Pursuit of wealth and status has been and always will be part of human behavior. People desire being viewed as wealthy, famed, or significant. For some, being viewed as prosperous comes before protecting their morals. While going after what is most wanted, people will do absolutely anything to achieve it. While it may look like attaining this social identity is from diligently working, sometimes it is through illicit actions. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby’s desire for affluence conveys how pursuing materialistic wealth can lead to loss of morality as well as abnormal and deranged actions. Gatsby’s path to being perceived as an upscale wealthy man was not the morally correct way. The goal of Gatsby’s future is to become rich enough to qualify to be Daisy’s significant other. In order to obtain this wealth and status, he had to be deceptive. Implying Gatsby’s low morals, Hacht remarks, “Of course, to become Jay Gatsby, James Gatz had to lie to the public, in essence creating the illusion of the …show more content…
Commonly, illegally obtaining money is present while in search of fame. In correlation to Gatby’s hidden identity, he disguises illegal actions done to gain his money. In an attempt to amend his relationship with Daisy, Gatsby makes “a social mystery around his identity and involving himself in illegal dealings” (Hacht). To ultimately get his desired wealth, he goes to the extremes which includes criminal activities. Tom finds out about Gatsby’s illegal actions: ‘"I found out what your 'drug-stores' were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter”’ (Fitzgerald 103). Disobeying the law was a consequence from Gatsby being set on becoming wealthy. Pursuing fame and wealth can lead to a long line of lies, as well as irrational