Caleb Pavelka Hour five The Great Gatsby (Moral Corruption) The Great Gatsby is known for its unmistakable tragedy and love story. Such situations cause these major plot twists and turns in the story are determined by characters’ responses to situations. Their motives for their actions are determined by their financial background. Characters more accustomed to money make their responses based upon how their reputation will be affected. People who aren't as accustomed to money, or poor people, tend to make their decisions from their morals and personal values. Rich characters will ultimately make their final actions based on how they will be perceived. Poor characters will stay true to themselves and try to solve problems with rational. The …show more content…
They make their responses based on how it will look to others. They want to seem classy and pure so when they get involved into drama they’re inclined to run away from it or make careful decisions that won’t negatively impact their name. Daisy was put into a stressful situation at the apartment of telling Tom that she was leaving him for Gatsby. She tried to do what her morals thought was right but she later caved in when she realized her reputation was at stake. She at first thought with her heart, “‘I never loved him,’ She said, with a perceptible reluctance.” After the stress breaks her she returns her focus onto how this will sound to strangers: “‘Oh, you want too much’ she cried to Gatsby. ‘I love you now- isn’t that enough? I can’t help what's past.’ She began to sob helplessly. ‘I did love him once- but I loved you too.’” She was pushed out of her comfort zone and felt she was making a decision based on something that didn’t matter to her, her reputation is what really mattered to her. Daisy isn’t the only one under moneys spell, Tom Buchanan makes huge efforts to make himself seem respectful to everyone while he secretly is doing scandalous things. …show more content…
George Wilson owned a gas station and was considered working class. His reputation wasn't in his daily agenda, it was leading an honest life. After finding out his wife, Myrtle, cheated and was murdered, he chose to interact using his values instead of worrying about what others thought. He chose to intervene in a very heated matter: “By half-past two he was in West egg, where he asked someone the way to Gatsby’s house. So by that time he knew Gatsby’s name.” Wilson could’ve kept going through life depressed trying to receive attention, but he didn't care about his character and took matters into his own hands. He accidentally killed Gatsby for he thought he had killed his wife, then killed himself. Myrtle, when she was alive, decided to cheat on her husband because that was what she wanted to do. Not what society wanted to see her do. She tries to keep it in secret in fear of others opinion but then realizes it only matters to her husband and confesses to Wilson. She coincidentally died after confessing her cheating. Myrtle snuck away with Tom and complained about her relationship with George: “‘She really ought to get away from him,’ resumed Catherine to me. ‘They’ve been living over that garage for 11 years. And Tom’s the first sweetie she ever had.’” Tom is her first sweetie she ever had because Myrtle knew it was against marriage vows to cheat. After falling in love with Tom, she realized her
George Wilson, who is married to Myrtle, and Tom Buchanan, married to Daisy, are most responsible for Gatsby's death. Wilson went up to Tom asking who owned the yellow car that killed his wife. Tom revealed that it was Gatsby’s car, knowing that Wilson had intentions of killing whoever owned the car, yet Tom didn’t add to the fact that Daisy was driving. Gatsby did have a relationship with Daisy, and Tom knew about it. Tom allowed Daisy to go in Gatsby’s car back to West Egg to prove that he did not care if Daisy and Gatsby were together, had Tom not let Daisy go in Gatsby’s car, both Myrtle and Gatsby would be alive.
After placing so much into Myrtle and allowing himself to be completely taken over by her, her death caused him to lose a sense of identity. This reveals how little power he actually ever had, even when she was alive. This loss of power also caused his biggest role in the story, the murdering of Gatsby. After losing Myrtle, the only part of his life that had any direction, even if it was South, was gone, and this debilitating weakness lead him to not only kill Gatsby, but to kill himself, for he no longer had any purpose. Wilson was so weak, that it even show through his physicality, him being described as a “blond, spiritless man”(25). With every day that passed, he became weaker and weaker, soon becoming nothing more than the dust that clung to every, last object in the Valley of Ashes. George Wilson was only a simple bloom in this garden of vibrant people. However, he was plagued with a diseased named weakness, and everywhere he went, it followed him, leaving a path marked by destruction, affecting everyone he came into contact
After Myrtle was hit and killed by a car, Tom told George, her husband, that the person driving the car was Gatsby. It was actually Daisy who killed Myrtle, but Gatsby paid the price for her mistake. George Wilson went to Gatsby’s mansion and shot Gatsby while he was in the pool. After killing Gatsby, George took the gun and commited suicide. Then, Tom took Daisy and their child and moved away and left Nick Carraway without his cousin or his friend. Tom did not care about Gatsby’s death, even though he was someone his wife
She thinks that being rich and famous will give her the happiness she is seeking. While Daisy is truly unhappy with her husband and their relationship and just wants some sort of love no matter who it is
Myrtle Wilson did not have a lot in the beginning, but she gained a new life with Tom when she tried to reinvent herself for him. Things like new dresses, a big apartment, and fancy outings with Tom became the new “normal” for Myrtle. On the other hand, Myrtle lost the respect of her husband and friends when everyone found out about her affair. In addition to losing respect, Myrtle also lost herself, both mentally and physically, when she tried to keep secrets and live a double life. She became someone she did not recognize, and although her end in the novel was tragic, it was a cost that she had to
Money and Corruption in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby 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.
Our story unravels early on in The Great Gatsby, Nick's very wealthy cousin, Daisy, simply has it all: she is beautiful and graceful; her bank account is large; she's traveled and knows people no matter where she goes. Her husband, Tom Buchanan, is without a doubt very lucky to be with her; but there's a ripple in this perfect couple: he's cheating on her. Not only is Tom cheating on her, but he's cheating on her with someone of a far lesser class; which makes the reader question why he's with her in the first place. Daisy had a very good reputation among the elite; she had never done anything that would have embarrassed her. "They moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild, but she came out with an absolutely perfect reputation" (82). This illustrates how well put together Daisy is, he has used her, and continues to use her not only for her wealth, but also for her firm social standing. She could, literally, make or break Tom depending merely on whether or not she stayed with him; of course he'd remain with her, she defined his social standing.
In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald many of the characters could not be classified as a truly moral, a person who exhibits goodness or correctness in their character and behavior. Nick Carraway is not moral by any means; he is responsible for an affair between two major characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Jay Gatsby does show some moral qualities when he attempts to go back and rescue Myrtle after she had been hit by Daisy. Overall Gatsby is unquestionably an immoral person. Nick Carraway and Gatsby share many immoral characteristics, but a big choice separates the two. Daisy Buchanan is an extremely immoral person; she even went to the lengths of taking someone's life. Jay and Daisy are similar but Daisy is borderline corrupt. The entire story is told through Nick Carraway's point of view and by his carelessness it is obvious the narrator possesses poor values.
The car pulled up to Wilson’s garage. Instantly, anger filled my body. Myrtle should be alive. Myrtle should be here. But instead, that man- this man- let her go and get herself killed. I knew who it was. Gatsby. He was one with the yellow car. He was the one driving. God knows, he wouldn’t let Daisy drive.
Though Myrtle Wilson makes an attempt to escape her own class and pursue happiness with the rich, she ends up gaining nothing and eventually dies. She is basically a victim of the group she wanted to join. Myrtle tries to become like Tom by having an affair with him and taking on his way of living, but in doing so she becomes unsatisfied with her life. Her constant clothing changes show that she is unhappy with her life, she changes personalities every time she changes her dress: "with the influence of the dress her whole personality had also undergone a change.
Most self respecting people have ethics and morals they try to abide by. They create standards that they live life by and construct their own philosophy with. In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, morals and ethics are a scarce practice. Jay Gatsby lives his life by the over bearing morals and values of devotion, corruption, and his will to control.
The Great Gatsby: The Destruction of Morals. In The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the destruction of morals in society. The characters in this novel, all lose their morals in an attempt to find their desired place in the social world. They trade their beliefs for the hope of acceptance.
She was a wife and at the same time a lover of another. She was the lover of Tom, who was Daisy's husband, and Daisy was Jay Gatsby's love. A good connection there, right? Myrtle loved Tom, with all her heart. He was her American Dream, and yet she didn't find love near him, but death among his wife, who killed her accidentally.
Nick is astonished at this information. He finds it hard to believe that Tom, with a beautiful wife and child, would be having an affair with some woman in the city. Miss Baker thinks “everybody knew” about the affair, yet Daisy is still with Tom. Being too ignorant to make herself believe it’s true, Daisy is willing to stay in the marriage, even when she is presented with an opportunity from Gatsby to escape. Daisy is willing to stay with Tom just because he has “old money,” and that shows how important it is to her. Everyone else’s morals are just as bad as Tom’s because they know about what’s going on and know that it’s wrong, but they don’t say anything about it. Later in the story, when Wilson is looking for the driver of the yellow car that killed Myrtle, he also suspects that person of having an affair with...
I thought he knew something about breeding but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe (Fitzgerald 39)”. Myrtle married Wilson because she thought he could give her the best life she wanted. She expected to have the luxuries of East Egg. Wilson couldn’t give her everything she wanted, he wasn’t rich enough and being a mechanic wasn’t a good job to pay for her. Then she has an affair with Tom because he has what she wants.