A Corrupted Society in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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A Corrupted Society
In the 1920s, the American territory is transformed by a new dream that touches its population. The American Dream, which is in brief to achieve a perfect life and having everything you want, causes in part decadence, excess, and disillusionment. Being wealthy is certainly one of the main accomplishments that characterized the American society. Through his characters, the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals the consequences of this dream on the population. The immorality of the characters of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan is due to the corrupted values popularized by the American Dream. This statement can be confirmed with the importance given to consumerism by Gatsby and his illegal act, and the supposedly superiority and the selfishness of Tom.
The American society gives to Jay Gatsby immoral values and it also corrupts him by the importance given to money. Gatsby’s first contact with the American Dream is when he discovers Cody’s big yacht: “[…] that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world” (Fitzgerald 100). Cody is a man who makes his fortune with metal and who become alcoholic. It is important to notice that Cody has not ended up well even if he was rich. In fact, it is possible to say that money corrupted Cody and that Cody corrupted Gatsby at his turn, because without realizing it, he makes Gatsby recognizes the importance of richness and consumerism. The idea of creating a false identity comes to Gatsby at this precise moment. The false identity shows the corruption behinds the American Dream; Gatsby needs to be someone else to pursue this dream. In other words, the social feelings of the 1920s bring Gatsby to change himself in order to fit in the new society. Moreove...

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...nts to share it with the society. Having a mistress makes him feel good because he is superior to someone and he feels in control of the situation. Given these points, because of the importance of being rich in the society, Tom becomes selfish by wanting always a little more.
All things considered, the social feelings of the 1920s clearly affect the character in the novel. They take immoral decisions and they follow the wrong values of the time. Gatsby is carried away by the world of consumerism and involves himself in criminal activities to get a woman. On the other hand, Tom, born in the world of richness, feels superior and pushes the consumerism idea to the extreme. Tom, who certainly follows the American Dream, can be described as selfish, careless and racist. Finally, the corrupted society of the 1920s affected the characters with the wrong values divulged.

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