The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby

The moral sterility of characters is apparent throughout the novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” portrays the materialistic society in which characters are lacking morality. The prominent characters in the fiction like Tom, Daisy and George have done moral damage to others due to their materialist incentives. The novel is a perfect representation of how society is moving towards moral decay and corruption. The only goal for the people of modern society is to gain money, which convinces them to neglect their values, norms and traditional beliefs. The focus of people on wealth disconnected them from real relations, their importance and humanity.

The fiction portrayed the impact of industrialism and American dreams on the ideology of morality. Fitzgerald in his famous novel “The Great Gatsby” represents the issues of the modern American society. It provides a criticism on how American dream and desire for riches changed the society by making moral values non-existent. The period influenced the new authors becoming part of American literature. The period focused on highlighting social destruction and change of human thinking. Hard broiled notions of various fictions revealed the complex social structure created by elimination of social norms. Boldness was a most visible element used by authors of the modern period.

Moral degradation is visible in Gatsby’s attempts of impressing Daisy by his money. The young guy believed that the only way that could allow him to win Daisy’s love is by getting rich. “Gatsby bought the house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald). The feelings of Gatsby too get rich motivated him too choose the unfair and corrupt path. He neglected the perils of the morally degraded actions. This was due to the influence of the changing values of the society where people valued wealth more than everything. Jay business dealings also reflects absence of moral correctness as Gatsby aimed at deceiving Tom by concealing that he was a wealthy bootlegger. He raised all his money through illegal business of liquor. The desire was wealth caused Gatsby to reject the legal sanctions on selling of liquor. He chose corrupt path because making enormous wealth through fair means was not possible in the industrialist regime.

A difficult task is proposed to Gatsby of making wealth for winning Daisy’s love. Although he belongs to an average background but he had to earn lots of money for reconnecting with Daisy. “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it" (Fitzgerald 193). Another reason for engaging in illegal business was to satisfy immoral desire of winning Daisy. The character has chosen a destructive path by neglecting his morality and correctness.

The only motive for the people of modern era is to earn money for attaining the high status in society. The author explains the feelings of Gatsby, “he did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city” (Fitzgerald 193). Gatsby was lacking wealth due to his poor background that made him believe that he was far behind others. He wanted to warn the same status as Tom’s and for that he was unable to save himself from the evils of the society. His comparison of self with Tom causes unrest and discomfort because the only reason for Daisy to choose Tom was his inherited wealth. Gatsby was influenced by the corrupt incentives of the society as everyone entered into a fight of attaining high social status. Without wealth entering the circle of the rich people was not possible.

The villain of the fiction Tom Buchanan is the most immoral character. His wealth has made him powerful enough to exploit the people. The villain caused moral harm to Daisy due to his affairs. Daisy wanted to marry tom, but his affairs caused her moral harm. She also started to think about having an affair with Gatsby. However, Tom hasn't caused harm to any family member. The villain deceived the victim for gaining possession of Gatsby. Tom hides from Gatsby that he knew about his affair with Daisy and pretends to be a friend. He also lies about buying the land to secretly check on Jay's business dealings. Gatsby is a victim of Tom Buchanan who destroys his dream of marrying Daisy. Tom manages to get all information about Gatsby and also learns about his affair with Daisy. By the end Tom wins the race by his wealth, power and status are they allowed him to win Daisy. Tom also started affair with a married woman Myrtle. This again reflects how wealth blinded the people to see the consequences of their evil choices. Myrtle was impressed by Tom’s wealth and also dreamed of becoming rich. This convinced her reject the social norms and start an affair with him.

Moral sterility of the characters is apparent in Gatsby’s affair with Daisy. The interdiction or social norm is violated when Gatsby starts an affair with a married woman. Gatsby continues to see Daisy and invites her to home. The scenes of romance reveal their feelings for each other. The violation of the interdiction takes place at Gatsby's home where he attempts to surprise Daisy. The narrator mentions, “Gatsby bought the house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald). The reason for him to buy house closer to Daisy’s home was for keeping an eye on her. Gatsby's desire of approaching Daisy in his parties also reveals a violation of interdiction. Both Gatsby and Daisy deceives Tom and others by hiding their relation ship. The relationship reveals that the people in the modern era gave no importance to social mores or moral values.

Daisy also lacks moral values because she leaves Gatsby for wealth. Irrespective of her love and feelings towards Gatsby she chooses wealth that later becomes the reason the his death. The character of Daisy reveals that she lacks faithfulness and love in her life. The infidelities of Tom had been of great disturbance in her life, so she desired of having true love. That becomes apparent in her feelings for Gatsby. Daisy didn’t bothered about the feelings of Gatsby and entraps him in her love. The character of the girl depicts that people had the power to play with thee feelings of humans. Her desire for becoming wealthy encouraged her to leave Gatsby, ignoring the repercussions of her actions. Daisy is of the view that anything can be sacrificed for wealth and status. Her prominent reason for rejecting Gatsby’s love was her greed.

Throughout the novel the characters are engaged in immoral decision-making. They are symbols of privileges who view themselves as having no bindings with the society, values or norms. no character is innocent in the fiction as everyone has been involved in some immoral action. The analysis of the characters reveals how the society has deceased morally. People are having no true connection with humans and face no difficulty in crushing their emotions. The materialist society has transformed the beliefs of the people as everyone is only focused on getting wealthy.

Work cited

Bode, C. American Perspectives, the United States in the Modern Age, Washington, DC. (1990).

BIBLIOGRAPHY Hodo, Z. (2017). The Failure of the American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”- Fitzgerald . European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies , 2 (7).

Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press. (1998).