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Examples Of Rationalism In The Great Gatsby

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When asked about cheating at Stuyvesant High School in New York, Karina Moy said, “I’m sure everyone knew it was wrong to take other people’s work, but they had ways of rationalizing it” (Vivian Ye). At this school, cheating is the norm because of how difficult the courses and homework load are for the students. This cheating becomes ingrained in their day to day life and more likely than not they end up cheating throughout the rest of their lives and find even more ways to rationalize what they have done. Sometimes even rationalizing things using lies. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan is married to a woman named Daisy, but he doesn't let her presence in his life as his wife stop him from multiple affairs just because. Tom is characterized …show more content…

Tom is a prime example of the horror of cheating because of his lack of a moral compass or reasoning behind it. As far as the reader knows, Tom has cheated on Daisy throughout their entire relationship. The narrator, Nick, found out through Miss Baker, who broke the news by whispering to Nick, “Why- Tom’s got some woman in New York” (Fitzgerald 15) when a call came for Tom from Myrtle at the dinner table. Tom goes to answer the call and Daisy acts as if this happens often. Tom doesn't care what Nick, Miss Baker, or Daisy think so he doesn't try to cover what is happening or come up with a lie to cover his tracks. This uncaring for the feelings of others on his actions is somewhat unsettling. He doesn't think that his actions are wrong because he doesn't take into account anyone else’s feelings on the matter. This shield to his own wrong doing is what caused him and Daisy to have to leave Chicago as well. He had too many affairs or one affair got so out of hand that they had to leave to save face. Even though he has a mental block when it comes to his own wrong doings, he judges others fairly harshly. When he finds out that Daisy knows Gatsby, he comments to Nick, “I wonder where in the devil he met

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1587 Words | 7 Pages

In the story The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the majority of the characters are either dishonest, chasing hollow dreams, or plain ignorant. Fitzgerald flaunts the flaws of these characters regularly. Tom Buchanan is a constant example of dishonesty, due to his reoccurring affair with Myrtle Wilson. Although she does not believe it true, Daisy is one of the most ignorant characters.

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699 Words | 3 Pages

“In the world people try to hide things from each other but one way or another they find out what they are hiding. ”(Kibin.com) F.Scott Fitzgerald had a hard time naming his novel “The Great Gatsby”. Truly a story about love, lies and deceit. The name is misfitting. Therefore, the title should have been “Love Lies”.

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670 Words | 3 Pages

With the lesson of not everything in life is fair, Fitzgerald shows us how Toms has an affair and is cheating on Daisy. Daisy didn’t deserve to get cheated on and it's unfair how she gets treated when she didn’t do anything to cause Tom to do this. Jordan Baker tells Nick, “A week after I left in Santa Barbara Tom ran into a wagon on the Ventura road one night and ripped a front wheel off his car. The girl who was with him got into the papers too because her arms was broken ."

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636 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the novel “ The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald it becomes more and more evident that Daisy is the biggest user and manipulator than the rest of the characters. Daisy is the type of character who seems and feigns innocence but this is to derail and confuse people of who she really is as a person. Not only does she use and string Gatsby along but she does the same with Tom. Daisy seems to be in control in situations when it may seem very unlikely that she is.

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830 Words | 4 Pages

“‘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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826 Words | 4 Pages

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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1556 Words | 7 Pages

First, all the people in The Great Gatsby thought that the money they had could bring them the true happiness they wanted. Tom Buchanan was the worst of all though and always thought his money could get them out of any problem. He shows this when he says, "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in awhile 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 140). When he says this, he thinks the cheating he does is fine.

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825 Words | 4 Pages

The actions Tom takes near the end of the story show how hypocritical Tom really is. For some reason, Tom is irritated that Gatsby and Daisy seem to have feelings for each other, but his affair with Myrtle is completely fine with him. To Tom, there is nothing wrong with him cheating on Daisy, but Daisy wanting to be with Gatsby is a horrid thing, even

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986 Words | 4 Pages

Tom would take his mistress on date and flaunt her in the presence of Daisy’s family. The Great Gatsby quotes Nick when he explains Tom’s outings and his opinion in the following quotation: ‘‘The fact that he had one [a mistress] was insisted upon wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomever he knew” (28). One example was given by Nick in the novel: Nick states, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…”(179). The characters in the novels were using deception to have the affairs and contribute to affairs or false dreams of love: which were found to be the causes of realization in the novel

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1014 Words | 5 Pages

“ “This is a terrible mistake,” he said, shaking his head from side to side, “a terrible, terrible mistake.” “You’re just embarrassed, that’s all,””(87) Gatsby is a self made man, he makes a big deal in getting Daisy to meet him “accidentally”. But when she gets there, he backs out like a child. His whole life (after meeting Daisy) was based around getting Daisy to be his, so I understand that he was nervous to see if his hard work in becoming a great person worked on her, but Gatsby should had passed his nervousness aside to talk to her, without Nick.

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336 Words | 2 Pages

According to Dictionary.com, a tragic hero is defined as “a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat.” In The Great Gatsby, by Scott F. Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby would be a great example of a tragic hero. Even though Gatsby may not be portrayed as an ordinary man, in reality he is just as normal as any other man wanting to change the past. In The Great Gatsby, page 110, the Great Gatsby says, “can’t repeat the past?

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1149 Words | 5 Pages

In the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby, the author identifies a huge problem throughout the novel. Fitzgerald provided us with many characters that displayed infidelity, for example Tom and Daisy. Daisy stayed married to Tom because of his great deal of money and assets, though deep down, she felt miserable and melancholy about the relationship. On the other hand Tom felt he could do as he pleased because of his physical stature and how much money he had. They would both constantly cheat on each other and have relationships with other partners, however they did not get a divorce due to their own selfish reasons.

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617 Words | 3 Pages

Tristen Fortenberry English III 3 February 2023 What leads a person to the point of despair? In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, this author introduces the topic of idealism. Idealism is the practice of forming ideals or living under the influence.

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638 Words | 3 Pages

During our lives, we can lose who we are as a person. Loss of Idealism is influencing hopes of making a dream come true, but it can backfire and make them lose what they really wanted to come true. The eye-gazing film “The Great Gatsby” directed by Baz Luhrmann, commonly explores how the loss of a character's idealism can have a significant impact on lives in the film. In our world and in my own life, I can say too that the loss of idealism resonates to me the most as I have experienced loss of idealism and in the world, this theme has impacted people’s lives. In “The Great Gatsby”, the character Jay Gastby demonstrates how his pursuit of the dream of being with his only true love Daisy, ultimately destroys his idealism.

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1659 Words | 7 Pages

If his mind is not occupied by his mistress Myrtle, he is drowning in thoughts of Gatsby’s suspected crime-filled life. “Indeed, Tom Buchanan's sources appear most reliable in his characterization of Gatsby's drug store chain as ‘just small change’ compared to his stolen bonds” (Pauly 116). Buchanan is a hypocrite towards Gatsby. He denounces Gatsby’s life actions as being morally evil but Tom’s actions are no different than Gatsby’s in the sense that both men are unfaithful to themselves and their nearest relationships. Tom is competing with Gatsby through deception and treachery, and their dangerous habits wound them

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