Examples Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

The 1920’s was a time of prosperity in the United States. The economy was booming, and everyone believed that they could become wealthy. Everyone also believed that they could be anything they wanted. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald many characters strive for wealth and status but fail, and those with wealth lead unfulfilling lives. This is because social class barriers are insurmountable. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to escape poverty when no opportunities to escape are presented. Finally, those who belong to the upper-class exhibit carelessness and subsequently lead empty lives. Although the American Dream has great ideals and is amazing in theory, it ultimately fails when put to the test as exhibited

The Great Gatsby contains rhetorical queues, such as logos, ethos, and pathos, that validate that the pursuit of “The American Dream” transforms society into greedy, heartless people. At this time, people only thought about social status because that determined who you partied with and how much money you had. Since World War I caused such a disruption in the world, it could easily be said that is why people developed this type of mentality. “Real riches are the riches possessed inside,” which is a characteristic that all of these people in West Egg

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life.

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates society in the 1920’s and the desire for the people with in it to achieve the American Dream, which embodies the hope that one can achieve power, love and a higher economic/social status through one’s commitment and effort. The novel develops the story of a man named Jay Gatsby and his dream of marrying what he describes as his “golden girl”, also known as, Daisy Buchanan, his former lover. Fitzgerald explores the corruption of the American dream through the Characters; Myrtle, Gatsby and Daisy.

The American dream states that any individual can achieve success regardless of family history, race, and/or religion simply by working hard. The 1920’s were a time of corruption and demise of moral values in society. The first World War had passed, and people were reveling in the materialism that came at the end of it, such as advanced technology and innovative inventions. The novel The Great Gatsby exploits the theme of the American Dream as it takes place in a corrupt period in history. Although the American Dream seemed more attainable than ever in the 1920’s, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby demonstrates how materialism and the demise of moral values in society leads to the corruption and impossibility of the American Dream. This is accomplished through the use of symbols such as the Valley of Ashes, The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, and The Green Light. These 3 symbols play a huge roll in the novel for each of them are massively important in their own ways.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald once stated, “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart and all they can do is stare blankly.” Throughout his famous work, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrayed the American Dream. Contrary to the ideology of the “Roaring Twenties” society, he described the American Dream as a delusion. People of the era focused on materialism in order to boost their wealth and status and forgot the importance of their relationships. Several characters within the novel sought to gain a higher status in society. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson desired to fit in with the upper class; however, her marriage to George Wilson prevented such from occurring. Myrtle failed to recognize her husband’s hard work and true character due to her efforts to rise in social status. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald emphasized Myrtle’s hatred towards her marriage through her conversation with Catherine, depicting how people of the twenties focused more on wealth and power compared to moral American values.

The Great Gatsby is not simply a story of Jay Gatsby’s undying and misguided love for a Daisy Buchanan. The novel, The Great Gatsby, encompasses a number of themes, the most significant one is the disillusionment and corruption of the American dream. The ability to obtain prosperity such as happiness, or a car is what comprises of the American dream. It is a belief that anyone who is self-sufficient, or who is a hard worker can obtain this dream regardless of their social standing. In the book, the facade of a dream appears to be at the tips of Gatsby and Myrtle’s fingers but this “pursuit of happiness” sentiment is in actuality impossible. In The Great Gatsby, the characters strive to reach their own ideas of the American dream, a dream which is unattainable due to the expectations of others, the cost of success and their false ideas of reality.

An important theme in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the corruption of morals because of wealth. It doesn’t matter if one comes from old or new money, wealth will corrupt the morality of even the humblest. The first example of wealth corrupting morals is in the indifference to infidelity between the married Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. The next example of wealth corrupting morals is seen in Jordan Baker’s actions to keep her luxurious lifestyle. Third, Jim Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth lead to the corruption of his morals. Then, we will see Daisy Buchanan’s moral corruption due to her wealthy upbringing. Lastly, Nick Carraway’s conversation with Tom will show how wealth has corrupted Tom’s morals in such a way that it leads him to rationalize his decisions and actions, believing that what he did was right. Wealth is the source of moral corruption within the characters in The Great Gatsby, wealth is the source of their actions and decisions, it is the reason for their warped sense of what is right and wrong.

The novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitz Gerald embodies many themes. A major in the story is the pursuit of can be labelled the American Dream. The American Dream is defined as someone starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. By having money, a car, a big house, nice clothes and a happy family symbolizes the American dream. The Great Gatsby shows what happened to the American Dream in the 1920’s, which is a time period when the dreams became corrupted for many reasons. Through the empty lives of three characters from this novel—Myrtle, Daisy, and Jay Gatsby—Fitzgerald shows that chasing hollow dreams leads only to misery.

In an era of greed and corruption, the American dream became less important in the 1920’s as social values decayed in people 's lives. Materialism became most important in society, resulting in selfishness and carelessness. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby shows this reckless behavior with Tom and Daisy Buchanan, a spoiled couple married for the wealth. The failure of the American dream is represented in The Great Gatsby with the upper class’s overindulgence and recklessness with material objects .

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald is very meticulous on how the novel is shown as more satirical rather than romantic. The visionary of the American Dream is the most coveted life during this time period, so Fitzgerald used this lifestyle to mock and expose the vices of others. Fitzgerald uses certain aspects of this lifestyle to show characters satirical impulsiveness or materialism, which ridicules them and the ideals of the 1920s.

Money and greed led to a death of morals in the 1920’s society. Fitzgerald showed this era with low moral and social values, along with greediness and empty happiness. “The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic mediation on 1920’s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess” (SparkNotesEditors1). The Crazy parties Gatsby throws every Saturday show the desire for money and pleasure over a nobler, moral filled lifestyle. “The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music-epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night-resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals”

In The Great Gatsby F.Scott Fitzgerald focuses in the era of the 1920’s sometimes called the roaring twenties because it was a time when America experienced a sustained economic growth. It was also a period of loose moral standards and a new obsession with money as Americans were starting to realize how effortless it was to become rich without any restrictions. This influx of prosperity brought many new opportunities to people, and to many the american dream began to be about materialistic values such as partying, having nice cars, owning colossal houses, spending lots of money and drinking bootleg liquor. In the novel we come to see how wealth not only corrupts characters such as Tom and Gatsby, but also corrupts society by giving them a

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald serves many purposes. It entertains the reader, teaches life lessons, and even gives readers an insight as to what life was like in the 1920s. But perhaps the most important and prevalent theme in the book is the downfall of the American Dream. The American Dream is the belief that through hard work, any individual can obtain success in America. The author scatters symbols throughout the book to portray how this “Dream” simmered away into nonexistence. Fitzgerald uses symbolism throughout The Great Gatsby to represent the death of the American Dream.

While “The Great Gatsby” explores a number of themes, none is more prevalent than the corruption of the American dream. The Great Gatsby is about the main character, Nick Carraway, who comes to New York in search of the American dream. The American dream is someone starting low on the social or economic level towards prosperity and wealth. By having money, a big house, a car and a happy family symbolizes the American dream. The dream is represented by the ideas of a self-sufficient person, who works hard to achieve a goal to become successful. The American dream not only causes corruption but caused destruction. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses geography to show the American Dream.