Corruption In The Great Gatsby

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. The idea of living lavishly carefree is indeed too good to be true, for wealth only seems to bring an onslaught of new problems. When

Skewed morals are pretty common among the wealthy, including no other than Tom and Daisy Buchanan. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 179). Now Tom and Daisy are not the only ones guilty of hiding behind a shield of their wealth, Jay Gatsby is equally as punishable. Gatsby seems to believe that since he has a large amount of money he is exempt from basic moral standards. He believes that whatever he wants he shall acquire, which is why Gatsby lies to Daisy without the slightest compunction because she is the idealized object of his projections and therefore not real. Therefore, he unthinkingly assumes that he need not tell Daisy the factual truth of who he actually was when they met five years earlier and who he is now: a criminal (Mitchell 4). Gatsby values nothing other than his own personal goals, his main one being to win Daisy back. He swapped his moral decency for money and wealth, since morals alone would not win Daisy over, what use would they be to him? Gatsby lives to reach his goal of achieving Daisy’s affections, and once he realized that he could not win them he lost his entire purpose of living. Gatsby is barely changed by his murder; in this sense, Myrtle’s is the only physical death in the novel. The “colossal vitality of his

Some individuals are fortunate enough to be born into a wealthy status, they carry the stench of old money on them like perfume and never have to worry about life without a bank account to fall back on. Nick describes the aura of money coming from Daisy, saying “She’s got an indiscreet voice,” I remarked. “It’s full of—” I hesitated.“Her voice is full of money,” [Gatsby] said suddenly. That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it (Fitzgerald 120). While Tom and Daisy come from backgrounds sheltered in money, people like Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson are only just getting their first tastes of wealth. Neither have the status that comes with old money, though Gatsby sure tries his best to get others to believe he does. Status stands in the way of partnerships, new acquaintances and even possible love interests. Jay Gatsby has risen from much the same stratum as Myrtle Wilson. The limitations of this background finally make it impossible for him to win the enduring love of Daisy Fay Buchanan. Much like Myrtle, he cannot comprehend the importance of money combined with a secure social position, though he tries to make up for this by excessively flaunting his possessions, but ultimately falls short (Donaldson 7). Anyone can acquire money and become wealthy, which