Many romanticize the Roaring Twenties as a period of glorious excess: flirtatious hemlines of gorgeous flappers, lavish parties of jubilance, and the harmonious croons of jazz frequently come to mind. However, amidst this ostensible extravagance, the Roaring Twenties were plagued by corrupt morals, with many profiting through bootlegging and machine politics. The Great Gatsby highlights moral degradation as author F. Scott Fitzgerald details bootlegging, extramarital affairs, and murder. Among a cast of impersonal personalities, Nick Carraway features as the novel’s moral compass. An outsider to New York’s elite, Carraway notices the vast degradation of morals and criticizes the careless extravagance of the wealthy. But even Carraway is subject …show more content…
From the beginning of the novel, Carraway harbors a righteous character as he exhibits clear discomfort with infidelity: he feels like calling the police after hearing of Tom Buchanan’s affair. But when Buchanan eagerly brings Carraway to meet his mistress Carraway confesses, “Though I was curious to see her, I had no desire to meet her—but I did” (Fitzgerald 24). Although critical of Tom’s infidelity, Carraway’s feelings evolve into indifference and reveal his unstable moral standards. Nick further exhibits indifference when he fails to oppose the apathy of his companions; although upset by their dispassion, he feels no impulse to mitigate their social vices. After Gatsby is only concerned about Daisy after Myrtle's death, Carraway condemns Gatsby’s priorities. But Carraway only lambastes: “I disliked him so much by this time that I didn’t find it necessary to tell him he was wrong” (Fitzgerald 143). His refusal to correct Gatsby illustrates his willingness to allow negligence to continue, reflecting his unreliable moral character. Ultimately, Carraway’s return to the West confirms his chronic apathy. Scarred from death and the impersonality of the East, Carraway states, “‘When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention …show more content…
Throughout the novel Carraway maintains a false sense of moral superiority. He notes, “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 59). Nick proclaims a exaggerated sense of moral superiority, overly confident in his integrity. Readers are led to question the truth of his bold profession and realize Carraway’s haughtiness. Similarly, Nick also boasts of his tendency to withhold judgement. Yet, Carraway recounts his experiences largely through harsh critiques of others. He constantly labels the elite as unprincipled characters protected by the safety of their wealth. He criticizes Jordan Baker and forges assumptions regarding her character: “She was incurably dishonest… I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young” (Fitzgerald 58). After noting her overly relaxed approach to driving he also labels her a rotten driver. Carraway irronically analyzes others constantly, exhibiting clear hypocrisy. Finally, Carraway fails to hold himself to the moral standards he forces upon others. Although Carraway expresses disgust towards Tom’s infidelity he fails to submit himself to the same criticism. Despite being romantically entangled with Jordan, Nick briefly mentions that he still
The The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows the tale of Jay Gatsby as he struggles to achieve his dream of recreating the past, a dream which ultimately fails. Through Gatsby’s decline into moral ambiguity, Fitzgerald shows that relentless pursuit of an unattainable dream will lead to a downward spiral of moral decay, ending in tragedy.
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, provides a reflection on the societal issues and attitudes of a modernist, post-war era. The “Roaring Twenties” was an age of prosperity, consumerism and liberalism that led to unprecedented economic growth and significant changes in culture and lifestyle. The right to vote redefined women’s roles and gave rise to a “new breed” known as the flapper, that drank, wore excessive makeup, and flaunted her disdain for conventionalism. The introduction of prohibition led to an increased demand for black market alcohol and bootlegging, thereby providing a financial basis for organized crime. Despite the progression, the 1920s was an era of social tensions
Why do we often look up to the higher class? Why do we crave the fabulous lifestyles of the wealthy and famous? Murder, cheating, gambling and wild parties are just some examples of what went on in The Great Gatsby. First of all, the rich were also criminals and may have gotten their endless money in illegal matters. Secondly, most all of the rich characters shown throughout the book were unfaithful to his or her spouse. Thirdly, the wealthy were lavishly wasteful and did not seem to care about others. Finally, a character that expresses immorality the most is Tom Buchanan. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, his intentions were for people to learn to know that being rich or the hunger for money can lead to the immoral actions including some
Gatsby is seen in his novel considerably through the eyes of others, whospeculate regarding him when they conjointly tend to pigeonhole him as somebody whois not extremely a part of their category. Works CitedFitzgerald, F. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.Larsen, Nella. She is that the suggests that bywhich Nick Carraway is brought into the cluster that becomes therefore necessary tohim which he as Associate in Nursing outsider will perceive higher than they dothemselves. Gatsby needs to overcomea distinction of sophistication, however Clare needs to overcome a distinction of race, adistinction even a lot of deep-rooted within the yankee psyche. Her relationship with Nick parallels therelationship of Gatsby and flower to a degree, and therefore the completely different outcomesserve to
The author uses Nick Carraway as the narrator of the story to describe the thoughts and feeling of Nick about everything he experiences for the purpose of contrasting his actions to his ideals.This stand, however controversial it may seem, is in total coherence with the whole story. Even though Nick constantly judges the actions of those around him, he chooses to involve himself with those he so greatly despise. For some people he may appear to be greatly tolerant, however he crosses the line between
The society our nation lives in today has developed morals and principles through the lessons experienced from the past. The Roaring Twenties was a time of change and a chance to pave a path for the person you wanted to become. Morals and principles served as guidelines rather than rules and were merely preached that practiced. Thus, the severity of the immoral actions taking place created opportunities for lessons to be learned. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrated various moral lessons through the downfall and corruption of various characters based on their immoral actions. The narrator, Nick Carraway is a young man who throughout the
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby focuses on the excitement and adventure of the roaring twenties, a time filled with great economic success and parties said to last the whole decade. New to Long Island and New York, aspiring bond man Nick Carraway becomes infatuated with the lifestyle of his rich peers living the “American dream”. He gains interest in his mysterious neighbor Jay Gatsby who lives in an incredible mansion and has a vast amount of wealth. Gatsby uses his money to try and steal his love, Daisy Buchanan from her unfaithful husband, Tom. Gatsby’s greed inhibits his ability realize the repercussions of his actions and make reasonable decisions, ultimately results in his own death. SUMMARZE PARAGRAPHS AND TRANSITION
The Great Gatsby is a book with no limits, but also no happiness. If you take a close look into the book you can see for yourself that nobody in the book was actually happy. I believe that if you have good morals and ethics then you can achieve happiness. We see very little true happiness within the characters throughout the course of the book. Fitzgerald’s standpoint on morals and ethics in this book is that there are no boundaries. That a man can cheat on his wife, and likewise, but that person will never truly be happy. We never really see happiness at all in this book. There may be parts in the story where someone might be having fun at a certain point, but when
The novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in the 1920s America, New York - a class society of money -, depicts a society which exists in a state of moral confusion and chaos, through the eyes of the narrator; Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald condemns the character’s tendencies in the novel to become greedy and materialistic in order to be successful, displayed throughout the chaos that arises as a result of the repercussion of these actions. This chaos continues to grow through the unfaithful marriages and illegal practices that exists extensively throughout the novel. Furthermore, Fitzgerald explores the prejudice discrimination between the newly rich and those with “old money”. Through all of this we come to see that during the “roaring 20s” was one of moral disorder and mayhem.
Fresh out of college in 1915, Nick Carraway begins his Journey in the stage of innocence. He believes he must be an important figure; he sees himself as “a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler” (Fitzgerald 4). This shows that the character assumes the world evolves around him, the hallmark of innocence. Even when discussing his house, Carraway refers to it as “an eyesore,” but still emphasizes how great the neighborhood looks and how cheap his house is (Fitzgerald 5). Both cases show that he is naive, implying the character is still unaware of the harmful world around him. There are multiple instances that showcase the loss of innocence/initiation for Nick, such as the acknowledgement of the type of people the Buchanans are and the constant company he keeps with Jay Gatsby. He begins to realize what kind of people Daisy and Tom Buchanan are, which opens his eyes and mind to more knowledge. Carraway points out in the beginning that Tom Buchanan is an exhibitionist who aims to overdo everyone and Daisy Buchanan is visually pleasing, but in an overwhelming way (Fitzgerald 9-10). His innocence
Throughout one’s life, one is constantly told to do what is right despite the consequences or results. In reality these morals are practiced less and less as people worry less about the consequences of ignoring these morals. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald saw the disintegration of humanity early in the 20th century. In his novel, “The Great Gatsby”, written in 1925, he exemplifies the moral decay that surrounds society. He uses symbols such as the billboard of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, who serves as a representation of a forgotten God, to showcase the lack of care for things that were once important, such as morality.
As the book progresses, Nick Carraway goes from an optimistic, shallow, naive persona to an ill-disposed man wishing for wholesome conservative values. This change of character can be first seen in chapter 1 when Nick is giving a brief foundation of the novel as he informs the audience that his tolerance “has a limit” (Fitzgerald 2). He mentions that after the unfortunate events he moved back midwest wishing “... the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; [Nick] wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart” (Fitzgerald 2). Nick uses very powerful words such as, “riotous”, “privileged”, and “moral” to foreshadow the false projections and lack of integrity that many of the other characters display. When can see Nick’s “young and more vulnerable” behavior slowly dissipate as he becomes further immersed into the urban city life of the 1920s by attending more parties with people he hardly knows and drinking excessively (Fitzgerald 1). As Nick witnesses the negative effects of Tom’s awful treatment of the Wilson’s and Gatsby’s obsessive enchantment with Daisy leading towards his demise; he begins to recognize the flaws of societal
The Roaring Twenties is considered to be a time of excessive celebration and immense corruption. The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a criticism of American society and its values during this era of history. This criticism is first apparent in the people who go to Gatsby's parties. They get absurdly drunk, do not know who their host is and are rude by excessively gossiping about him. This commentary is also shown in the corruption of the police. Gatsby is able to pay off the police so that the activities going on at his home will go unnoticed and so that he may behave as he wishes. This criticism is finally shown in the corruption of friendship and love, the simple fact being that there is none. People use Gatsby and
The Roaring Twenties, or the Jazz Age, was a period characterized by post-war euphoria, prosperity, profligacy, and cultural dynamism. There were significant changes in lifestyle and culture in the 1920s; many found opportunities to rise to affluence, which resulted in groups of newly rich people, such as the hero of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby. Set in this booming era, the novel portrays the lavish and reckless lifestyle of the wealthy and elite. With the aristocratic upper class in the East Egg and the nouveau riche in the West Egg, people are divided into distinct social classes. Contrasting the two groups’ conflicting values, Fitzgerald reveals the ugliness and moral decay beneath
Responsibility is a very important part of a person's personality and . Lennie and Gatsby run from their responsibilities. Both did awful things and it ended up getting them in a very bad situation. In real life running from responsibilities makes people look egotistical or unreliable because they don't want to get themselves in trouble.