Vices In The Great Gatsby

314 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary analysis of great gatsby

Topic: What is Vice? Text: “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald Character: Tom Buchanans In the novel,” The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author portrays inner conflicts of Tom Buchanans through various vices that have negative effects on the individuals surrounding him. Tom is a wealthy white male that was born into a wealthy family. He went to school with the narrator, Nick. Tom is married to Nick’s cousin, Daisy. Nick describes Tom as, “It was a body capable of enormous leverage—a cruel body… His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed (Fitzgerald 7).” This description of Tom leads us to not like him as much. There is a use of negative words that help us to form our first

Show More
Related

  • gatjay Failure of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gatsby realizes that life of the high class demands wealth to become priority; wealth becomes his superficial goal overshadowing his quest for love. He establishes his necessity to acquire wealth, which allows him to be with Daisy. The social elite of Gatsby's time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an "enormously wealthy" family, seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind (Fitzgerald 10). Nick describes Tom's physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner...arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face...always leaning aggressively forward...a cruel body...[h]is speaking voice...added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" (Fitzgerald 11). The wealth Tom has inherited causes him to become arrogant and condescending to others, while losing his morals. Rather than becoming immoral from wealth as Tom has, Gatsby engages in criminal activity as his only path to being rich. His need for money had become so great that he "was in the drug business" (Fitzgerald 95). Furthermore, he lies to Nick about his past in order to cover up his criminal activity. Gatsby claims to others that he has inherited his wealth, but Nick discovers "[h]is parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby enters a world where money takes precedence over moral integrity. Materialism has already overshadowed a portion of his spiritual side. A quest for true love is doomed for failure in the presence of immorality. Once wealth has taken priority over integrity, members of the high social class focus on immediate indulgences, rather than on long-term pleasures of life such as love.

    Read More

  • Positive Connotation In The Great Gatsby

    1662 Words  | 4 Pages

    Contrary to the descriptive words used for Gatsby, Nick’ resentment towards the characters that mistreated Gatsby is notable; he is constantly using words like, violent, large, unintelligent, and superficial to describe Tom.

    Read More

  • Attitude Towards Women In The Great Gatsby

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this novel Fitzgerald shows Tom and George’s negative philosophy’s towards women. He shows in The Great Gatsby how men can be heinous, but he also shows the positive treatment of women by men in the form of Nick and Gatsby’s characters. Fitzgerald is trying to portray that there are a lot of men that mistreat women in the world, but there are those select distinguished few such as Nick and

    Read More

  • Free Essays - Immorality and Corruption in the Great Gatsby

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald many of the characters could not be classified as a truly moral, a person who exhibits goodness or correctness in their character and behavior. Nick Carraway is not moral by any means; he is responsible for an affair between two major characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Jay Gatsby does show some moral qualities when he attempts to go back and rescue Myrtle after she had been hit by Daisy. Overall Gatsby is unquestionably an immoral person. Nick Carraway and Gatsby share many immoral characteristics, but a big choice separates the two. Daisy Buchanan is an extremely immoral person; she even went to the lengths of taking someone's life. Jay and Daisy are similar but Daisy is borderline corrupt. The entire story is told through Nick Carraway's point of view and by his carelessness it is obvious the narrator possesses poor values.

    Read More

  • Self Control In The Great Gatsby

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book has many examples the characters portraying these negative attributes. Daisy looked desperately from one to the other. “you’re causing a row. Please have a little self-control.” (Fitzgerald Chapter 7 Pg. 129) In this quote Daisy just shows a glimpse of toms out of control anger and his carelessness on how to treat other people because of the money he has and how he things of himself vs others. Gatsby also shows his main weakness in this book many times which is love but none more clearly then in this quote. “your wife doesn’t love you,” said Gatsby. “she’s never loved you. She loves me. (Fitzgerald Chapter 7 Pg. 130) Gatsby really thinks that after all that time that he and daisy were apart that she was just going to drop the life she had made after he left an go and be with him. His love for a woman let his mind think of only one thing, to get her back, and let his eyes get fogged up with all this emotion and carelessness and he even took the blame for her fault when she ran over myrtle Wilson. He was deeply in love he was willing to put his life and name out on a limb for her and that ended up being Gatsby’s fall. He was not the only one that had faults Jordan baker as well was a liar and cheat as nick found out through out the book. “She was incurably dishonest” (Fitzgerald Chapter 3 Pg. 58) Nick had lost all hope in Jordan and when he finds out everything about her he drops her like a bad habit unlike Gatsby and needless to say all these characters were very wild and would get drunk unlike Nick who holds himself to a higher standard then most of the characters. “I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon” (Fitzgerald Chapter 2 Pg. 29) This quote really just shows the readers

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby: Unfaithfulness And Greed

    413 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Great Gatsby: Unfaithfulness and Greed.      The love described in the novel, The Great Gatsby, contains "violence and egoism not tenderness and affection." The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, writes on wealth, love, and corruption. Two coupes, Tom and Daisy Buchanan and George and Myrtle Wilson, match perfectly with these categories. Both couples are different in the way they choose to live together, but are similar in a few ways. Unfaithfulness and greed are the only similarities the couples shared.

    Read More

  • Morals and Ethics in The Great Gatsby

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most self respecting people have ethics and morals they try to abide by. They create standards that they live life by and construct their own philosophy with. In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, morals and ethics are a scarce practice. Jay Gatsby lives his life by the over bearing morals and values of devotion, corruption, and his will to control.

    Read More

  • gatmoral Moral and Emotional Range of The Great Gatsby

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there is a broad spectrum of moral and social views demonstrated by various characters.  At one end, is Tom, a man who attacks Gatsby's sense of propriety and legitimacy, while thinking nothing of running roughshod over the lives of those around him. A direct opposite of Tom's nature is Gatsby, who displays great generosity and caring, yet will stop at nothing to achieve his dream of running off with Daisy. The moral and emotional characteristics of Gastby and Tom are juxtaposed, Tom, the immoral character and Gastby, the moral character while the other characters' moral and emotional developments appear between these two.

    Read More

  • The Angers of the Rich

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    Paul Krugman discusses topics including anger, wealth, self-pity, and self-righteousness in his article, “The Angry Rich.” All of these characteristics are reflected in the character Tom Buchanan, from The Great Gatsby. Tom, who depicts himself as an imperious man, puts himself above everyone just because he has money. In The Great Gatsby, money rules the society from where you live, whom you’re friends with, and even the way people look at you. Tom and Daisy both think of themselves as exclusive compared to everyone else and put themselves above the rules. Tom has a mistress, Myrtle, she isn’t the most appealing woman, but it is enough to fuel the fire of Tom’s ego.

    Read More

  • Moral Destruction In The Great Gatsby

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby: The Destruction of Morals. In The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the destruction of morals in society. The characters in this novel, all lose their morals in an attempt to find their desired place in the social world. They trade their beliefs for the hope of acceptance.

    Read More

  • Moral Corruption In The Great Gatsby

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald explores the idea of the American Dream as well as the portrayal of social classes. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct social groups but, in the end, each group has its own problems to contend with, leaving a powerful reminder of what a precarious place the world really is. By creating two distinct social classes ‘old money’ and ‘new money’, Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism underlying and moral corruption society. The idea of the American dream is the ideal that opportunity is available to any American, allowing their highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. In the case of The Great Gatsby it centres on the attainment of wealth and status to reach certain positions in life,

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Rhetorical Analysis

    467 Words  | 1 Pages

    Fitzgerald’s use of connotative diction highlights important difference in how Nick views Tom and Gatsby. Tom is described as “enormous” and “cruel” whereas Gatsby is described as “an elegant young roughneck”delineating clear contrasts in their character. Tom is described as enormous to give the impression that he is intimidating and large. Gatsby, on the other hand is described as “young” implying that gatsby is inexperienced and small. Old money has more power than new money, this is portrayed by the connotative diction used to describe tom and Gatsby.

    Read More

  • Tom's Identity In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    “"I found out what your drug-stores were." [Tom] turned to us and spoke rapidly. "[Gatsby] 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 133). This proves how Tom is quick to pass judgment and how Tom thinks he is the only perfect person. Tom can drink alcohol during the prohibition, but it is wrong for Gatsby to produce liquor. It is obvious to infer that Tom has to put people down to feel good about himself. “"You're crazy!" [Tom] exploded. "I can't speak about what happened five years ago, because I didn't know Daisy then—and I'll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that's a God damned lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now"” (Fitzgerald 131). Tom sees Daisy’s love as a possession; Tom sees marriage as a system of ownership, and he wants to be the only who can Daisy. Tom will let Daisy ride around with Gatsby, but not much else. In “The Great Gatsby”, Tom has shown his true personality, narcissistic, through these

    Read More

  • Vice In The Great Gatsby

    421 Words  | 1 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays vice through Tom Buchanans through him cheating on his wife and thinking he is superior to everyone around him.

    Read More

  • The Portrayal of Women in American Literature

    2124 Words  | 5 Pages

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the main female character, Daisy Buchanan, is portrayed by, Nick, the narrator, only by her superficial qualities. “Guided only by Nick’s limited view of her, readers often judge Daisy solely on the basis of her superficial qualities” (Fryer 43). What the reader sees through the eyes of Nick only appears as a woman whose impatience and desire for wealth and luxury cost her the love of her life, Gatsby. Nick’s narrow perception does not allow one to see that “…[Daisy’s] silly manner conceals a woman of feeling or that her final ‘irresponsibility’ towards Gatsby stems from an acute sense of responsibility towards herself” and that Nick “…clearly does not understand what motivates her” (Fryer 43). One can easily view Daisy as a victim. Fitzgerald distinctly exposes Daisy’s need for stability, which, according to Fitzgerald or perhaps the mentality of the time period, can only be found in a man. “Her need for stability was immediate, and she attempted to satisfy that need through something tangible, something close at hand” (Fryer 51). This “need” that Fitzg...

    Read More

More about Vices In The Great Gatsby

Open Document