Examples Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

Thomas Jefferson, one of America’s founding fathers and the third president of U.S, proclaimed, “Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.” Jefferson implies that a person striving for the American Dream is only concerned about wealth and not about the methods he will take to achieve that wealth. That person is ready to go against his morals and take corrupt methods to achieve success. Those amoral methods include one becoming a “busy” man and avoiding spending time with his family, one becoming a drug dealer and owning drug stores, and one selecting wealthy partners. The idea of the American Dream causing a man to become “busy” is present in Adam Gopnik’s editorial, Bumping Into Mr. Ravioli. The impact of the American

A person becomes corrupt when he looks for illegal ways to achieve success. Jay Gatsby is an example of a man who used unlawful ways to attain wealth. In The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan proclaims, “I found out what your ‘drug-stores’ were… He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong” (Fitzgerald 133). Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband and whom Gatsby abhors, announces that Gatsby is not truly an honorable man. Gatsby obtains his wealth through illegal alcohol business, and this character of Gatsby adds onto many other reasons why Gatsby is never going to be like those old money people of East Egg. Gatsby’s action of bootlegging shows the audience that his strong desire for the American Dream caused him to go against morality and become corrupt. Going against morality proved to be costly for Gatsby as he was still unsuccessful in achieving his main mission: Daisy. The pursuit of the American Dream once again shows its negative consequences. One who pursues wealth will become corrupt and go in the wrong