Examples Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

Jack Noone

Ms. Waldron

English II H

28 May 2015

The Debacle of The American Dream in the 1930’s

The American Dream in its true meaning is the the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. As seen in “The Great Gatsby”, the “American Dream” brings a negative connotation due to the dishonest, corrupt means of reaching this dream. On the journey from rags to riches, fraud becomes essentially inevitable due to the fact that people will take any means necessary to reach their desired position. From examining the characters in “The Great Gatsby’s” morals, actions, and materialistic viewpoints, one can determine that a major theme is the corruption

of the American Dream in the 1930’s.

To begin, Meyer Wolfshiem is introduced in chapter four when Gatsby and Nick head into the city for lunch.

When Gatsby tells Nick about the 1919 World Series fix, Nick is astonished that one man could have such a detrimental impact on so many people's lives. Nick goes to say, “It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people - with the single mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe.” (Fitzgerald 78). Nick then goes on to ask Gatsby how Wolfshiem didn’t get caught, then Gatsby says that he can’t be caught, essentially meaning he has underground connections which leave him above suspicion. The fact that Gatsby is in close relation to Wolfshiem, leads the reader to believe Gatsby has participated in dishonest measures to reach his financial standpoint in which he stood at the time. Gatsby tells Nick a very far fetched story of his life before he moved to West Egg. Gatsby says he lived in the midwest and came from a very wealthy family, when Nick asks which midwestern city, Gatsby replied, San Francisco. Gatsby then goes on to list all of his accomplishments in life, from serving in the army during WWI, to playing cricket at the university of Oxford. Without questioning, Gatsby pulls out pictures from Oxford and medals from Montenegro to prove to Nick that he has not been lying. This is where Nick first starts to become skeptical about Gatsby’s past. How exactly did Jay Gatsby get to where he was, did he do this by himself? “Of

course, Gatsby did not create his identity alone; after Gatsby's death, Meyer Wolfshiem, a Jewish crime boss also in hot pursuit of the American dream, tells Nick of Gatsby, ‘I made him … raised him up out of nothing, right out of the gutter.’” (Hacht, Literary Themes for Students: The American Dream). Without the help of Meyer Wolfshiem, Jay Gatsby would not have been able to reach the wealth side of the American Dream. The 1920’s was a period of corruption, which helped few, and left many to suffer.

As a result of the materialistic viewpoints in “The Great Gatsby”, the characters are never content with what they have.

Although there are many examples of materialism throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby’s stands out the most. Nick describes Jay’s house to be extremely extravagant, saying, “The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.” (Fitzgerald 9). Jay Gatsby is a single man who lives alone. The only reason to have such a big mansion is to prove himself to people, showing he has wealth and power. Instead, Gatsby’s house is ludicrous and looks to just be a mere imitation of something great, the Hôtel de Ville. Daisy is a character who is easily influenced by the materialistic things in life. When Gatsby shows her his closet, she acts in a ludicrous way. “...Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. ‘They're such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the think folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.” The shirts don’t represent the love Daisy has for Gatsby, the shirts represent the idea that Daisy is influenced way too easily by items that hold no true value, other than the price they cost. Daisy is seen throughout the novel to be reliant on others, whether it’s Tom or

Gatsby.

Also,

On Long Island’s Gold Coast, Fitzgerald utilizes Jay Gatsby to express the rise and the fall of the American Dream. As the book progresses, Jay Gatsby experiences the American Dream due to his “rags to riches” story, in which he gives an elaborate story to go along with his life, which probably is manipulated to give off a better Jay gives Nick a back story, (quote), but in reality Jay used a corrupt way of reaching his goal of the American Dream, to become rich. Although Gatsby has all the money in the world, he is still miserable due to his lack of devotion to any partner. He started life with little, as the son of fairly unsuccessful farmers. By the time he was a young man he had even less, having voluntarily estranged himself from his family, unable to come to terms with the lot he had been dealt in life. While on his own, he had the opportunity to reinvent himself, and due solely to his own ingenuity, Jimmy Gatz evolved into Jay Gatsby. As such, life became much different (although he was missing one key ingredient: money). He was no longer tied to his early years, but could imagine whatever past for himself he desired. And then he fell in love, a fateful incident that would change the course of his life forever.