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Examples Of Hypocrisy In The Great Gatsby

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Gracelyn Godfrey Mrs.Brothwell English III 8 May 2024 Hypocrisy at its Finest In "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the characters' persistent hypocrisy emphasizes the loss of morality and shallowness of 1920s American society, creating a contrast between the luxurious facade of wealth and the lack of dishonesty that defines the lives of the novel's main characters. The extravagant parties, wealth, and dishonesty standout amongst the lavish lives that the characters refuse to rid of for the sole purpose of appearances and materialism. Fitzgerald uses characterization of outlandish characters to show the difference between this pretentious life that each of them inspire to have and the reality of the American dream containing emptiness in each character as well as moral compromise. …show more content…

Daisy Buchanan strongly embodies hypocrisy as she paints herself to be a “beautiful little fool.” Daisy may want this to be her reality as a sophisticated rich woman, but Fitzgerald reveals a different reality. Daisy’s materialism seems to outweigh her love for her husband, even when she finds out her relationship with Tom Buchannan is loveless. Daisy’s love for Gatsby couldn’t even win over her desire for constant gratification, although she wanted to be the one for Gatsby. She just didn’t care enough. “Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to. What I say is, why go on living with them if they can’t stand them? If I was them, I’d get a divorce and get married to each other right away” (Fitzgerald 33). Daisy's decision to remain with Tom despite expressing her love for Gatsby reveals her hypocrisy. She wants the excitement and passion of an affair with Gatsby, yet is unwilling to give up the security and social standing that Tom’s wealth gives

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby,” Daisy Buchanan struggles to free herself from the power of both Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, whom both use their wealth and high standings as a way to dictate power over and impress others. Fitzgerald purposely develops Daisy as selfish and “money hungry” character when she chooses Tom, a rich man, over Gatsby, a poor man (who she was in love with), which establishes her desire for power that she never achieves.

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“‘Even that’s a lie,’ said Tom savagely. She didn’t know you were alive. Why- there’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget.” (Fitzgerald 132). Even when Tom knows that Daisy is cheating on him with Jay Gatsby, he contends his marriage and fights for her.

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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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In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerld uses the characterization of Daisy Buchanan to reveal the sense of loneliness and boredom felt during the 1920s. Fitzgerald writes about Daisy’s desire for her child by stating, “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 20). Fitzgerald reveals how Daisy wishes that her daughter grows up to be clueless about the real life issues that she herself faces. Daisy does not want her daughter to have to feel the same pains that Daisy experiences living with her husband, Tom. Fitzgerald also brings to light Daisy’s displeasure with Tom: “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you’”

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Michael Fecht Mrs. Myers Academic English II 5/21/18 Immorality in the Great Gatsby Money dictates how people act and how they go about their day. It is very crucial; everything costs money. In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, everyone has money. The wealth that these characters have is a must for them. they show their wealth by flaunting the expensive attire they have or throw these parties in their expensive homes.

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and she continuously compliments him in Tom’s presence (Fitzgerald 125). With the liberal attitude that Daisy embraces, she suggests that she does not want to be with her husband Tom because she is driven by the appeal of Gatsby’s parties and the new, unconventional value on liberty. This casual interaction is symbolic of how married women and men carried on with physical infidelity, which ultimately allows Daisy to fulfill her desire of being with another man. By taking control of their lives, Mrs. Mallard and Daisy abandon feelings of guilt and seek happiness without the confines of

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Throughout this novel, Fitzgerald portrays an ongoing question about who Daisy really does love. Tom and Gatsby are fighting for her love in different ways throughout the novel but thru events in the book it reveals that she only loves herself. Daisy shows throughout the novel in multiple ways that she only loves herself and not Tom or Gatsby. “Daisy is a vacuous creature whose self-identity is defined by externals. She is so empty that Fitzgerald can only portray her through the qualities of another” (Gallo 45).When Daisy met Gatsby she was in love with him as she explains but she then meets Tom after many events happen and ends up marrying Tom.

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According to some, love of money is the root of all evil. In some cases, simply being near money can cause moral groundings to erode. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in a time where money was shored up in rich houses and thrown about lavishly in big parties. This culture of wealth and pleasure was his modern world, and he wrote The Great Gatsby to comment about it. The title character of the book, Jay Gatsby, has exorbitant wealth, as do Tom and Daisy Buchanan, other vital characters.

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(p.83). Earlier in Gatsby's life, he met Daisy and fell in love with her, then he went off to war, and once he came back, she was all he could think about. When he became wealthy, he wanted Daisy to be his wife, but this dream never became a reality. Thereon in the book, Gatsby tries to have Daisy leave Tom and become his wife, but she will not do it; no matter what he tries, she still loves Tom. According to Fitzgerald (1995), “‘Oh, you want too much!’

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Her internal struggle is revealed in this instant when her hedonistic desires cause her to feel conflicted. Mrs. Buchanan tends to act extremely selfish, especially during the moments when she cannot resist the temptation of hedonism. When Daisy impatiently awaits Gatsby’s return from war, “there [is] a quality of nervous despair in [her] letters” (151). Daisy’s egocentric nature ultimately causes her to believe that the world revolves around herself. Her tragic downfall is made clear when she decides to marry Mr. Buchanan and pursue old wealth.

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They both clearly love someone else, and Tom’s hypocrisy is shown when he learns of Gatsby’s and Daisy’s affair. “I suppose the latest thing to do is to let Mr. nobody from nowhere make love to your wife. ”(Fitzgerald, 130) Tom is not just upset at the fact that Daisy is cheating on him, he’s upset because Gatsby is new money something he despises, which makes his marriage appear bad to the public. Tom is afraid that the families and the public will look down on him for having his wife taken away by new money. Fitzgerald is making the point that marriage is often for financial or social benefit, and oftentimes fails because people never truly loved each other in the first place, just what they could do for the other

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In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Daisy is portrayed as a modern woman; she is sophisticated, careless and beautifully shallow. Daisy knows who she is, and what it takes for her to be able to keep the lifestyle she grew up in, and this adds to her carelessness and her feigned interest in life. In all, Daisy is a woman who will not sacrifice material desires or comfort for love or for others, and her character is politely cruel in this way. Daisy’s main strength, which buoyed her throughout her youth and when she was in Louisville, is her ability to know what was expected of her and feign cluelessness.

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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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Fitzgerald depicts the women of the novel as deceitful, sexual beings that are naturally subordinate to men through Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. Daisy exemplifies the naturally inferior role of women relying on the wealth of men in their lives to take care of them. When Daisy talks about her daughter she claims, “a fool–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(21) establishing women’s subordinate role in which they are ignorant to the affairs of their husbands and expected to rely on their beauty to carry them through life. When Daisy is accused of infidelity with Gatsby in the hotel, Gatsby claims that Daisy is attracted to men of wealth and, “only married [Tom] because [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for [him]”(137).

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