Examples Of Morality In The Great Gatsby

Life is full of decisions, but they are subconsciously influenced by society. This influence has created an unhealthy relationship between social classes. How people choose to act is in complete correlation to society’s set expectation for a certain class. These actions then become reflections of people’s moral values. In Tony McAdam’s criticism of The Great Gatsby, Ethics in Gatsby, he points out the corruption of characters morals due to society’s influence and the impact that has on decision making.

Introduction- Is being immoral bad when everyone around does it? The Great Gatsby is told from the view of Nick Carraway, he tells the story of his friend Jay Gatsby. In The Great Gatsby, there is a billboard with the eyes of a man named Dr. T. J. Eckleburg; the eyes are a representation of the eyes of God. The eyes of God oversee a place called the Valley of Ashes; a place where a great amount of moral wasteland is. The moral wasteland that is seen through the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg is infidelity because the action can break a strong bond, dishonesty because some people may not trust the person anymore, and overstepping others' boundaries can make a bond thin away.

“What this demonstrates, I think, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story…” The eighth paragraph of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk,The Danger of a Single Story demonstrates how seeing the lives of characters in the novel through only Nick’s eyes affect the feelings of the reader. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is written from a first-person point of view, which generates a single impression of the lives of those in the novel. Fitzgerald fabricated Nick with a moral code, which creates a biased story – Nick believes he is non-judgemental but continues to judge others on what is morally ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Therefore, the reader is left only with a guess at who ,in the story, truly is what Nick says they are.

1. How did the absence of religion within the story affect the traits displayed by the characters in terms of immorality? The Great Gatsby touches themes like infidelity, deception, and a number of what people can consider as immoral acts throughout the story. There have been many notions considering the 1920s as an era of radical extremes, economic disparities, division of social classes, and moral callousness.

In the 1920s, there was a division between the people who were born into money and the people who worked for it, or the “old money,” and the “new money.” While there were major differences between the two groups, they had one fundamental similarity. This was that they both lacked a sense of morality. In the Great Gatsby, the old money are portrayed as very superficial and immoral.

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald screwed morality is evident throughout the chapters five and six. Many characters in the novel depicted morality, however, most if not all twisted the morality to better accompany their needs. To begin, one of the characters that demonstrated screwed morality constantly would be Tom Buchanan. Throughout the novel, Tom Buchanan can be viewed as an antagonist due to the fact, he cheated on Daisy, his wife, with Myrtle Wilson. Screwed morality was evident in the quote,“ He frowned.

This is displayed when Tom Buchanan gets annoyed with Myrtle Wilson at the hotel and, “broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 41). After Myrtle mentioned Tom’s wife, Daisy, although Tom told her not to, Tom used his brute strength to inflict damage on Myrtle. Not only that, but Myrtle, being dependent on Tom and the freedom that his money brings, chooses to stay with him although he abused her. Women being portrayed as inferior is also shown when Nick attends the Buchanan's luncheon, and Daisy points out Tom’s knuckle, “‘Look!’ she complained.

The Great Gatsby talked about the four cardinal virtues, prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance, in which each person shines in one of these qualities. However, just like every other person on the planet, they also fall short on some of them leaving them constant room to grow in the one that is hardest for them to achieve. As a result, everyone is their own individual with their own set of strengths and weaknesses, and prudence and temperance are

Adding to the utter immorality and skewed values of the upper class in which Gatsby adds even

The theme of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is that the upper class tend to participate in actions that are commonly seen as dishonest, unfaithful, or sketchy. Characters like Nick, Gatsby, Tom and George have twisted views on their own reality due to unfaithfulness and dishonesty. Nick was constantly lied to in the story, for example, Gatsby lied to him about where he got his money. Lies, similar to the one above, gave Nick some twisted views on the reality of his friendship. Gatsby had a twisted view on love due to Daisy marrying Tom right after he left for the war, rather than waiting for him.

We first saw the connection of wealth and corruption of morality in the lives of Tom and Myrtle. Then, Jordan’s cheating emphasized her moral corruption for wealth. Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth corrupted his morality greatly. Daisy’s wealthy upbringing corrupted her beliefs and what she considered important. Lastly, Nick’s conversation with Tom shows that even being the reason for someone’s death won’t bother their conscience at all.

Characters throughout The Great Gatsby present themselves with mysterious and questionable morals. Affairs, dishonest morals, criminal professions, weak boundaries and hypocritical views are all examples of immorality portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, lies and mischief fill the lives of many and significantly damage numerous relationships. First, Jay Gatsby's whole life is consumed into a massive lie. His personality traits set him apart from others and the attention he accumulates motivates him to falsely portray his life.

When Gatsby’s full character is brought into the novel he is said to have “‘killed a man’” and been “‘a German spy during the war’” to show other supporting characters ambiguity toward the rumors surrounding his luxurious parties (Fitzgerald 44). Thus, already

He tried to fulfill his obligation and made sure nothing happened to his cause. It is for all these reasons that Gatsby is the only character in the novel who is deemed

In the book The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, justice is a big problem and it never really seems like justice is ever found in the book. Justice is never really served in the Great Gatsby with false accusation and never really hitting people who deserve it the most. Tom is a big character in the book The Great Gatsby and he plays a big role in the story. One important thing is that he is married to Daisy, but he is also having an affair with a woman named Myrtle. Tom is also a big time polo player.