Moral Corruption In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the character of Jay Gatsby is an individual of hope who pursues his ideal of bringing back together his past with Daisy Buchanan through the wealth, of his mansion’s gleaming parties located right across the bay. However, from the view of Nick Carraway, there is no way to bring the past back, as he saw Gatsby as a hopeful person to do so. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald uses many aspects of symbols which have significance towards the concepts of moral corruption and the pursuit of his dream. To begin, Fitzgerald has usage of colors throughout The Great Gatsby which depict the significance of the chase of the ideal, and moral corruption. This includes at the beginning of the novel in the first chapter when

The reason Jay Gatsby buys this mansion located here specifically is to be closer to reaching his dream, of bringing back the past of his old love life with Daisy. He hosted many shining parties every night at his mansion which attracted many people, but his purpose for them was to attract Daisy right across the bay. However, the significance of this green light disappears in the fifth chapter when Gatsby unites with Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway’s cousin when he invites her over for tea. It is stated in the text: “Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.” Once Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby were in each other’s arms, the concept of reaching out for the green light across the bay had truly vanished, because after five years of distance apart from each other, they are finally together. As Fitzgerald states “Compared to the great distance that had

In the beginning of the seventh chapter, it states that “The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer.” Also, on the train, the conductor states “Some weather! Hot!... Hot!... Hot! Is it hot enough for you? Is it hot? It is…?” This was an indication of the upcoming boiling point to the confrontation of Tom and Gatsby at the Plaza Hotel over Daisy, whom she “truly loves.” Also, after the confrontation was over, when Tom offers Nick a bottle of whiskey, he states “I just remembered that today’s my birthday. I was thirty.” This symbolized a new beginning of a new decade, in which Gatsby must also leave the previous decade of Daisy behind. Also, Fitzgerald uses change of weather in the fifth chapter in which it’s a rainy day where Gatsby is waiting for Daisy to come over for tea. He becomes impatient, and states “Nobody’s coming to tea. It’s too late!” He then walks outside in the rain, drenched in water, so it looks like he wasn’t waiting all day. Once he comes inside and has tea with Daisy, “It’s stopped raining” he said. The presence of rainy weather symbolizes the time waiting for Daisy after having been apart from each other for so long, and once it stopped, symbolizes their coming together after five years, across the bay from each other. Finally, Fitzgerald uses a reference to the season in the eighth chapter when Gatsby finally