Corruption In The Great Gatsby

Novelists utilize social gatherings as a way to reveal the values of the character and the society in which they live. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald contains both large, extravagant parties and small get-togethers which portray the corruption of the American dream during the 1920s. The character Jay Gatsby lives on West Egg, and is the embodiment of the American dream. Gatsby’s parents were “unsuccessful farmers,” and the lack of wealth during his childhood was the reason he reinvented himself. After obtaining his wealth through illegal means, Gatsby throws excessively extravagant parties in order to attract Daisy, who he had a relationship with five years ago. These parties are attended by hundreds of people who come simply to enjoy what they think of as the American dream. The corruption at the parties is evident when the narrator

Couples were arguing over the lack of regard shown to each other. This is emphasized with the woman angrily whispering to her husband “you promised” while he talked to another woman, and by the woman crying over a fight she had with her husband. People are dissatisfied with their lives and it is causing them to have affairs. People attended Gatsby’s parties not out of companionship for the host who they knew about only through rumors but instead to demonstrate their social status. This purpose is evident at Gatsby’s funeral where only a handful of people attended as opposed to the hundreds who attended the parties where wealth was flaunted. This reveals the hollowness of the American dream which during that decade had been perverted into the belief that only through money will you be happy. Gatsby himself was not