Theme Of Ignorance In The Great Gatsby

Hubristic Ignorance Versus Oblivious Naivety Morality, the judgement of right from wrong, is dependent on one’s conscience, yet the corruption due to ignorance leads to vileness and immorality. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the inevitability to commit immoral acts, as a mean to achieve the characters’ ideals, satirizes the social construct of that bestowed an incorrect sense of value on its inhabitants. False idolization of the personified American Dream, inherited social status, and wealth leads them on a path that defies the words in the Catechism of worshipping the one and only God. Furthermore, their dishonesty also breaks the rule of being truthful when Gatsby disguises himself as a wealthy higher class man with lies about

When finding out about Tom’s affair with Mrytle and being forced to attend one of their parties, Nick expresses his opinion on his infidelity, “the fact that he ‘had some woman in New York’ was really less surprising… Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart” (Fitzgerald 25). As a static character, Tom’s hubristic mentality causes him to seek the excitement in having an affair as he desires more sense of dominance over those of the lower class. The use of contrast between Tom’s physical state and his mentality emphasizes on the motif the appearance versus reality, which in terms evokes a paradox between his perfect gentleman image and his veil inner self. The situational irony, where he should take pride in his physical ability as he is a successful football player cannot satisfy his enormous ego at heart, develops his hamartia to be the excessive pride that he generates based on his inherited social status. Tom commits adultery simply because his ignorant, hubristic mentality allows him to do so without feeling any sense of guilt, hence breaking the rule in the Catechism to remain faithful to his marriage partner for life. As Gatsby commits adultery out of the dream that he has devoted himself to for eternity, Tom, without any morals, cheats on his

As the cause of the characters’ immorality in contrast against Gatsby’s sense of innocence in his idolization of Daisy, Tom’s false idolization of the inherited social status further signifies his discriminating attitude and his indifference when facing the consequence of this action. Furthermore, Tom has deliberately willed to use Gatsby as the scapegoat for his irresponsible action, which commits graver offense against the Catechism. Lastly, his act of adultery is morally more corrupt than Gatsby’s since there is no content of love, yet it is mere form of physical sexual desire. The failure to recognize the cruelty of reality or the faults within one’s self leads to ignorance and consequently the moral