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Loss Of Morals And Values In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald builds upon the loss of values and morals after World War One. The book's narrator, Nick Carraway, follows Jay Gatsby as he tries to reignite his love with Daisy Buchanan after finally making enough money over 5 years to win her from her current husband Tom Buchanan. Jay Gatsby’s attempts at Daisy bring him close to his dreams but he lost his chance, and soon after he dies. The characters in The Great Gatsby show the loss of morals and values in the 1920’s, this can be seen with Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy.
World War One was devastating, the loss of life shocked many people. The war created an era of people who were lost and and defeated and slowly their morals and values started to decay. The people of this …show more content…

Tom comes from “old” money, the respectable type of money, as Gatsby comes from “new” money so he is seen as tacky and not equal. The Roaring Twenties was very much about showing what you owned and owning the best money can buy. Mr. Buchanan is controlling of everything he possibly can, when Nick Carraway visits the Buchanan household Tom is quick to show him what he owns,”’ “I’ve got a nice place here,” he said, his eyes flashing about restlessly. Turning me around by one arm, he moved a broad flat hand along the front vista, including in its sweep a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motor-boat that bumped the tide offshore” (Fitzgerald 7). Tom shows the corruption of the rich through how he interacts with others. Tom has the idea that because he has money and is of a high social class he is worth more. In the book every interaction Tom has with the car garage owner, George Wilson, he talks down to him as if he were a servant. Tom also shows the loss of moral in this time period when the reader finds out about his affair with another woman named Myrtle. Tom thinks he can always retreat into his money if something goes awry, such as after Gatsby is killed he interacts with Nick and talks about how Gatsby had deserved to die(Fitzgerald

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Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.” His novel, The Great Gatsby, is a perfect manifestation of this idea. The main character, Gatsby is revered as a heroic figure by the story’s narrator, Nick Carraway. However, to attain this quality, Gatsby led a disastrous life constantly affected by the overwhelming pressure to attain his dream and ultimately fell to his death.

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The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about a young, self-made man, Gatsby, who tries to win the heart of a past love, named Daisy. Jay Gatsby does everything in his power to get Daisy back even though she is married to Tom Buchanan, an extremely wealthy man, and share a child with him. Gatsby is blinded by love and cannot see that Daisy will not leave her husband, extreme wealth and status quo. Thus blinded, Gatsby takes extreme measures such as hosting lavish, expensive parties every week. He throws these flamboyant parties hoping that Daisy will somehow hear about them and wander into one.

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At the height of American opulence, the extravagant lives of New York City’s elite, and the dramatic affairs that arise within them are highlighted in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 20th century classic, “The Great Gatsby”. On a steaming day in the summer of 1922, the novels observant protagonist Nick Carraway, lounges amongst his companions in a hotel suite, as tensions rise between Tom Buchanan and his wife's love interest, Jay Gatsby. In this passage, through Toms verbal belittling of Gatsby and Nicks critical observations, Fitzgerald indirectly characterizes Tom, exemplifying his insecurity from threats to his masculinity and status. The passage centers around a one-sidedly antagonistic conversation between Tom and Gatsby that comes after Tom

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The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a book about a young man named Jay Gatsby chasing his dream of getting the “perfect” girl. Daisy however, loved Gatsby although she was married to Tom. Daisy was not the only one with a secret, Tom was involved with Myrtle, George Wilson’s wife. While Nick, the narrator, and Jordan Baker, Daisy’s best friend, are in a way, together. In the Great Gatsby, the theme of moral decay in this society is reflected in each of the three principals, lying, affairs, and illegal activities.

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The 1920s, also known as the Jazz Age, is a time of moral decrease and happiness for Americans. The Great Gatsby is told from the view of Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest who moves to the East to make his fortune. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s through corruption, greed, and the attainment of wealth through Carraway’s story. Fitzgerald accurately portrays the 1920s in The Great Gatsby through corruption by using the characters Jay Gatsby and Meyer Wolfsheim in the novel.

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The Roaring Twenties, known as the decade of the 1920s in the Western World, consists of dramatic changes in social values. The cultural differences between the 1920s and the Victorian era changes people's behavior, where they become more free-will, youthful and carefree, despite of being more conservative before. People are more open-minded and found satisfaction through the “open pursuit of sex, money, and booze” (Berman 53) as they suggest their wealth and status in the society. New York City had become one of the cities where materialistic wealth has become the key of happiness and the standard to judge people's success, further leading Americans to pursue each other in a negative, acquisitive way. Through the different scenes and characters of the famous novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores how the society twisted the original idea of

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Gatsby’s dreams and aspirations in life are rather interesting and amazing as he goes about his life in the book. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald helps highlight the social, moral, and political issue that were very present during the 1920’s and today. Gatsby is the focus of the book as before the book began, he was an ex-soldier who came to wealth by some rather illegal ways. Daisy a married woman is his person of interest, who was his ex-lover 5 years before the book started. Gatsby’s actions, and words demonstrate a clear obsession with Daisy that seems to have no end.

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The Great Gatsby is hailed as a great piece of 1920 's fiction due to its detailing of a new, fast paced America, and the way that America affected the population. These affects manifested as traits in people, and further developed into stereotypes. In the post World War 1 America this novel is set in, industry and technology were becoming readily available to the public, cementing these stereotypes into our population as we quickly moved along at a new pace. In The Great Gatsby, these people, actions, and relationships, are represented by the four main characters: Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Jay. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses these characters to symbolize the stereotypical people of a modern America.

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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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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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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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Tom is talking about meeting up secretly with Myrtle and this shows that Tom feels superior to Wilson and degrades him because of his economic status. Gatsby on the other hand is an important character that shows the American Dream can only be reached by cheating, which supports their is economic and political inequalities. For example, Gatsby was a really poor child of some unsuccessful parents. He left them to pursue a better life, he was an ambitious man. Throughout most of the book people are curious about where Gatsby got his money.

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