Examples Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

Corruption is defined as “dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people; the act of corrupting someone or something” (“Corruption”). There is a lot of corruption in The Great Gatsby. In The Great Gatsby there are many characters that live a life of glamour and sophistication. Daisy is a young lady who lives in Westchester County, along the Sound. Tom is a man whom is married to Daisy; he is a man who has lived in the life of glamour for the whole of his life. Gatsby is someone who lives in West Egg, the place of “new money.” All of these people use their glamour and sophistication to hide illegal activity or affairs committed while still married.
Daisy becomes reunited with Jay Gatsby, a man that she loved five years ago, and begins to once again fall in love with Gatsby and thus has an affair, all while she is still married. Nick, Gatsby, and Jordan are at Tom and

Daisy’s home, and are all sitting around. Daisy demands that Tom leave the room and go get them all cold drinks, and “As he left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby, and pulled his face down kissing him on the mouth” (Fitzgerald 122). As stated in this sentence, Daisy kisses Gatsby on the mouth, while in her own home. This action suggests that Daisy is, in a way, having an affair with Gatsby.
Gatsby is a young and extremely rich man who is in the illegal business of bootlegging in order to win back the heart of Daisy, the love of his life from five years ago.

One afternoon Nick, Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan go to spend the day at a hotel in downtown New York. At the hotel, Gatsby makes the claim that Daisy never loved Tom, and that she has plans to leave him. Tom becomes extremely upset over this and, in an attempt to keep Daisy from leaving with Gatsby says, “I found out what your ‘drug-stores’ were.” Tom then began to rapidly speak to Nick, Jordan, and Daisy saying, “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong” (Fitzgerald 141). Tom revealed that he had been digging into Gatsby’s life, thus exposing that he was involved in illegal activities, to keep Daisy from leaving. This proves that Gatsby earned the money from his illegal business in order to get Daisy’s attention and

love.
Tom is Daisy’s husband, a man with a lot of “old money”; throughout the book there is evidence that Tom has had multiple affairs, and it’s said that he does this only for the “excitement.” Jordan is telling Nick the story of how Daisy was in love with Gatsby, but married Tom. Jordan says that they went away for three months, and that the next time she saw them was in Santa Barbara. Jordan says that a week later, “Tom ran into a wagon …The girl who was with him got into the papers too because her arm was broken — she was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel” (Fitzgerald 82). Jordan’s story proves that Tom has had multiple affairs, even while married. This proof shows that if Tom will have an affair shortly after being married, then what’s to stop him from having other affairs later in life. Daisy tells Nick over the phone that her and Tom moving to New York was a permanent move. Nick doesn’t believe that because he says that, “Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game” (Fitzgerald 10). As told in this sentence, Tom was a football player, and could never get the excitement of a football game back. This shows that the only way for Tom to have even a fraction of that excitement again is to have affairs while being married.
Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom all lead glamorous and sophisticated lives to hide marital affairs or illegal activity. Daisy is a young married woman who becomes reacquainted with Gatsby, the love of her life from five years ago. At one point Daisy kisses Gatsby on the mouth in her own home, Daisy uses her “stupidity” from her wealth to hide her true feelings for Gatsby from Tom. The rich and young Jay Gatsby enters the illegal business of bootlegging to win back the love of Daisy, who learns about his illegal business through her husband Tom. Tom used to be a big time football player and is married to Daisy, but Tom continues to have multiple affairs with other women while married, Tom does this for the “thrill” or “excitement,” using his wealth and family ancestry to cover it up. All three of these people are like people today, using their money to bury their crimes. People today are using their positions in government and money to hide their corruption and cruelty.