life. It is a well-known fact that Tom has cheated on Daisy an unfathomable number of times, but Daisy tries to block this out of her mind by attempting to keep track of his every move. Nick expands on this idea by retorting, “If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily, and say: "Where's Tom gone?" and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him coming in the door” (Fitzgerald 143). First, Tom cheated on Daisy while they were in Santa Barbara with one of the maids that was wandering around. Then, he had a full-blown affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson, who ultimately gets objectified and used. Tom was able to take advantage of the opportunities he was given regarding women and their “benefits” without thinking about the consequences of who he could end up hurting. He refused to acknowledge the negative impact his multiple affairs had on

Notably, every character featured in Fitzgerald’s novel has their own unique way of expressing themselves in a way where they all seem like polar opposites. In spite of everything, they are all the same. They all posse the same flaws underneath even if they don’t show it on the surface. For example, Daisy and Myrtle are perceived as parallels due to the way they look rather than their actions, despite the numerous amount of similarities they hold, such as falling for Tom’s manipulative ways. Owl eyes, who represents God, sees all the faults everyone beholds. Even if every character in the story was aware of being watched, all of them would still act the same way they currently do. Everyone falls for vices whether someone is watching them or not, just like in real life. Corruption has it’s way of sneaking up behind turned backs which is why most don’t realize when they’re being deceived into seeing something in another person that’s not necessarily