Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

Money and greed led to a death of morals in the 1920’s society. Fitzgerald showed this era with low moral and social values, along with greediness and empty happiness. “The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic mediation on 1920’s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess” (SparkNotesEditors1). The Crazy parties Gatsby throws every Saturday show the desire for money and pleasure over a nobler, moral filled lifestyle. “The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music-epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night-resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals”

“It evokes not only the ambiance of the Jazz age search for the American dream of wealth and happiness, but also the larger questions of fading traditional values in the face of fading traditional values in the face of increasing materialism and cynicism” (Povlovski2). Throughout his life Gatsby lives his life, from wealth to his love for Daisy, blinded by his dream. “He has a blind hope in the abilities of life-he trusts money can buy him Daisy’s love” (123HelpMe1). By Gatsby believing money can buy Daisy’s love; it shows a lack of morals in himself. The extravagance of his parties, house, clothes, and cars is a way of him trying to win Daisy through his wealth. “Gatsby goes to spectacular lengths to try to achieve what Nick Carraway calls “his incorruptible dream” (Sutton1). Gatsby’s moral decline through his life shows his failed attempt at the American dream. “The collapse of Gatsby’s attempt to win Daisy proves that dreams, money, and blind faith in life’s possibilities, are not enough for a man to reach his goals”