Flaws In The Great Gatsby

The Roaring Twenties is home of the classic American novel, The Great Gatsby. This time period seemed as if it was written around the characters of this fictional story. F. Scott Fitzgerald created an authentic representation of the times with his beloved yet gravely flawed character, Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby’s biggest flaw was his desire to repeat his relationship with his star crossed lover, Daisy Buchanan, despite her husband and child. Throughout the novel he works to be with Daisy, no matter the obstacles in front of him which proves to be damaging to his character and others. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby's unhealthy relationships and preoccupation with the past define who he is and reveals the selfishness of the time period. In the 1920’s America was corrupted with materialism and selfishness, as portrayed through the characters of Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan, and Jay

“He believes that wealth will impress her and she will divorce Tom and marry him” (Verderdame 2). As explained to us by Verderdame in “Identity in the Great Gatsby” from Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature, we can see that Gatsby’s main approach to reclaiming Daisy for himself is using his money to turn her away from Tom and back to himself. This, too, is an excellent example of the selfishness of the 1920s, as Gatsby is entirely obsessed with obtaining Daisy again only for his personal gain. As Verderdame explained, Gatsby wants Daisy to divorce Tom and come back to himself, also showing that Gatsby does not care how his decisions and his gains affect other people, but he is merely concerned with how they will benefit his own life. This is possibly the most significant illustration of the greediness of the time period, as it deals with people fighting over people, while at the same time not being attentive to how it will influence other