Excessive Behavior in The Great Gatsby

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Excessive Behavior in The Great Gatsby

Excessive behavior is seldom a good thing. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a love story that takes place during the Roaring Twenties. Excess frequently leads to unhappiness. In this novel, Tom’s excessive behavior leads to the unhappiness of himself and other people. Tom’s excessive wealth, carelessness, aggressiveness, and abusiveness lead to the death of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and Jay Gatsby, resulting in unhappiness for Tom as well as everyone involved.

Tom is excessively wealthy, careless, aggressive, and abusive. Tom inherited a large amount of money from his relatives. The narrator, Nick, says, “His family were enormously wealthy – even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach” (10). He has excessive wealth and put it to use for himself. He “spent a year in France, for no particular reason,” surely spending a great deal of money (10). He lives among “the white palaces of fash...

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