Examples Of Decay In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), Fitzgerald presents the notion that the 1920s were a period of decadence and decay for the idea of the Protestant Work Ethic and the American Dream. In turn, Fitzgerald argues that the quest for the American Dream will ultimately lead to a desperate state of mind, a feeling of emptiness, and even fatality. To begin, Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream can lead to desperation in a person’s actions. A prime example is Jay Gatsby, who believes he can reunite with his love Daisy and repeat the past. In the novel, Gatsby states, “‘Can’t repeat the past…why, of course, you can!’” (Fitzgerald 110). In believing he can repeat the past Gatsby demonstrates his desperation to obtain what he …show more content…
The Protestant Work Ethic drove characters, like Gatsby and Myrtle, to take advantage of opportunities to gain their desires. Myrtle was Tom’s mistress and took advantage of his wealth to buy many luxury items like a dog collar. Unfortunately, her connection to Tom also led to her demise. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald narrates, “Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust” (Fitzgerald 137). Due to Myrtle being confused in assuming that Tom was coming back to see her, she gets run over.. Even greater, was the death of the main protagonist, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s desire for Daisy caused him to do anything for Daisy. In turn, Gatsby took the blame for Daisy’s reckless driving and was killed by Wilson since he assumed that Gatsby was also Myrtle’s secret lover. In the novel Fitzgerald says, “The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of transit, a thin red circle in the water…the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete” (Fitzgerald 162). In the previous quote, Gatsby’s death and Wilson’s suicide is shown in a reserved tone. Nonetheless, Gatsby’s death was caused to confusions amongst characters. Through all of these circumstances, one can see the connection between the deaths of these three characters and the cataclysmic roots they have from a false promise in the American

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