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Examples Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

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Corruption is a common topic in our society today, as it can be seen everywhere from police to politicians and even everyday people. Around third of all elected representatives, police, and business executives are considered corrupt in some way. In the story of The Great Gatsby, many aspects and causes of corruption are brought to light throughout the novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald attempts to vaguely help cleanse this corruption by highlighting the moral decay, bad consequences, and emptiness associated with power and wealth. By using the examples and causes of corruption within The Great Gatsby, along with real life situations and examples of corruption, we can see how Fitzgerald is trying to send a bigger message about corruption and how to …show more content…

A great real life example of this type of behavior is with popular movie star Linday Lohan. The actress has been on a downward spiral ever since she started these habits back in 2007. In a CNN article, it states that “The actress’ struggle with drugs and alcohol sent her to five rehab facilities for a total of 250 days since January 2007” (Duke). It is also stated within the article that she has been called to court 20 times for violating her probation and was sentenced to 6 months in jail. Lohan’s actions truly show the bad side of being wealthy and powerful. It allowed her to get all the drugs she wanted and be able to do them, along with multiple crimes, with little to no punishment. This type of status can make people lose track of themselves and become very …show more content…

In The Great Gatsby, Nick states “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” (Fitzgerald 35). This quote from Nick shows how the glamorous life he has been living with the other characters in The Great Gatsby is not all as it seems. He does not feel that having all of these things in his life has made it much better, and is constantly repelled from some of the things he loved by living this way. Another example of this emptiness is with Gatsby and his parties. Gastsby throws huge parties every weekend and lots of the city comes to them, yet they lack any true meaning for Gatsby and the rest of the people. They are just a huge show of privilege that has no meaningful effect on anyone. This truly highlights part of Gatsby’s personality and an ongoing emptiness inside of him without Daisy by his

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Pursuit of wealth and status has been and always will be part of human behavior. People desire being viewed as wealthy, famed, or significant. For some, being viewed as prosperous comes before protecting their morals. While going after what is most wanted, people will do absolutely anything to achieve it. While it may look like attaining this social identity is from diligently working, sometimes it is through illicit actions.

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In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald all of the characters are immoral. Not one character in the novel show characteristics of a fully moral person. All characters show signs of immorality, but the most corrupt characters in the novel are Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby, and Daisy Buchanan. Tom Buchanan is the most corrupt character in the novel because he shows the most signs of immorality. He commits adultery by cheating on Daisy with Myrtle.

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The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald has many important scenes and quotes that help define it as one of the best written classic books. While some of these scenes important, there is one scene in the book that really sets the turning point in the setting. The scene where Gatsby and Daisy reunite after not seeing each other for over five years. This scene is important in the story because it is where Gatsby realizes that his american dream is achievable and where Daisy realizes her longing towards Gatsby.

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Gatsby lived life to the fullest by means of excess. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, follows Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, and eventually to death. Fitzgerald uses the symbols of the green light, the valley of ashes, and the eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg to support the central theme, which is the corruption and disillusionment of the American Dream. Using the representations of the green light, the Valley of Ashes, and the eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg, Fitzgerald symbolizes the corruption and disillusionment of the American Dream.

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522 Words | 3 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's timeless masterpiece, "The Great Gatsby," the character of Daisy Buchanan plays a central role, captivating readers with her beauty, charm, and mysterious aura. As Jay Gatsby's unattainable love interest, Daisy embodies the elusive American Dream, symbolizing the corruption and shallowness that often accompany it. Throughout the novel, Daisy's complex personality, inner conflicts, and societal pressures shape her actions, leaving a good impression on the narrative and its characters. Daisy Buchanan's allure lies in her stunning beauty and captivating presence. Described as "bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth," she exudes a magnetic charm that draws men to her like moths to a flame.

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Can having power turn into corruption? The wealthy characters in the 1925 novel "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald were corrupted by their power. The novel analyzes how power can lead to vanity, greed, and disregard for the law. The main character, Jay Gatsby, is an excellent example of how money and power can lead to corruption, as he uses his riches to buy people’s loyalty and get what he wants. This novel depicts the theme of power, wealth, and corruption.

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William James once said, “The desire to gain wealth and the ability to lose it are our chief breeders of cowardice and propagators of corruption”. The Great Gatsby is a novel written in relation to the jazz era, with the focus on wealth and corruption. The American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of their background or social status, can achieve success and prosperity. F Scott Fitsgerald uses symbols throughout the novel to illustrate the corruption and moral decay of the American Dream. The alluring dream draws people to do dishonorable things in order to be successful or to stay successful.

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In this book money is shown to cause corruption in Gatsby, Tom, and in relationships in the book. Corruption can occur in many types of ways weather it is in some ones position and status, in a relation causing destruction to the relation, also corruption can just cause a person to change be two faced. Gatsby is a character that is shown to be corrupt. In the book Gatsby tends to be distant from everyone and no one really knows who he is or where he came from therefore he has acquired

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Leonardo DiCaprio once said, “The truth is that I’ve always been fascinated with wealth in America. To me, it’s been about the American dream and the corruption of that dream.” In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a young millionaire named Jay Gatsby seeks the affection of Daisy Buchanan, a married woman he courted briefly in his youth. He purchases an extravagant mansion and throws lavish parties in the hopes of gaining her attention, but she never notices. When her cousin, Nick Carraway, becomes Gatsby’s next-door neighbor, however, Gatsby uses Nick to reignite their old flame.

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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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544 Words | 3 Pages

Corrupted society F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is one of the novel demonstrates the American dream in the 1920s society of many people who yearn for an ideal life. In nowadays, the word American Dream is still applied in the society, many people work hard for money, which they also throw off their happiness. Gatsby, the main character, who was born destitute, believes that one day he would be accepted as a part of American’s social elite. Daisy, a woman whom Gatsby loves, represents the elite world to him. Gatsby overwhelms his old society from a lonely boy in the Midwest to the most popular man in New York.

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971 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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1909 Words | 8 Pages

The wealthier one gets, it seems, the more one rationalizes their decisions and actions. The more one stains their morality little by little until they no longer need to choose what’s right and wrong but what benefits them. Whether it’s right or wrong is then irrelevant. From people to companies, wealth is the source of

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1659 Words | 7 Pages

Characters throughout The Great Gatsby present themselves with mysterious and questionable morals. Affairs, dishonest morals, criminal professions, weak boundaries and hypocritical views are all examples of immorality portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, lies and mischief fill the lives of many and significantly damage numerous relationships. First, Jay Gatsby's whole life is consumed into a massive lie. His personality traits set him apart from others and the attention he accumulates motivates him to falsely portray his life.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

Daisy seemed really nice and pretty and was the goal of Gatsby to get, but turns out she's not as great and Gatsby imagined her being, represents the false sense of glory people see in the American Dream. This proved in chapter 5, page 93, "Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.

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