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Examples Of The Three Deadly Sins In The Great Gatsby

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Do you know the Seven Deadly Sins?” The characters in The Great Gatsby became experts. The characters failed to realize that the road they were following to pursue the “American Dream” was covered with sins. F. Scott Fitzgerald opposed the concept of the American Dream during the 1920s. He believed that that the period filled with excess partying, drinking, gambling, and inappropriate behavior such as adultery. He used his characters in his novel, such as Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby to illustrate how the concept of the American Dream in the 1920s negatively shaped the people of the time and how the road to the American Dream during the 1920s often led to waste, destruction, and poor judgement. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald revealed that …show more content…

Many of the characters in the novel actions were fueled by lust. One example of lust driving a character’s actions in the novel was Tom’s affair with Myrtle. Although Tom was married to Daisy at the time, that did not stop him from lusting after Myrtle. Tom instead of taking responsibility for his lustful actions, it caused him to “once in a while go off on a spree to make a fool of himself” (131). Myrtle like Tom, who was married to Wilson, was also motivated by lust and even though she knew it was morally wrong, she, like Tom, committed the deadly sin known as lust. Another example of lust as depicted by Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby was Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy. Gatsby’s lust for Daisy clouded his judgement and motivated him to spend large amounts of money, just to impress her. Gatsby was so lustful for Daisy that he was prepared to steal Daisy from Tom, even though he knew this was a sin. In fact, Gatsby was so blinded by his lust that he believed that he could recreate the past from when he was with her 5 years ago. This happened when he spoke to Nick stating, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can” (110). Fitzgerald, through characterization revealed how lust controlled the people of the 1920’s and influenced their perception of the American Dream. Americans during the 20’s believed that they could have sexual relations with whoever they wanted, when they wanted, regardless of the

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