Examples Of Moral Standards In The Great Gatsby

Some people have different moral standards than others. In some situations, one’s moral standards may be corrupted. In the book the Great Gatsby, a story set in the 1920’s, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald shows that the pursuit of the American Dream may result in moral corruption. Fitzgerald does this through one of the main characters, J. Gatsby. While attempting to achieve the american dream, he undoubtedly does many immoral things that he may have never done otherwise. Some of these things include covering for someone who ran a woman over, selling alcohol in the times of prohibition, and purposefully selling bad bonds.

At the beginning of Gatsby’s life, Gatsby had the moral standards of an average person. He didn’t break the law to make financial gains, he saved up. This is made evident by his journal from when he was a young boy of which he had all of his goals written down, which states, “Save $5.00 {crossed out} $3.00 per week” (Fitzgerald176). This shows that instead of stealing or taking part in an illegal activity to make

To do this, Gatsby would have to make millions, something that saving up a mere three dollars a week would never accomplish. When Gatsby realizes this, he starts doing illegal things to make the money that he so desperately needs. One of these illegal activities include bootlegging alcohol. What one has to remember about this time period, is that alcohol is illegal due to the prohibition of the 1920’s. This means that bootlegging alcohol would make a person a lot of money, although it is highly illegal. Gatsby never says that he does this, but when tom mentions it in a confrontation, all Gatsby says is, “What about it?”(Fitzgerald137). It is also very obvious that he has something to do with alcohol as he serves it at his many