Examples Of Moral Decay In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is told from the view of Nick Carraway. He is a graduate from Yale and moves east to New York to find a new job. Nick moves to West Egg in the summer of 1922 where he meets and befriends his neighbor, a peculiar man named Jay Gatsby. Nick’s wealthy cousin Daisy Buchanan lives across the sound in East Egg with her obnoxious husband Tom. It becomes evident that Fitzgerald aimed to portray the theme of moral decay as each of the characters develops and the story unfolds; Tom’s actions, Daisy’s self-obsession and carelessness, and Nick’s conformity to society all represent the prominent theme.
The morally corrupt society of the 1920s is best represented by the actions of Tom Buchanan. Tom is rich by inheritance and believes himself to be superior by blood. He comes from a long line of rich people placing him in East Egg, a community for those of “old money”. He proves to be not only a narcissist but to be a hypocrite as well. Tom Buchanan has several love affairs while being married to Daisy but after discovering her affair with Gatsby says, “By God, I

He was unlike the Buchanans and their friends; however, he eventually gives in to the pressure to conform to the unscrupulous society portrayed by Fitzgerald. Nick becomes absorbed into the world he was simply looking in on and takes on the very characteristics he was condemning; he becomes judgmental, dishonest, and prideful. At the end of chapter three Nick says, “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 59). He becomes as dishonest as those around him by the conclusion of the novel by withholding the truth that Gatsby was not driving the car that killed Myrtle Wilson. Nick Carraway serves as an example of how simple it can be to fall into the trap of immorality when surrounded by