Morality In Gatsby

1132 Words3 Pages

Sandesh Paudel, R4
Magister Focht
The Great Gatsby Essay
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel set in the era of the 1920’s that explores the effects of societal values placed upon wealth. It illustrates that the society’s ill-founded obsession with wealth leads to social stratification, inequality, and ultimately, corruption of morality. The Great Gatsby tells the story of Jay Gatsby, who climbs up the social ladder and displays his newly attained wealth by building a giant mansion in West Egg and hosting lavish parties. Gatsby does this in order to win back Daisy Buchanan, a girl who he had loved for years. Daisy, however, had married Tom Buchanan while Gatsby was away at war. Gatsby nevertheless persists at trying to attain Daisy throughout the entire novel. Gatsby shows extraordinary determination and commitment towards his irrational dream of attaining Daisy. Fitzgerald creates a parallel between Gatsby’s unreasonable obsession with Daisy and the society’s unjustifiable fixation upon money. In the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy is repeatedly equated with wealth in order to illustrate that the wealth is unworthy of the societal preoccupation that it receives.
Fitzgerald paints Daisy to be a symbol of wealth and of high status throughout the novel. For instance, Fitzgerald equates Daisy with wealth when Gatsby states that Daisy’s “indiscreet” voice has “inexhaustible charm” because it “is full of money” (Fitzgerald, 120). The word “indiscreet” suggests that Daisy’s voice is devoid of thought. While Daisy’s voice is charming to the ear, it doesn’t have much substance or meaning behind it. It is not the meaning behind her words that is charming. Instead, Fitzgerald uses the metaphor “money” to associ...

... middle of paper ...

...phere (Fitzgerald, 23). Fitzgerald uses diction and imagery to create grim mood. This serves to exemplify overwhelming differences between the rich and the poor. While the wealthy in East and West Egg regularly attend to lavish parties and live on opulent mansions, others are left to struggle in grim surroundings. Hence, Fitzgerald shows that greed for excess wealth contributes to social injustice by creating social division.
Fitzgerald associates Daisy with wealth, in order to characterize wealth as undeserving of the values that people place upon it. Gatsby is mistaken to believe that attaining Daisy would bring him happiness, similar to how the society is mistaken to believe that wealth is the key to happiness and nobility. On the contrary, Fitzgerald demonstrates that the greed for wealth causes social injustice, and deteriorates the moral fabric of the society.

Show More
Related

  • Moral Ambiguity In The Great Gatsby

    206 Words  | 1 Pages

    The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, provides the reader with a character that possesses qualities both challenging to understand and difficult to endorse. These characteristics show themselves through the character’s desire and passion to pursue his dream. Jay Gatsby, an elusive, persuasive, and sometimes deceptive man displays such contrast in his moral foundation that leaves the reader questioning his true motives at nearly every action. There is an argument to be made that Gatsby is both great and not so great, making him the epitome of moral ambiguity. For example, Nick, another major character, who happens to be the narrator of the story, first describes Gatsby in the opening chapter of the novel as someone who he both

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Daisy's Legacy

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about a new money man, Jay Gatsby, and his pursuit of acceptance into the upper class as well as to gain the love of Daisy. Daisy Buchanan is the cousin of the Nick and married to Tom Buchanan and she is one of Gatsby’s old friends. As a result of Gatsby’s past being so materialistic and goal oriented, he is unable to keep relationships, causing him to objectify his “love”, Daisy. He is a new money man whose money has come to him recently. As opposed to the Buchanans, who are old money and where they have a family legacy of being rich. In this society of West and East Egg, two peninsulas of Long Island, New York, legacy comes out to mean everything. Legacy essentially determines whether

    Read More

  • Essay On Same Goal, Different Route In The Great Gatsby

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a young man, Jay Gatsby was poor with nothing but his love for Daisy.  He had attempted to woe her, but a stronger attraction to money led her to marry another man.  This did not stop Gatsby’s goal of winning this woman for himself though, and he decided to improve his life anyway he could until he could measure up to Daisy’s standards.  He eventually gained connections in what would seem to be the wrong places, but these gave him the opportunity he needed to "get rich quick."  Gatsby’s enormous desire for Daisy controlled his life to the point that he did not even question the immorality of the dealings that he involved himself in to acquire wealth.  Eventually though, he was able to afford a "castle" in a location where he could pursue Daisy effectively.  His life ambition had successfully moved him to the top of the "new money" class of society, but he lacked the education of how to promote his wealth properly.  Despite the way that Gatsby flaunted his money, he did catch Daisy’s attention.  A chaotic affair followed for a while until Daisy was overcome by pressures from Gatsby to leave her husband and by the realization that she belonged to "old money" and a more proper society.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Dichotomy

    341 Words  | 1 Pages

    In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald contrasts the loving conditions and lifestyles of the wealthy and poor through the Buchanan’s and the Wilson’s. In the heart of the first chapter, Fitzgerald describes the home of the Buchanan’s, and in the beginning of the second chapter, he describes the home of the Wilson’s. The contrasting lifestyles are apparent in Fitzgerald’s descriptions due to his use of diction, details, and imagery. This dichotomy in social status holds major importance throughout the plot structure of the novel.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Distortion In The Great Gatsby

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s acclaimed novel, The Great Gatsby, is a critique of the American upper-class, and furthermore, the overall degeneration of American society as a whole. Fitzgerald establishes Nick Carraway as the narrator, and it is through Nick’s insightful, and deeply philosophical commentary, that Fitzgerald expresses his own contempt towards upper-class society, as after witnessing the downfall of Gatsby, Nick (and thus Fitzgerald) concludes that the notion of aristocracy is established upon a “quality of distortion”, and in truth, “they [are] careless people… [who] [smash] up things and creatures and then [retreat] back into their money or their vast carelessness.” Thus, Fitzgerald establishes theme of duality, the motif of distorted images, and ultimately questions the extent to

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby: Chasing Dreams

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of a man of meager wealth who chases after his dreams, only to find them crumble before him once he finally reaches them. Young James Gatz had always had dreams of being upper class, he didn't only want to have wealth, but he wanted to live the way the wealthy lived. At a young age he ran away from home; on the way he met Dan Cody, a rich sailor who taught him much of what he would later use to give the world an impression that he was wealthy. After becoming a soldier, Gatsby met an upper class girl named Daisy - the two fell in love. When he came back from the war Daisy had grown impatient of waiting for him and married a man named Tom Buchanan. Gatsby now has two coinciding dreams to chase after - wealth and love. Symbols in the story, such as the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, the contrast between the East Egg and West Egg, and the death of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Wilson work together to expose a larger theme in the story. Gatsby develops this idea that wealth can bring anything - status, love, and even the past; but what Gatsby doesn't realize is that wealth can only bring so much, and it’s this fatal mistake that leads to the death of his dreams.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby: Money, Power, and the Fulfillment of Dreams

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald money, power, and the fulfillment of dreams is what the story’s about. On the surface the story is about love but underneath it is about the decay of society’s morals and how the American dream is a fantasy, only money and power matter. Money, power, and dreams relate to each other by way of three of the characters in the book, Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. Gatsby is the dreamer, Daisy cares about money, and Tom desires and needs power. People who have no money dream of money. People who have money want to be powerful. People who have power have money to back them up. Fitzgerald writes this book with disgust towards the collapse of the American society. Also the purposeless existences that many people lived, when they should have been fulfilling their potential. American people lacked all important factors to make life worthwhile.

    Read More

  • Daisy Vs Gatsby

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Gatsby was just a young man, he was highly awed by Daisy’s representation of old money and her life of luxuries. Gatsby was intensely in love with “young” Daisy, so he wanted to become the best possible version of himself for her. When Gatsby was off at war, Daisy continued in her quest for wealth in her false life. Gatsby “was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprison[ed] and preserv[ed],” however if he promised her money, that’d be his life long goal: money for Daisy (150). Although Daisy loved Gatsby when she was young, the aspect of being rich was a higher priority. For Gatsby, the distance made his love for Daisy even more desirable. Unfortunately Daisy’s “voice is full of money, [for]…that was [her] inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it…high in a white palace the kings daughter, [to be] the golden girl” was all Daisy truly desired (120). In the end, the easier decision for wealth was to marry a man whom she liked the idea of, but never actually loved: Tom Buchanan.

    Read More

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    During Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, it is apparent to be an absurd time for the wealthy. The shallowness of money, riches, and a place in a higher social class were probably the most important components in most lives at that period of time. This is expressed clearly by Fitzgerald, especially through his characters, which include Myrtle Wilson, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and of course, Jay Gatsby. This novel was obviously written to criticize and condemn the ethics of the rich.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Ethical Analysis

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    Like God observing the world, we are the observers of The Great Gatsby. According to German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s two categorical imperatives, Daisy and Jay were unethical. Kant’s categorical imperatives state; ‘Act as if your action could be elevated into universal law’ and. Based on the principles of Kant, Daisy and Jay were unethical in several ways, according to Kant’s two categorical imperatives. Daisy used people emotionally and lacked responsibility, and Jay was manipulative towards the people around him. The Great Gatsby is a great example of a society that does not abide by Kantian principles.

    Read More

  • Comparing The American Dream In The Great Gatsby And A Soldier's Home

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    Scott Fitzgerald, primarily focuses on Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, attempting to reach the American Dream. However, many other characters too in The Great Gatsby wanted to fully achieve the American Dream, but somehow in the midst of doing so, were not able to reach the “happiness” portion of the dream, despite being successful with wealth. Jay Gatsby, for example, worked hard to get to the top of the social class and status. He was able to become wealthy, and he successfully transformed himself into a new person, yet he still wasn't happy because he didn't have Daisy. Gatsby was too obsessed with the idea of getting Daisy back into his life. Daisy has been a burden to Gatsby who has been pulling him back for so long, for “he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end” (Fitzgerald 97). Jay Gatsby was mesmerized in the idea of getting Daisy back that when he saw her for the first time in five years it is hard for him to put together that it was reality. Gatsby has purposefully changed his image completely, from poor to rich, and from a soldier to a new rich man, just to impress Daisy. When Gatsby sees that his American Dream, Daisy, has

    Read More

  • Exploring The American Dream in Great Gatsby and Grapes of Wrath

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    Daisy's dependence on men with wealth and status, and Gatsby's underhanded attempts at gaining it illustrate America's belief that money and extravagance are the easiest means of finding success and happiness. The following statement from page 149 strongly illustrates Gatsby's belief that his only means of captivating Daisy would be through deception. "He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her in under false pretenses. I don't mean that he had traded in his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe he was a person from much the same stratum as herselfthat he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilitieshe had no comfortable family standing behind him, and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to blow anywhere about the world (p. 149, paragraph 2)."

    Read More

  • The Voice Full of Money in The Great Gatsby

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gatsby is against the inevitable as he attempts to satisfy Daisy Buchanan’s dominant desire for prosperity. One of Gatsby’s first steps to winning over Daisy’s affection is producing an unfeasible amount of wealth. Creating a new identity, he believes is worthy of her flawless, excellence. Growing up as a poor boy, James Gatz refashions his name to Jay Gatsby and begins a life of under-the-table bootlegging. His dream initially becomes a reality when he begins to host extravagant parties to lure in Daisy. The fact that Gatsby must use acquisitive wealth to attract Daisy immedia...

    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

    At first glance, The Great Gatsby is merely a classic American tragedy, portraying the story of a man's obsession with a fantasy, and his resulting downfall. However, Fitzgerald seems to weave much more than that into the intricate web of emotional interactions he creates for the reader. One interesting element is the concepts of greatness each has. For Daisy, it lies in material wealth, and in the comfort and security associated with it. Daisy seems to be easily impressed by material success, as when she is touring Gatsby's mansion and seems deeply moved by his collection of fine, tailored shirts. It would seem that Tom's relative wealth, also, had at one time impressed her enough to win her in marriage. In contrast to that, Gatsby seems to not care a bit about money itself, but rather only about the possibility that it can win over Daisy. In fact, Gatsby's extreme generosity gives the reader the impression that Gatsby would otherwise have never even worked at attaining wealth had it not been for Daisy. For Gatsby, the only thing of real importance was his pursuit of Daisy. It would seem that these elements are combined, too in the character Myrtle.

    Read More

More about Morality In Gatsby

Open Document