Corrupting the American Dream in The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Additionally, her actions demonstrate the dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain and attention. Daisy’s character, due to her money, inherently values her advantage over the lower class, revealing a nature of entitlement. Additionally, she gives no respect to anyone around her, sometimes n... ... middle of paper ... ... with the consequences of her actions. Throughout “The Great Gatsby,” corruption is evident through the people within it. However, we discover with Daisy, initially believed to be a victim of her husband’s corruption—we find she is the eye of the storm.

In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, conveyed his belief that wealth and materialism corrupted the American Dream. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows his disapproval of the times by portraying characters attempting to achieve their American Dream by any means possible. Myrtle Wilson, a low class inhabitant of the valley of ashes, puts her morals to the side when pursuing the wealthy life. Not even marriage stops Myrtle from having an affair with Tom Buchanan-- a rich man who enables her to finally buy the life she thinks she deserves. Not only does Myrtle cheat on her own husband, but she has an affair with someone who caught her eye with "a dress suit and patent leather shoes and [she] couldn't keep [her] eyes off him" (Fitzgerald 40).

The novel “The Great Gatsby” reveals the reader the failure of the American dream values and the consequences when living that kind of life. The reader can see that the money and wealth are the synonyms of the happiness in this novel. However, it is a veracious fact that people cannot buy happiness for money. James Gatz, who made himself in pursuit of stability in wealth, is the example of a crash of the American dream canons. Gatsby, this name he took to conquer the world, had “something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” (Fitzgerald 2).

She says, “The onl... ... middle of paper ... ...ike his true self, the one she had fallen in love with before everything, things would have worked out in the end. In the end of the book, no one gets what they want. Daisy stays with Tom in the end because of his wealth and because the real Gatsby she fell in love with is no longer there- he is simply a poser now. Myrtle had no hope of marrying Gatsby because he did not love her and only used her for sex. She couldn’t appreciate what was real, like the love of George.

This shows how Myrtle is acquisitive and she does not appreciate George for who he is. She realizes life is fading away from her along with her youth and in order to live the life she always desires, she must become Tom’s mistress. She wants to live the rich and famous life style which George could not provide. This shows how Myrtle is morally corrupt because she does not see the harm in having an extramarital affair and just looks to pursue wealth. This eventually leads to her own death.

She uses the people around her to fit into the social scene and boast her wealth and fake happiness, which obstructs her morals and emotions as a human being. Daisy valued life holds no true meaning for her. She treats others horribly without a ... ... middle of paper ... ...after he finds out about Daisy and Gatsby’s affair. (137) Even though Tom is an adulterer himself, he cannot stand the thought of his wife doing the same. He is a jealous hypocrite, who lusts for all the power and puts shame to his name and affluent life.

Tom has an open relationship while married to Daisy with a mistress and attempts to make Daisy jealous through his love to Myrtle. Gatsby fabricates a false reality of wealth in order to love Daisy but his love is ultimately masked by greed. Gatsby began to realize that his love for Daisy was no longer existed and that it had been replaced with greed. Gatsby began to have a faint doubt in his happiness and realized that everything associated with Daisy even her voice was correlated with wealth.

Gatsby is a tragic hero. He has nothing but good intentions and aspires for love, while Myrtle is simply shown as a foolish woman who is so absorbed in greed that she sacrifices her morals and sanity, in exchange for money and higher status. Gatsby, unlike Myrtle, maintains redeemable qualities until his murder. Everything he does is for his love, Daisy, because he wants only the best for her even if his life turns to ruins as a result. In contrast, Myrtle who has the same aspirations as Gatsby, exhibits impure intentions.

“It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful shirts before.”(Fitzgerald 92). Another way the characters were materialistic is Gatsby’s proclamation that Daisy never loved Tom and the only reason she married Tom was because Gatsby was poor. “She never loved you, do you hear?” he cried. “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!” (Fitzgerald 130).

In The Great Gatsby, the characters demonstrate that love has no relevant meaning in a relationship without the security that wealth provides. Gatsby and Wilson present Daisy and Myrtle with much of love; however, they both are stunned when Tom’s wealth and security win over the two ladies’ hearts A similar situation occurred with the author Francis Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. She broke off their engagement due to Fitzgerald’s menial job. After publishing his books, Fitzgerald acquired a great deal of wealth and fame, then he was allowed to marry Zelda. Wealth is the key to a happy life along with love, however, love alone cannot provide happiness in marriage.