Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

Loyalty is an ideal. Often, however, individuals find themselves breaking this ideology, ultimately resulting in heartbreak and regret. Unfaithfulness and deceit hide behind nearly every love story, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is no exception. A story of innocent love becomes something much darker as it progresses, until the novel is the epitome of abuse and disloyalty. The Great Gatsby follows 1920’s Nick Carraway; a young man who has recently moved to West Egg, New York, and who is now surrounded by wealthy individuals. This includes his cousin Daisy and her rich husband Tom. Nick finds himself infatuated with the New York lifestyle, and more specifically with a wealthy man named Gatsby. Readers quickly learn that Gatsby has

Not only is Daisy unfaithful to Tom, but Tom is just as unfaithful to Daisy in return. Early in the novel, it is brought to the attention of readers that “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (Fitzgerald 16). In one of the first conversations between Nick and Daisy since Nick has moved to West Egg, Daisy further proves Tom to be an unfaithful man. Daisy informs Nick that when she gave birth, her child was “... less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where” (Fitzgerald 17). Tom and Daisy have an unstable relationship throughout the novel; a relationship filled with deceit, lying, and cheating. However, there are even more connections to dishonesty and disloyalty that proceed far beyond Tom and Daisy’s relationship. Tom is even unfaithful to his mistress, Myrtle, as he makes a “short deft movement… [breaking] her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 37) for mentioning Daisy’s name. This proves that Tom has no real love for either women. Domestic/dating violence is not uncommon in the real world - especially towards women - and many victims are blind to how abusive these acts are, as they are unable to see past the love for their partner. In fact, “85% of domestic violence victims are women” (Facts Domestic Violence #2) and “1/4 of women worldwide will experience domestic/dating violence in their lifetime” (Facts Domestic Violence #3). Unloyalty presents itself in many forms, some more severe than others, however all are extremely damaging to its