What Is The Dishonesty In The Great Gatsby

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Due to humanity's obsession with success, people feel obligated to reach their goals as quickly as possible. Although this competitive nature encourages people to achieve, an ambitious mentality becomes dangerous when seeking fortune and fame. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, exemplifies how the 1920s era transforms the proclaimed "American Dream" into an unhealthy fixation with materialism. Various events within the novel verify that greed and dishonesty potentially lead to prosperity, but the happiness it creates is only temporary. Gatsby's funeral illustrates how much characters desire self-improvement, causing them to prioritize their reputations over their relationships. In reminiscence of Gatsby's life, his loved …show more content…

His proclaimed friends, caught in their own lives, are too selfish to forfeit a small amount of time for Gatsby. As Nick asks Meyer Wolfsheim to attend Gatsby's funeral, Wolfsheim creates the excuse that "[w]hen a man gets killed I never like to get mixed up in it in any way. I keep out...Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead...After that, my own rule is to let everything alone" (171-172). Business negotiations with Wolfsheim are extremely dangerous; participating in his illegal activities requires partners to trust one another. Despite this dependable friendship Gatsby and Wolfsheim built throughout the years, Wolfsheim dismisses their relationship to protect his career. The amount of rejection Gatsby faces, although indirectly, supports the misconception that in order for individuals to secure their reputations, they must ignore human instinct and disregard their care for others. Even Daisy, who declares that her love for Gatsby is unconditional, flees from Long Island when his death tests her loyalty. At the point when Tom claims that his and Daisy's suffering is equitable to Gatsby's murder, Nick reaches the frustrating realization that "[t]hey [are] careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast

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