Corruption In The Great Gatsby

The 1920s era is a prominent time in American history. The end of World War I leads to a massive industrial boom, which allows Americans to enjoy more luxuries than ever before. People went wild. Stocks are high, skirts are short, and everyone is getting rich. This decade sees the United States become the wealthiest nation in the world, with industry aligned to mass production, and a society based around consumerism. The allure of American wealth attracts people from around the world, all in pursuit of what came to be the American Dream. However, corruption quickly arises as people flaunt wealth they did not have, leading to careless and wasteful behavior. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, encompasses many of these ideas and conveys

many of his own opinions about this era. Throughout the novel, the author uses descriptive diction and cumulative syntax to expose the failure of the American Dream.

Fitzgerald manipulates diction in a variety of ways to portray the negative side of the American Dream. During the 1920s, there is a clear distinction between the rich and the poor. The upper class has a general disregard, and the lower class despises them for it. One afternoon, Nick is confronted by Tom Buchanan soon after Gatsby’s death. After their brief dispute, Nick thinks to himself, “I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their cast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” Fitzgerald reveals his disgust with the upper class during the 1920s with this quote. He purposely repeats the word “careless,” or

variations of it, to show what he thought of the wealthy. The author believes them to be wasteful people, with little regard to anyone else or the costs of their actions. Perhaps the social environment that they grew up in have led Tom and Daisy to be incapable of accepting responsibility for their own actions. Nevertheless, the American Dream is to blame for this nonchalance, according to Fitzgerald. He believes it to be a failed idea because it inspires people to be arrogant, and therefore careless. For example, Jordan cheats in her golf tournaments because she simply doesn’t care, while Daisy drives precariously for the exact same reason. They act in such a reckless manner, knowing that money will provide protection if they ever get in trouble. Fitzgerald strongly believes this is behavior is morally wrong, and the diction in this passage illustrates his deep-seated animosity towards the failed American Dream.
Furthermore, Fitzgerald uses cumulative sentences to represent the excessive sophistication of the upper class, which he also despises.

Throughout the text, the wealthier characters tend to speak in very long, complex sentences that encompass a general idea, but with many unnecessary clauses to make them seem more refined than they really are. In almost all cases, the characters have simple ideas that can be conveyed in just a few words, but Fitzgerald built on the idea to make the characters seem much more refined than they actually were. Take the following excerpt from the main passage: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their cast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” The central idea of this sentence is that Tom and Daisy were careless people who hid behind their metaphorical shield of wealth, letting others deal with the consequences. It is an idea that could have been conveyed in half the length, yet Fitzgerald stretched it out with cumulative syntax. He adds that the couple “smashes up things and creatures” before hiding in “their cast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together.” An observation that can be made in less than a line is stretched out with details like these. This tendency to make things greater than they really are is very characteristic of the American Dream. With everyone

quickly acquiring wealth, those who lack riches feigned sophistication. They employ elaborate showmanship, fashion, and speech to emphasize class and sophistication. They live their lives with one fundamental idea of fitting into high society, with material possessions to give them credibility and sophistication. This is certainly true in The Great Gatsby, where the characters used loose syntax to establish ethos.
Fitzgerald clearly has a disdain for the American Dream and its numerous effects. The author’s numerous rhetorical devices, namely diction and syntax, aid him in suggesting that this era is a period of materialism, narcissism, and wastefulness. In the passage presented, the author utilizes strong diction to illustrate the careless nature of the upper class. Cumulative syntax is also present, and it exemplifies that everything about the rich is a façade camouflaged by false sophistication. These rhetorical devices reveal Nick’s thoughts on life in the 1920s and therefore, implicitly reveal Fitzgerald’s thoughts as well.