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Theme of the great Gatsby and how the author shows it in the book
Ethics and morals the great gatsby
Ethics and morals the great gatsby
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In the 1920s, prohibition, the ban on alcohol is in full force in order to better society, alcohol was seen as the corrupter of people’s judgement. Ironically prohibition caused society to decay, despite the many boons happening at the time. Beneath the seemingly prosperous country lies corruption, inequality, and despair. The corruption is so obvious, that author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a book on this subject called The Great Gatsby. His main character, Jay Gatsby, spent his whole life trying to become rich enough to win the heart of a now married Daisy. He became rich by bootlegging, selling alcohol illegally. In the end, he ultimately didn't win Daisy’s heart. She instead stayed with her husband, Tom Buchanan, as she rather have a predictable future, rather than an uncertain one. In the novel, Fitzgerald explores the corruption of wealth and how it causes suffering to others, while the rich themselves don’t face the consequences.
In The Great Gatsby, the wealthy are shown to be self-centered while the poor are left to suffer in poverty. The wealthy really don’t like change in the social order, doing everything they can to keep the lower class in their place. The prime example is the Buchanans’ treatment of Gatsby; however, he isn't the only one who suffered at their hand. George Wilson is also unfortunately one of those people. Throughout the book, Wilson, a car dealer, asks Tom if he is going to sell the blue coupe’ to him, Tom promised Wilson at the beginning of chapter 2, “Next week; I’ve got my man working on it now.” (Fitzgerald, 29) The reason he needs the car is so he can sell it and make money to support himself and his wife Myrtle. Despite his numerous promises to Wilson, Tom never gave him the car. The only reas...
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...o all these things is because they are bored with their life and must do something without getting into trouble themselves.
The Wealthy during the 1920s are shown to be egotistical people who only care about their own pleasure. New found independence, new technology, and a ban that only make alcohol more tempting certainly makes this prosperous time a moral dystopia. For the first time for many people, they can do almost anything with money; sometimes at the expense of others. The others were forced to live in poverty, endured careless rich people, and get blamed for their mess. Unfortunately for the rich, the Great Depression slap them back into reality and they have to work hard to get back what they lost. Both history and The Great Gatsby shows that money can be a double-edged sword and that there some things money can’t buy, like love and happiness for example.
This is seen throughout the novel in obvious ways, but also hinted at in minor ways as well. James Gatz became the wealthy, well known Jay Gatsby, but nobody knows for a fact how he came into the wealth that he did. Tom Buchanan makes some accusations of Gatsby and how he assumes he got his wealth. He says “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t wrong” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, ch. 7). “Prohibition made alcohol illegal, but it did not eliminate it. Illegal producers known as moonshiners sold their illegal product to illegal distributors known as bootleggers, who in turn sold it to illegal retail establishments known as speakeasies” (Mark Thornton). There was a chain of different ways that a person could get alcohol and then get away with drinking it, or even selling it. Government officials or police officers could easily be bribed to let off people who were illegal producing alcohol. Some doctors were even against the prohibition. They would prescribe alcohol to their patients as medical liquor, then drug stores would give out these prescriptions as if it was legitimate. We can only assume, since it isn 't stated directly in the novel, but this is why Gatsby and Wolfsheim owned drug stores, and that is how Gatsby made is fortune (Mark Thornton). Gatsby never denies these accusations that Tom made, which makes it seem as if they are
To conclude, by creating distinct class structures between the traditional upper class, new wealth, and the poor in The Great Gatsby, it is shown that the desire to maintain or change socio-economic status leads to immoral behaviours and corruption. The competing desires of the emerging class structure in The Great Gatsby cause destruction and loss of vitality to ensue. This eventually leads to immoral activities such as Gatsby’s bootlegging and murder, Wilson’s suicide, and the death of Myrtle. Fitzgerald warns with the emergence of punitive class structures and roles, unethical behaviour will fester which could lead to a polarized society if left unbalanced.
During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives. In the novel entitled the great Gatsby, the ideals of the so called American dream became skewed, as a result of the greediness and desires of the main characters to become rich and wealthy. These character placed throughout the novel emphasize the true value money has on a persons place in society making wealth a state of mind.
Even with all the side effects of Gatsby’s lifestyle, however, there is still a large gap about Gatsby to discuss considering the depth of hedonism has within The Great Gatsby. There still stands the question of how Gatsby even funds his hedonistic lifestyle to woo Daisy, especially since he has no real job except for his job with Meyer Wolfsheim, which is bootlegging. His cooperation with Wolfsheim is what funds Gatsby. At first, it may seem to be not enough to pay for the weekly parties and the shirts upon shirts, but when one takes into account the time the novel occurs in and the time of the Eighteenth Amendment. Moreover, while alcohol was banned, it did not stop the consumption. In fact, “While the reduction in drinking had some positive
It’s been ingrained into the fabric of society that to be truly happy in life, one needs to be wealthy. The characters in The Great Gatsby show this is not always the case, and that wealth is not always as important as one would believe. Society has always placed a significant importance on being rich, being wealthy. It makes one believe that being wealthy is the only true way to live a happy and fulfilling life. With this in mind, many readers are going to look at the characters in The Great Gatsby, such as Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, and fantasize about one day living the lifestyle that they live. While many characters in The Great Gatsby would appear from the outside to be living the American Dream, it what lies underneath this image of
Prohibition had the most effect on The Great Gatsby's most notable charachter, Jay Gatsby. Bob Batchelor states in his book Gatsby: The Cultural History of the Great American Novel, “Gatsby is a deeply flawed hero” (Batchelor 250). Gatsby is a hero because he was able to achieve the American dream by working hard to get to the top. Gatsby, however, was flawed because his dreams revolved around impressing and winning back Daisy. He was so blinded by his love for Daisy that he was not willing to achieve his actual dream. In the Great Gatsby, it is heavily inferred that Gat...
During the 1920s, the social scene was gradually changing because of the Prohibition Law; with the influence of prohibition, new waves of modern gangsters were created, and they were primarily involved in such crimes as “bootlegging” and “bank robbery.” The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, wrote the novel of The Great Gatsby, which focuses on the unachievable love affair between Gatsby and Daisy. In this novel, Jay Gatsby confronts death by getting shot on his back by flaming pistol triggered by Mr. Wilson. However, Mr. Wilson is not the only person who is responsible for Gatsby’s death; Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan are also accountable.
The Great Gatsby shows the wealthy as careless criminals. They have no sense of responsibility towards anyone, even those they kill, and they gladly leave everyone in the dust. This sort of extreme behavior undoubtedly exists today as well, but there is good in our richer class to balance it out as well. Morals may have become a little looser, but only because the world has changed as well. Materialism has both destroyed and helped people, leading some towards crime and others towards the American Dream.
Several individuals mark Gatsby to be a man of great wealth, with a beautiful estate, and an abundance of friends. To illustrate, parties that are hosted at Gatsby’s house are magnificent, filled with professional entertainment, music and dancers, and guests varying from politicians to movie stars. Fitzgerald paints the picture of the parties at Gatsby’s house in great detail in this passage “The bar is in full swing and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names.” (Fitzgerald 44). It can be seen that these were extravagant parties filled with lust and alcohol. The evidence shows that no ordinary man would be throwing parties of this form, only a man with great wealth and resources would pull of such a feat. Furthermore, this was the prohibition era, which meant that alcohol and the consumption of alcohol was illegal. After this brief look into Gatsby’s life, one can understand why he was considered “great”, but to truly understand Gatsby’s greatness, one must look into his
125). This is a quote from the book that represents the “new money” character of Gatsby. He had acquired success overnight without any major ties to lineage wealth. The inference that Fitzgerald provides is that the source of wealth for the wealthy lifestyle led by Gatsby was acquired through bootlegging. This is a characteristic that led to the prohibition in the US in general. Those involved in the lavish drinking lifestyles were mostly involved in illicit dealings to finance such lifestyles. Crime reduction was part of the agenda of the prohibition which was followed by the great
“The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored. Such is exemplified by Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson and Tom Buchanan. Their ambitions distinctly represent their class in which Fitzgerald implies strongly about.
As depicted by Scott F. Fitzgerald, the 1920s is an era of a great downfall both socially and morally. As the rich get richer, the poor remain to fend for themselves, with no help of any kind coming their way. Throughout Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the two “breeds” of wealthier folk consistently butt heads in an ongoing battle of varying lifestyles. The West Eggers, best represented by Jay Gatsby, are the newly rich, with little to no sense of class or taste. Their polar opposites, the East Eggers, are signified by Tom and Daisy Buchanan; these people have inherited their riches from the country’s wealthiest old families and treat their money with dignity and social grace. Money, a mere object in the hands of the newly wealthy, is unconscientiously squandered by Gatsby in an effort to bring his only source of happiness, Daisy, into his life once again. Over the course of his countless wild parties, he dissipates thousands upon thousands of dollars in unsuccessful attempts to attract Daisy’s attention. For Gatsby, the only way he could capture this happiness is to achieve his personal “American Dream” and end up with Daisy in his arms. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is somewhat detrimental to himself and the ones around him; his actions destroy relationships and ultimately get two people killed.
This book was published April 10, 1925, during the middle of prohibition which lasted from 1920 to 1933. The book itself takes place during the summer of 1922 in Long Island, New York. Fitzgerald wanted to show not only what people would do to for another person, but what they would do to get rich. He uses the character of Jay Gatsby as a rags to riches story of how a young boy left home with big dreams, and stopped at nothing to achieve them. He did this to show that this is what some people did. He wanted to show how corrupt the government was at this time. He wanted to show that people cared more about money than what really mattered, like the laws, relationships,
The Roaring Twenties is considered to be a time of excessive celebration and immense corruption. The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a criticism of American society and its values during this era of history. This criticism is first apparent in the people who go to Gatsby's parties. They get absurdly drunk, do not know who their host is and are rude by excessively gossiping about him. This commentary is also shown in the corruption of the police. Gatsby is able to pay off the police so that the activities going on at his home will go unnoticed and so that he may behave as he wishes. This criticism is finally shown in the corruption of friendship and love, the simple fact being that there is none. People use Gatsby and then throw him away. Fitzgerald's criticism of American society and its values during this time period is first shown in the behaviour of people at Gatsby's parties.
With its increase in organized crime, notorious icons, and unhealthy lifestyle, the Era of Prohibition represented the Roaring Twenties which F. Scott Fitzgerald vividly portrayed in The Great Gatsby.