Examples Of The 7 Deadly Sins In The Great Gatsby

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In the novel “The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author focuses on the “Seven Deadly Sins” and uses them to depict the characters’ sinful lifestyles and attitudes. The characters that display some of the “Seven Deadly Sins” include Tom Buchanan, a hulking, masculine, wealthy man, Jay Gatsby, a wealthy young man who was born into an impoverished life as a child, and Myrtle Wilson, a middle aged woman who was born into the lower-class. To start off, Tom Buchanan possesses multiple deadly sins that depict his lifestyle and attitude. First, Tom displays another one of the seven deadly sins when a conversation turns into a physical altercation. “Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson [stand] face to face, discussing in impassioned voices …show more content…

Dating back to his childhood, Gatsby developed a deadly sin during his early teenage years, ultimately leading him to his wealthy lifestyle. “[Gatsby’s] heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain… each night he added to the pattern of his fancies… these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination… they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality” (99). Gatsby’s envy of the wealthy life caused him to develop a deep desire to stray away from his life of clam digging and salmon fishing and become a wealthy man in an upper class society. This also signals an attitude of envy, which could incorporate greed and gluttony in his life. Similarly, Jay Gatsby expresses one of the deadly sins by flaunting his possessions to impress a woman. Gatsby expresses that “[his] house looks well”, “[seeing] how the whole front of it catches the light” (89). Gatsby admires his house to give off a lasting impression of wealth and pride to Daisy. This ultimately signals that Gatsby is encased in his own pride and lives his life like any other wealthy, upper-class member of society. While Jay Gatsby retains deadly sins involving his love life, he mainly uses his wealth as a gateway to his pride and