Money Corrupts In The Great Gatsby

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John Adams once said “because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases”. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, a recurring theme conveyed is: money corrupts. The reader can analyze Fitzgerald’s the attitude of Daisy and Tom and how he develops the theme of how wealth can cause immorality through use of characterization. With Daisy’s materialistic perspective and Tom’s eminence, one can see how affluence can result in people acting dishonest and unethical. After Nick Carraway, the protagonist of the novel, arrives in New York from the west, he reunites with an old college friend, Tom Buchanan. Tom is also Nick’s second cousin, Daisy’s, husband. Buchanan …show more content…
Fitzgerald, by alluding to “proud above the hot struggles of the poor” he means Daisy has never had to experience hardship, consequently, she was immature and naive while Gatsby thought her wealth preserved her. Whilst reflecting on life in New York, Nick Carraway ponders, “they were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into the money and vast carelessness” (p.179) Nick describes the characters of Tom and Daisy as monstrous as a result of the wealth they were cursed with. The fact that they had the ability to retreat and fall back on money, no matter how reckless they behaved, proves money corrupts one’s soul- hurting his/her morals and others around them. Tom was an aggressive and abusive man, cheating on his Daisy with Myrtle, extremely racist, and treating everyone else as inferior, as seen how he behaved with Myrtle’s husband, Wilson. Although he was the very reason for Myrtle’s death, he convinces Wilson that it was Gatsby who killed her, resulting in Gatsby’s death as well. In reality, Daisy was the driver of the car that killed Myrtle, her recklessness with men, angering her and distracting her from Myrtle in the middle of the road, screaming for Tom. Jay Gatsby, the man who never gave up on his dream of Daisy and money, sacrifices his life for
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