The Great Gatsby Throughout The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the carelessness of the upper class in many ways. The wealthy characters seem to think that they’re too good for the poor and only cared about themselves. They throw elegant parties at their castle like mansions that only other rich people are invited to. It also seems as if the more money you have, the less loyal and trustworthy you are. People in the upper class were very careless with their money and their actions, and F. Scott Fitzgerald showed that in a lot of different ways. Trust and honesty was a very hard thing to come by in the upper class. The book states “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when you are watching your whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly” (34). This quote shows that it seemed as if people's lives were just crumbling because there was no one they could go to that they trusted. It seemed as if you were loved and had people that cared about you, but then when something bad happened to you no one was there for you. Having someone you trust to tell things is a great thing to have, and without that, many people were going crazy and that led to all of the madness surrounding the wealthy. …show more content…
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy---they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (179) this quote shows how people only cared about themselves. This quote also shows how disloyal the upper class was. Daisy didn’t even send as much as a funeral to gatsby’s funeral. Wealthy people like Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy all acted like there was love between them, but they were really in love with the
Out of all the people in the world there are only a few people that are honest. For instance when Nick is explaining what he thinks, “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (59). There are so many people in New York but the majority are liars, thieves and murderers. Another example of Nick’s honesty is when Gatsby offers Nick a job, “because the offer was obviously and tactlessly for a service to be rendered, I had no choice except to cut him off there. I’ve got my hands full.” (111). Nick is in need of money but still declines Gatsby’s offer because he knew it was not the right thing to do.
Jay Gatsby is know to be a man of many riches and enjoys to throw humongus parties every weekend. However, based on Nick Carraway’s description, Gatsby’s parties are very prodigal. Nick describes the amount of workers and tools need to fix Gatsby’s house after a party: “[a]nd on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears…” (Fitzgerald 39). By listing the amount of servants needed, Nick exploits the recklessness of Gatsby’s parties. In addition, by using the word “all day” the reader can infer there was quite a big mess the servants were tasked with cleaning. Thus, Gatsby’s gigantic party is just money spent to create a huge mess. Nick also describes the
The emerging inequitable class systems and antagonisms of the nineteen twenties saw the traditional order and moral values challenged, as well as the creation of great wealth for few and poverty for many. The Great Gatsby, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, explores the causes and effects of the unbalanced class structures. Fitzgerald outlines the idea that the desire to accumulate wealth and status is a common ambition amongst the lower classes; when that desire is reached, the traditional upper class is challenged by the emerging newly wealthy, which finally leads to destructive consequences. By creating rigid class structures, traditional upper class, new wealth, and the poor in The Great Gatsby, it is shown that the desire to further or maintain socio-economic status leads to immoral behaviour such as criminal activity, adultery, and murder.
The novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, deals heavily with the concept of the American Dream as it existed during the Roaring Twenties, and details its many flaws through the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and ambitious entrepreneur who comes to a tragic end after trying to win the love of the moneyed Daisy Buchanan, using him to dispel the fantastic myth of the self-made man and the underlying falsities of the American Dream. Despite Gatsby’s close association with the American Dream, however, Fitzgerald presents the young capitalist as a genuinely good person despite the flaws that cause his undoing. This portrayal of Gatsby as a victim of the American Dream is made most clear during his funeral, to which less than a handful
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.
...people. Tom and Daisy have one thing in common which is their excessive behavior which definitely causes great impact and influence on other people, especially those innocent people like Gatsby, Nick, the Wilson family, and even themselves. Tom is excessively wealthy, aggressive, and abusive while Daisy is excessively careless and neglectful. Tom and Daisy’s extreme behavior causes other people around them to suffer but they do not know or do not even care. That is the nature of rich people which is described by Nick: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things … and then retreated back into their vast carelessness...” (179). Tom and Daisy cause the death of Gatsby and other innocent people but neither of them come to justify themselves. The power of money seems to blind their eyes, block their mind. These kinds of people only hurt the society.
Undoubtedly, Tom and Daisy Buchanan exceedingly demonstrate the wealthy class's lack of integrity. Their lives are filled with material comforts and luxuries and completely empty of true purpose. Daisy's lament is especially indicative of this:
Constantly in The Great Gatsby, the incredible amounts of money are shown through the upper classes finery and parties. The upper class in the 1920s had an ample amount of luxuries at their fingertips: alcohol, jewels, elaborate gowns, indescribable foods, mansions, fancy cars, and amusements. In The Great Gatsby this insane amount of
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.
For example, “...Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York...for Mrs.Wilson sat discreetly in another car” (26). Even though Tom is close to Myrtle, he knows how detrimental it would be to his reputation if one of his rich friends saw him with Mrytle, so he makes her sit in another car. Likewise, Tom realizes the recklessness in his choices he is doing because it is both bad for himself, if someone in the “secret” society finds out he has a mistress. Also, it is bad for Daisy because she is getting cheated on without even knowing. Along with Gatsby and Tom, Daisy also commits reckless behavior when she does not go to Gatsby’s funeral. All his life, Gatsby acquired wealth and a huge mansion on the Long Island Sound right across from Daisy’s house, just to impress Daisy. He even hosted extravagant parties to attract Daisy to his house. After Daisy decides she does not want to go to Gatsby 's funeral, Nick Carraway concludes, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast
Having married a wealthy man, Daisy possesses all of the finer things in life. Nevertheless, these fine material objects are unable to conceal her shallow and superficial nature (Cowley 20). Not only is her affluence powerless to hide these negative qualities but, in actuality, it accentuates Daisy’s artificial nature by highlighting the importance that she puts on meaningless things such as fancy parties and fashion. She pettily judges people and objects by their material value (Bewley 23). When Daisy observes Gatsby’s cache of fine shirts, she is impressed by this grand demonstration of materialism: “‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such -- such beautiful shirts before’” (Fitzgerald 93-94). Daisy’s admiration for these trivial objects shows that she is consumed by the materialism of the era, and that she values the love of money over true love (Bewley 23-24). For this reason, Daisy is unwilling to divorce her well-established and influential husband to marry Gatsby. Her decision to remain committed to Tom does not stem from any moral righteousness or recognition of the sanctity of marriage. In fact, Daisy has demonstrated her disregard for higher moral principles by her dishonorable action of
How can one be so careless? In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom and Daisy were both careless in their actions. Their choices affected those around them, in the end killing three people. Tom showed his carelessness by cheating on his wife Daisy, openly showing off his mistress Myrtle, and telling Wilson that Gatsby owned the car that killed his wife. Daisy showed her carelessness by cheating on her husband Tom, openly showing her love for Gatsby in front of Nick and Jordan, and killing Myrtle without stopping like any sane person would. Tom and Daisy 's actions caused negative impacts on the people around them, however they had their money to lean on. Their money got them away at last where they didn
"They'll keep out of my way," she insisted. "It takes two to make an accident."
...rom the elite rich, who possess old money. Tom also claims that Gatsby “threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy’s”, (142) and can be said to be using his false wealth to mislead and confuse Daisy and Nick into thinking he is someone of their standards, which shows that Gatsby is not recognised as one of their class. This undercuts the glamorous wealth associated with Gatsby, and the ideal of equality in the American Dream.
...s with all of the parties and the pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure in an era of change. The novel shows the relationship of Gatsby and Daisy as a symbol of this pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure. The reader sees the pursuit of wealth through Daisy wanting Gatsby and Tom, both of whom have money. The pursuit of power is shown through Daisy’s decision of Tom over Gatsby as Gatsby is seen as a lower social status with little power compared to Tom who has tremendous power. Pleasure is seen through the extramarital affairs of Tom and Myrtle as well as Daisy and Gatsby. The Great Gatsby, through Tom and Daisy, reveals the human condition of the pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure through these examples and shows that the “American Dream” is not possible in a life where one’s surroundings are pushing him/her towards a life of wealth, power, and pleasure.