The Sense of Responsibility

The Great Gatsby emphasizes that people’s sense of responsibility depends on their financial stability and social class. Exclusively, characterized as either rich or poor, people are supposed to manifest a corresponding mentality towards the consequences of their actions as regards to their family, work, or society as a whole. F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys the lack of responsibility in the established wealthy class by displaying its disregard of important affairs and its materialistic view of life. Meanwhile, the newly rich and the poor, like Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson, try to defy this norm by adopting the same mentality as the old money and thus, face tragic consequences.

The wealthy class commits mindless actions without considering the repercussions, whereas the working class has an ingrained sense of responsibility. Tom Buchanan does not even witness the birth of his daughter as Daisy Buchanan recalls, “she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where” (Fitzgerald 16). Instead of taking care of his family, Tom puts his personal needs ahead of those of Daisy and their daughter and engages in meaningless affairs: “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (Fitzgerald 15) whom he spends his time with at their side apartment. Tom displays a lack of responsibility, because he scrambles his priorities and does not consider the feelings of his afflicted loved ones. Furthermore, the induced egotism and superiority of the 1% allow them to do whatever they desire. When Wilson simply wonders about the delay of the sale of Tom’s car, Tom condescendingly threatens, “if you feel that way about it, maybe I’d better sell it somewhere else after all” (Fitzgerald 25). On the other hand, the 99% cannot do as they choose because they ...

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...nd dies in a dreadful accident (139). Forever remaining in the confines of the working class, a dead Myrtle exhibits that people should never attempt to challenge the norm.

By showcasing the deaths of Gatsby and Myrtle, the only two people who try to disregard the social norm of an irresponsible 1% and a responsible 99%, Fitzgerald suggests that people in the 1920s should abide by their inherent social classes. However, the once definite distinctions of the rich and the poor are now blurred and overlapped. With a prevalent middle class today, there are now some accountable members of the wealthy class, thoughtless members of the working class, and people with a mixture of personalities in between. Fitzgerald’s idea becomes outdated as more people are ascending the ladder of social status without facing the repercussions of a challenged social norm.