The Great Gatsby Research Paper

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a millionaire named Jay Gatsby. Throughout the novel, Gatsby uses his neighbor, Nick Carraway, to help him get Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s lover from before the war. The book is filled with countless examples of romantic elements. That is why The Great Gatsby is sometimes seen as a romantic look at society, but it has many elements of greed, crime, and deceit, which proves Fitzgerald’s look at society is actually cynical. Greed is defined as a “selfish and excessive desire for more of something (such as money) than is needed”(Merriam-Webster). All the characters have some sort of greed or jealousy in their life. For example, Gatsby is jealous of Tom because he is married to Daisy, and Gatsby is in love with her. Also, Daisy suddenly wants to be with Gatsby after she finds out that he is now a millionaire. Later on, Nick describes Daisy’s greed by saying: "Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly. That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it… high in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl (Fitzgerald 99).

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All of the characters except for Nick are caught lying or deceiving people. In chapter three, Nick talks says “I am one of the only honest people that I have ever met”(Fitzgerald 59). For example, Gatsby tells Nick that he inherited all of his money, but a couple of days later, he tells Daisy that he earned all of his money. Tom and Jordan are also caught lying and being deceitful. Tom was lying to Daisy when he was cheating on her with Myrtle, and Jordan was being deceitful when she cheated to win a gold tournament. The lying and deceit proves Fitzgerald’s point of the society being truly cynical by showing how immoral all of the characters