Theme Of Immorality In The Great Gatsby

Anne O’Hare McCormick has said “The foundations of the world will be shaky until the moral props are restored.” This quote is ironic, considering the theme of The Great Gatsby is a moral wasteland. The Great Gatsby in its entirety is one great big amalgamation of a moral wasteland. The story follows Nick Carraway, living in his tiny cottage next to the elusive Gatsby in West Egg, New York. Throughout the story, there are many different forms of immorality shown in different characters. The symbolism of the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg can be seen as many different things. One of the characters, George Wilson, sees the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg as the eyes of God, watching over the valley of ashes. His eyes can also be seen as the eyes of a

In the first chapter, Nick goes over to have dinner with Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jordan baker. In the middle of dinner, there is a mention of Tom’s mistress calling: “I couldn’t guess what Daisy and Tom were thinking, but I doubt even Miss Baker, who seemed to have mastered a certain hardy skepticism, was able utterly to put this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency out of mind” (15-16). This event, and the sound of the phone ringing, causes everyone to go silent. It is implied that Daisy knows that Tom has a mistress, because she goes inside the house to speak with Tom. Even though Daisy appears to know about Tom’s side chick, Tom is still attempting to deceive Daisy of the truth nonetheless. The second chapter includes the introduction of Tom’s mistress, Myrtle Willson. Tom is deceiving Daisy, or at least attempting to deceive Daisy by visiting Myrtle in an apartment in New York. Tom isn’t only deceiving Daisy, but deceiving Myrtle as well. Tom had previously mentioned to Myrtle and Myrtle’s friends that Daisy is a catholic and that she doesn’t believe in divorce. Catherine, Myrtle’s sister, reveals this lie to Nick by mentioning that Daisy is a catholic and that “ ‘they don’t believe in divorce’ ” (33). By telling Myrtle and others this lie, Tom is further deceiving the

Another theme shown in The Great Gatsby, as seen in chapters three and four, is breaking the law. The theme of disobeying the law in chapter three is represented by having characters in the story drink alcohol. At the time, alcohol was prohibited, which makes their actions very much illegal. Gatsby’s huge parties include many people drinking. There is even mention of a girl drunkenly sobbing while singing. Nick mentions: “She had drunk a quantity of champagne, and during the course of her song she had decided, ineptly, that everything was very, very sad-” (51). Moving on to chapter four, this theme is represented by the character Meyer Wolfsheim. Now, there’s already a warning just as Nick meets this character. The “Wolf” in his name should already be a red flag since wolves are often characterized as sly and misleading in other stories. Wolfshiem is introduced as a gambler, but in reality, he’s part of the mafia. Gatsby mentions that Wolfshiem is “ ‘the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919.’ ” (73). This means that he paid the players to lose, which is very much illegal. Nick even asks why he isn’t in jail, and to that, Gatsby’s response is that Wolfshiem is a smart