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What Is Morality In The Great Gatsby

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In the 1920s, there was a division between the people who were born into money and the people who worked for it, or the “old money,” and the “new money.” While there were major differences between the two groups, they had one fundamental similarity. This was that they both lacked a sense of morality. In the Great Gatsby, the old money are portrayed as very superficial and immoral. One example of this is how they viewed the “new money” as nobodies. The biggest example of their lack in morality, however, was in how Tom and Daisy Buchanan dealt with Daisy’s murder of Myrtle Wilson. Daisy let Gatsby take the full blame for it without any expression of guilt or remorse, even though she supposedly loved him. Gatsby’s death was even caused by taking the blame for Daisy’s crime, and yet she did not bother to attend his funeral. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness...and let other people clean up the mess they had made” …show more content…

This was due to the fact that he was neither part of the old money or the new money, and therefore was not corrupted by wealth. He was the only person who waited for an invitation to attend one of Gatsby’s parties, and also the only one who sought out his host. Since he was the only one to get to know Gatsby, he was the one to plan his funeral. “I found myself on Gatsby’s side, and alone,” he said. “From the moment I telephoned news of the catastrophe to West Egg Village, every surmise about him, and every practical question, was referred to me” (Fitzgerald, 164). Every other person who was involved with Gatsby, such as business colleagues, found excuses not to attend, including having picnics or just not wanting to be involved. Fitzgerald shows through Nick that the difference between people who were wealthy and people who weren’t was compassion for

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