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Examples Of Moral Values In The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby is the best-seller novel written in 1925 by author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel contains numerous themes, views and values conveying different messages to the reader. The major value running through the whole novel would be the value of ‘Morality’. Morality is the recognition of the distinction between good and evil or between right or wrong. The author demonstrated this value using the different characters and literary devices in the novel. Nick Carraway is more or less the narrator of The Great Gatsby; the whole novel is told from his point of view. Nick is a young man who has solid personal values and moral conduct. Nick began to have a feeling of defiance, of scornful solidarity between Gatsby and himself against them all, is evidence that Nick is morally just. “I stared at (Wilson) and then at Tom, who had …show more content…

When she gets drunk, she considers changing her mind and marry the man she truly loves. However, she does what she was born to do: marry the rich guy which can be depicted as morally wrong. “Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the think folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before." (5.118-119)” The evidence shows that Daisy is immorally attracted to wealth although she knows that she is married. It is also proven when Gatsby said, "Her voice is full of money (7.99)." Fitzgerald uses Daisy Buchanan to demonstrate the opposite of morality which is Immorality. Another immoral character in the novel is Tom Buchanan or known to be Daisy’s husband. “He nodded sagely. "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time."

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The Great Gatsby is a novel that discusses many issues around money in American society. A direct link to this is Daisy and Tom Buchanan, characters who represent the old money upper class. Throughout the story their true personality appears. The Buchanans’ are centered around wealth to the point that their relationship is built on money and class. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the characters of Tom and Daisy Buchanan convey the theme that when the foundation for a relationship is money in place of love the outcome is a hollow marriage.

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Daisy shows this by the fact that she knows that tom is cheating on her but still stays with him under the false fact that she is catholic purely for the reason that he has money. She also shows this when she talks about her daughter and her hopes for her. Before the war daisy was in love with Gatsby but he was poor and when he left for the war she moved on and got married to tom who was rich. But when the two are reunited after nick sets up a meeting and when she sees Gatsby’s house she learns that she is rich and becomes attracted to him again simply for the fact that he has money.

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The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates a morally ambiguous character that can’t be defined as strictly good or evil. Moral ambiguity is the driving force towards Gatsby’s actions. The character Gatsby demonstrates morally ambiguous qualities that initiate plot throughout the whole novel. Morally ambiguous choices can be viewed towards Gatsby’s character throughout the novel. The first glimpse of Gatsby is introduced in the first chapter while Nick is “exempting him from his reaction” of a “uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever” already placing Gatsby in a position of moral ambiguity (Fitzgerald 2).

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Fitzgerald in the novel, uses careless individuals who would destroy everything and everyone and yet still manage to retreat back to their money. Daisy Buchanan, the ‘golden girl’ is rather dishonest and deceitful throughout the novel. As she starts having her affair with Gatsby, she creates unrealistic expectations in Gatsby head about their future together. As Gatsby is having drinks at the Buchanan’s, Tom leaves the room and Daisy kisses Gatsby and declares, ‘I don’t care!’ At this point, the audience realizes that Daisy is and always was in love with Gatsby and that she was prepared to leave Tom.

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To begin with, setting builds the steps in life, like every time Jem and Scout leave their house, it is a closer step to maturity. For instance, when Jem was forced to read a book to Mrs. Dubose, he had to go over to her home, “The following week found us back at Mrs. Dubose's,” (Lee 109). The reason Jem had to read to Mrs. Dubose was because he was angry at her for saying rude things to atticus, like “nigger lover”. The childish act turned into a good cause because there for every reaction there is an action. This act soon turned Jem into a sensible boy when he learns that sometimes you have to change the bad into good.

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The Roaring Lack of Morality in the 20s Morals were not thought of as a strict moral code during the roaring twenties, and many people found them rather irrelevant. Those whom threw parties, cheated, and lied, were those who were happiest during these times. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, paints a picture of the 1920s by expressing many themes: the need for wealth, the want for love, and the act of betrayal in marriage through the Modern Era.

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Nick Carraway is the narrator of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This novel is a story about the love triangle of Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby, told from the perspective of Nick. Nick moves to Long Island, New York, where he encounters the lives of his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom, as well as his wealthy neighbor Jay. Throughout the story, Nick shows that he is judgmental, dishonest, and passive. Nick is an extremely judgmental person throughout his life.

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“And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time” (Fitzgerald 138). These words, spoken by Tom Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby, exemplify the personality traits that are omnipresent throughout the novel. Tom is Daisy Buchanan’s husband whom she marries after her first love, Jay Gatsby, leaves for the war.

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In The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, one of the characters is “stuck in the past”. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is constantly longing for a past relationship he had with a woman named Daisy, who moved on from Gatsby and married another man when Gatsby left for the war. Gatsby’s view of the past is used to develop a major theme of the novel: the moral decay of society. The novel begins with Nick, the narrator saying how the events that happened in New York, where the novel takes place, caused him to leave, and how he doesn’t like any of the people he was involved with.

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, characters have very distinct identities that develop throughout the book and many inferences are needed to understand the characters. One example of this is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy Buchanan cares greatly about wealth and is a very careless person. Throughout the novel, many of her decisions are due to her greed and carelessness, even though those decisions may not be the best decisions for her. Daisy displays her greed throughout the novel; she marries Tom Buchanan because of his wealth.

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An important theme in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the corruption of morals because of wealth. It doesn’t matter if one comes from old or new money, wealth will corrupt the morality of even the humblest. The first example of wealth corrupting morals is in the indifference to infidelity between the married Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. The next example of wealth corrupting morals is seen in Jordan Baker’s actions to keep her luxurious lifestyle. Third, Jim Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth lead to the corruption of his morals.

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2162 Words | 9 Pages

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is the author of the twentieth century American classic, The Great Gatsby. It is a story of the American dream, settled down in the 1920’s, with issues of the time period being, prohibition, women, class structure, crime, and many more, The Great Gatsby has a taste of each. Fitzgerald incorporated subjects of his time and his very own experiences into the story to portray an era of social and moral values. The 1920’s were a time of breaking morals Class structure and wealth were among the highest pleasures achievable. The 20’s were an era of Jazz; with extravagant music playing throughout all hours of the night.

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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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The characters in the novel pretend that they have their lives all figured out, but through their successes their downfalls and emptiness can be seen, to prove that money cannot buy happiness. Jay Gatsby is the newest and upcoming star in New York during the 1920’s. Through his business and inheritance he is one of the richest men of his time. One may think that his abundance of wealth would lead him to be eternally happy, but he is the opposite. Gatsby longs for his love of Daisy, which is his personal American Dream.

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From a young age, we have been taught what behavior is acceptable and deemed good, and what is immoral or bad. In the novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the characters require questioning regarding if they should be classified as truly moral people who exhibit goodness or correctness in their lifestyles. In their society, the goals shared by all are becoming rich and fitting in, and often in order to meet them, actions are taken which harm others but benefit themselves. The author conveys that morality has little value to the characters in Gatsby because they take any means necessary in order to achieve their dreams and fail to think about the consequences of their impulsive actions.

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