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Examples Of Con Men In The Great Gatsby

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There exists two men capable of deceiving whole towns and villages. They scammed hundreds of people in numerous communities for their own personal gain. Existing in the world of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, the Duke and King serve to represent the corruption of an unethical society. The nature of the two con men parallel the immoral attributes of characters in The Great Gatsby. Like Twain, Fitzgerald draws on the lack of morality evident during a specific time period, in this case the 1920s, allowing it to influence the way he chooses to depict his characters as innately flawed in nature. Much like the way the Duke and King's selfish motivations correspond to the 1800s, the actions of Fitzgerald's characters correspond to the 1920s. Because …show more content…

Popular crimes during the 1920s are reflected through Gatsby’s questionable past. During the 1920s bootleggers like George Remus became rich off of the illegal booze trade, which caused some critics to suspect that he inspired the characters Fitzgerald presents (Eversole). Fitzgerald proves this suggestion to be true when Tom Buchanan unveils the truth about Gatsby’s past. Tom reveals that “[Gatsby] and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter…” (Fitzgerald 141). This crime that Gatsby commits shows he has bad morals through his motivation to do so. Gatsby knew that Daisy would not love him unless he had money, and so he felt that what he did was justified. However, Gatsby’s actions does not prove that he has sound values, but instead that he does not understand the ramifications of his actions. While Gatsby’s immorality came in part from his motivation, it was also created through his decision not to drink but continue selling alcohol. Gatsby decided he would not drink after witnessing its harmful effects on Dan Cody. “It was indirectly due to Cody that Gatsby drank so little… for himself [Gatsby] formed the habit of letting liquor alone.” (Fitzgerald 107). Although Gatsby himself did not condone drinking, he still sold liquor to people illegally. His actions are hypocritical of his beliefs, which shows that he does not hold sound values. With the heavy focus on prohibition during the time it would be suspected that Gatsby would never be a bootlegger, however his decision to be one and lie about it gives him a bad sense of

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966 Words | 4 Pages

The Moral Decay of the Materialistic Although F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby debuted in 1925– before the Great Depression– it serves as a prophetic exemplification of the the material excess of the 1920s that drowned out signs of the coming Great Depression. The book’s plot follows the bootlegger Jay Gatsby as he pursues his old love Daisy Buchanan through flaunting his new extravagant lifestyle, mainly by throwing ostentatious parties. Yet, in the end, Daisy chooses her unfaithful husband Tom over Gatsby. Through Fitzgerald’s use of wealthy, materialistic characters, he comments on the effect of the material excess of the roaring twenties: moral corruption.

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494 Words | 2 Pages

The Great Gatsby written in, 1917, takes place in a time much different from ours. Everyone was in pursuit of happiness; an idea Thomas Jefferson promised everyone American when he signed the United States Constitution. The pursuit of happiness my friend has many shapes and forms, one of Greed and Lust for wealth and women. The rich thought they totally outclassed the "poor" and would often classicize them. In Chapter 6, Tom says, "By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas but women run around too much these days to suit me".

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332 Words | 2 Pages

In order for Gatsby to achieve material wealth, he finds himself overwrought with unauthorized money. Gatsby displays examples of moral corruption through his procurement of wealth. Gatsby’s business is not strong; he admits to Nick that he is “in the drug store business” (95). During the prohibition era, which synchronizes with the “Roaring 20s”, the drug store business was also known as bootlegging. Bootlegging was a profitable business and was usually linked to gangsters, much like Meyer Wolfsheim, Gatsby’s business partner.

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1188 Words | 5 Pages

Mark Twain states in his essay on the Decay of the Art of Lying that, “No fact is more firmly established than that lying is a necessity of our circumstances.” Lying has turned into a component that individuals utilize normally, for example, white lies. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby are seen as having a similar fundamental characteristic of deception. Does this trademark portray them, as well as every single person in general because of being naturally unscrupulous? Some untruthful words may feel harmless, but in turn, cause great harm to others.

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569 Words | 3 Pages

When Gatsby’s full character is brought into the novel he is said to have “‘killed a man’” and been “‘a German spy during the war’” to show other supporting characters ambiguity toward the rumors surrounding his luxurious parties (Fitzgerald 44). Thus, already

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826 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.

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686 Words | 3 Pages

He thinks that the only way to get Daisy would be to have all this wealth. While it is true, it has killed him. It has broken all the morals he had once possessed “However, the characters in The Great Gatsby show that in order to reach social and financial success a person might have to sacrifice his ethics by telling lies, oppressing others, or breaking laws.” (Lehan 270). Gatsby wants all this wealth in order to live the American dream.

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1320 Words | 6 Pages

The American Dream is what many set their goals in life to be based upon, money, family, peace, and love. Every character in The Great Gatsby is selfish, but the four main characters that present themselves as the most selfish are, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and Gatsby. In the Great Gatsby, the American Dream is present, but is overshadowed because of all the selfish people only wanting to become a higher class or show that they are of a higher class than everyone else around them. The Character that has the least amount significance to the story, but the most selfish is Jordan Baker. Jordan is described as an attractive, slender woman, small breasted and has a grey sun-strained eyes.

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1261 Words | 6 Pages

The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic 20th century story -that period was also known as the “roaring twenties”- which critiques the vision of the American Dream people in general have. At that time, the idea of a free market, and industrial revolution provided the opportunity for many to seize the market and people were starting to see that they could become rich without having any type of restriction. New York city was the centre of this wealth-creating society. After the war, this movement generated new opportunities and ambitions for people wanting to start a wealthy upper class life. That period of time was all about alcohol, partying, gambling, fashion, and money.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

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565 Words | 3 Pages

In the 20’s, the Mafia were the kingpins in the crime business, having taken advantage of prohibition of alcohol to make most of their money. The Mafia made most of their money by selling bootleg versions of alcohol, but they made money through various different ways, none of which were legal. They used many illegal activities to make money, most of which were in big plots to get the money, such as bribing and blackmailing politicians and officers, which was probably one of their biggest schemes to get money. They had many other, smaller, ways to get money for their organization.

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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.

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1659 Words | 7 Pages

If his mind is not occupied by his mistress Myrtle, he is drowning in thoughts of Gatsby’s suspected crime-filled life. “Indeed, Tom Buchanan's sources appear most reliable in his characterization of Gatsby's drug store chain as ‘just small change’ compared to his stolen bonds” (Pauly 116). Buchanan is a hypocrite towards Gatsby. He denounces Gatsby’s life actions as being morally evil but Tom’s actions are no different than Gatsby’s in the sense that both men are unfaithful to themselves and their nearest relationships. Tom is competing with Gatsby through deception and treachery, and their dangerous habits wound them

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952 Words | 4 Pages

He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” (7.127) Gatsby earned his fortune through the illegal sale and distribution of liquor. Rumors of Gatsby’s being a bootlegger circulated with partygoers in chapter four while indications that Gatsby may be involved in criminal activity are suggested in chapter five.

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609 Words | 3 Pages

The Great Gatsby. In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald demonstrates how the wealthy’s excessive consumption of alcohol brings out the worst in their characters. For instance, the negative parts of Tom’s personality are highlighted when he drinks. Tom drinks all throughout the party he attends with Nick. He becomes violent and aggressive with Myrtle, his mistress, and “making a short deft movement ...broke her nose with his open hand (Fitzgerald 41).”

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