The Downfall of Morality
Morality in the united states has been deliberately declining since the 1920’s and is currently insignificant if not absent in Americans. F. Scott Fitzgerald presents this in his book “The Great Gatsby.” His characters lie about many things throughout the book, cheat on their spouses constantly and consistently, and rely more on money and material things than anything else. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” displays how lust in the 1920’s caused the downfall of morality by the qualities his characters portray.
The most obvious immorality of this book is the unfaithfulness from the character’s to their spouses. The characters in the book are constantly having affairs with other wives and husbands. Not only do they cheat, but they also continue to cheat even after their spouse finds out. For instance, Tom Buchanan’s affair with Myrtle Wilson. Both Tom and Myrtle are married to other people, and Tom’s wife, Daisy Buchanan, knows about this affair, yet they continue to live their lives normally. This lustful affair continues throughout the whole book...
Tom Buchanan is arguably the character who possesses the most corrupt set of morals. His actions can be described as “some of the most immoral and senseless actions in the entire novel” (“Ranking…). He cheats on Daisy “simply because he can” (“Ranking…”). This shows that he has no care or regard for anyone but himself. He is going to do what he wants no matter how it affects other people. It is this mindset that causes the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Mr. Wilson. He knows this, but “he runs away from the entire situation… as if he was never part of it in the first place” (“Ranking…”). He and Daisy mess things up and leave. They go back to their normal, careless life of wealth and leave someone else to fix their mess (Fitzgerald 187-188). Together Tom and Daisy are absolutely incorrigible people with no regard for others.
Moral Responsibility in The Great Gatsby & nbsp; Bang! Gatsby's dead! George Wilson shot Gatsby! However, who is the man? morally responsible for killing Gatsby? The obvious answer would be George. since he pulled the trigger. However, it is clear, if for no other reason. than for the unimportance of George in the book, that others were also. partly responsible. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom.
Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s visionary writing style during the early twentieth century revolutionized a new style for other writers. “Theme is most dramatically expressed through character, and Fitzgerald used the people he created to convey his personal vision of the world” (Keshmiri 2). As Keshmiri states, Fitzgerald, unlike many other writers at the time, expresses his stories through the development of the characters. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and the Damned illustrate the many flaws of human nature and how these flaws contribute to the downfall of the characters through their obsession with status, their inability to accept reality, and the use of alcohol.
he was younger so now the great wealth is out to destroy him in a way.
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
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.
The first example of a character whose morals are destroyed is Myrtle. Myrtle's attempt to enter into the group to which the Buchanans belong is doomed to fail. She enters the affair with Tom, hoping to adopt his way of life and be accepted into his class to escape from her own. Her class is that of the middle class. Her husband, Wilson, owns a gas station, making an honest living and trying his best to succeed in a world where everything revolves around material possessions. With her involvement in Tom's class, she only becomes vulgar and corrupt like the rich. She loses all sense of morality by hurting others in her futile attempt to join the ranks of Tom's social class. In doin...
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.
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.
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,
‘The Great Gatsby’ is social satire commentary of America which reveals its collapse from a nation of infinite hope and opportunity to a place of moral destitution and corruption during the Jazz Age. It concentrates on people of a certain class, time and place, the individual attitudes of those people and their inner desires which cause conflict to the conventional values, defined by the society they live in. Gatsby is unwilling to combine his desires with the moral values of society and instead made his money in underhanded schemes, illegal activities, and by hurting many people to achieve the illusion of his perfect dream.
In the novel The Great Gatsby, the 1920’s was a “throwaway culture, in which things (and people) are used and then abandoned” (Evans). This is true of the lives of the wealthy elite who ruled the East and West Eggs, causing the domination of materialistic thought. The substitution of money for integrity ultimately provided a way for corruption to take deep roots in the characters. The frivolous lives and relationships described by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby depict the emptiness of the shallow 1920’s era.
The moral decay of society during the 1920’s was represented through the characters in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. People became selfish as their wealth increased, and they didn’t care at all what they did to other people, as long as they ended up okay in the end. Dishonesty became accepted, and that led to a downfall of society. Because of the character’s lack of morals and responsibility, Gatsby, an innocent man, died.
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.
The Roaring Twenties is considered a time of mass corruption and excessive absurdity. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his novel, The Great Gatsby, to criticize the American society and its values in this era. This criticism is best shown in the behaviour of the people who go to Gatsby's parties; they are careless, rude and only looking out for themselves. It is also shown in the corruption of the police, who are easily paid to look the other way. It is finally apparent in the corruption of friendship and love, the truth being that there is none. This society and its values are self-centered and materialistic, caring very little for consequences and others. Fitzgerald's message is delivered magnificently and causes one to be appalled by the behaviour of the people during this time in history.