The Role Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

In the The Great Gatsby and by F. Scott Fitzgerald and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry the idea of the American Dream is portrayed evidently within both timeless classics. An overarching dream between both novels is the desire of both the characters to be wealthy and to attain a respectable social standing. Both characters experience conflict in the pursuance of their dream. The American Dream is the idea that if you work hard enough and long enough, anything is possible. Although both characters chase the American Dream of upward social mobility Fitzgerald’s Gatsby does not achieve the American Dream in contrast to Hansberry’s Walter, who does achieve the American Dream due to the differences in the two character's acceptance by society or loved ones.

Gatsby’s stubbornness to rekindle his past love causes his to spiral out of control. He would constantly try to put his needs aside in order to fulfill hers. Gatsby is blind to the fact that Daisy does not have the same feelings towards him. Daisy was only going with Gatsby in order to get back at Tom for having multiple affairs. Gatsby is still not in the same social circle because Daisy is a part of West Egg, which is old money; inherited money, while Gatsby is a part of East Egg, which is new money. This naivety from Gatsby causes him to be blatantly unaware of everything that is happening around him. “Gatsby, just like the brand new monstrosity he inhabits, is ‘flashy’: he wears pink suits, gaudy shirts, and drives an extravagant Rolls Royce. Despite all of their obvious wealth, the nouveau riche are imposters—cheap materialistic imitations of the American Dream. They can never possess the Buchanans's old-wealth taste, epitomized by their "cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay" (4). On Long Island, aristocratic grace and elegance cannot be purchased, only inherited. Try as they may, the inhabitants of West Egg will never be able to acquire true opulence. Daisy Buchanan's white roadster and "spotless" flowing gowns,

West Egg is where new wealth is and it means that the person who has all this money acquired it by hard work. Gatsby lives in West Egg and he spends a lot of money on parties but he does it to impress Daisy, Tom’s wife. He does it all hoping to find Daisy again knowing that she lives in East Egg. While Tom only uses his money to please himself. The personalities of the two are very different. Tom is arrogant, aggressive, dominant, and unfaithful while Gatsby is restless, delusional, innocent and mysterious. Tom only cares about himself and here’s a quote to support that claim “Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body”. Gatsby is a man who wished he was old wealth but really is

Although the citizens in the West Egg is also wealthy and consider as upper classes too, the old money is considered as the aristocracy whereas the new money is just some millionaires. The West egg citizens are described to be ostentation, garishness and flashy manner. Jay Gatsby is a representative of the new money in the novel. Gatsby was grown up on a poor farm in North Dakota. At age of 17 he left North Dakota, Gatsby left his home and met his first employer, Dan Cody. During the abandon of alcohol, Gatsby earned huge amount of money through bootlegging and committed other crimes. This made him becomes a millionaire and enters the society of the upper classes. Similar to any new money, Gatsby had personalities of extravagant and ostentation. ‘THERE was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights.’ Every Saturday nights, Gatsby holds enormous parties until midnight and anyone able to freely to attends. ‘Every Friday five crates of orange lemons arrived…… every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door.’ The night before the party starts, Gatsby will buy lots of fresh fruits to produce fresh juice for his guest. In that time fresh fruits were extremely expensive. This shows Gatsby is rich and generous. On every party nights, the servants will decorate Gatsby’s garden with light ‘....enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden. This shows Gatsby’s personality is extravagant because he was showing off his wealth through holding enormous and luxury parties for free. In Gatsby’s mansion, Gatsby never read his collection of books, he never worn his clothes from England and he never used the pool in his garden. Although Gatsby is rich as the Tom Buchanan and he had learned their manners, he could not fit himself into the lifestyle of aristocracy and learn their

This is seen throughout the novel, for there is a constant battle between Gatsby, a rich millionaire living in West Egg, and Tom, also a rich millionaire living in East Egg. Not only is their battle focused on money and who has more, but also on Daisy and her

As a society, America has created certain ideas and stereotypes of each class including the citizens within them. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses around the superficial communities of West and East Egg, and their misconceptions of one another. The citizens of East Egg, such as Daisy and Tom Buchanan, frown upon the up-and-coming men of West Egg. This includes Gatsby, who dreams of the riches they take for granted. Gatsby, who obtains his money through dishonest means appears villainous, unsuccessfully attempting to join the wealthy and elite society of East egg. However, there may be more to Gatsby's story. As Nick, the narrator, says he is “worth the whole damn bunch put together”(154). Through his descriptions and comparison of Tom’s house and Gatsby’s house, Fitzgerald reveals the true nature of the two men. While Gatsby appears to be morally corrupt, in the end he actually has pure intentions, instead it is Tom who emits negativity and is ungrateful for his life.

Often when thinking of symbolism, people and actions are thought of first. Guilt now a days leads to corruption, whether it is guilt for what has happened in the past, present or what is wished to happen. Guilt is all over the world; Corruption is all over the world. Tim O’Brien author of The Things They Carried, takes the reader to the Vietnam War, on his life travels during and after the war. F. Scott Fitzgerald author of The Great Gatsby, takes readers to the Roaring Twenties to see the life of different social classes and the problems that may come along when they all come together.

Gatsby earned all of his money for Daisy after he faced her rejection in the form of her marriage to Tom because of his lack of wealth and inability to provide. The way that Gatsby gained his copious amounts of wealth was through bootlegging. This required that he associate with rough men of society. Daisy is repulsed by what Nick describes as the “Sinister faces, the faces of Wolfsheim’s people”(Fitzgerald, pg. 143) because they lack class. Describing Wolfsheim’s people as having Sinister faces allows for the reader to realize the flagrant evil behind the way that Wolfsheim and his people obtain their wealth such as bootlegging or fixing the world series. This snobbish behavior shows that security not only means that someone can provide a steady income but that they can also provide a stable and high class life. East Egg is commonly known as old money and has extremely high class wealth while West Egg is a mix and the wealthy people there usually come from new money which is commonly associated with bootlegging. The first time that Daisy is invited over to Gatsby’s after meeting at Nick's for tea, Gatsby proudly gives her a tour of what he has built for her. While on this tour Gatsby goes to his dresser which overlooks a balcony that Daisy is under and starts throwing his beautiful silk shirts over the balcony towards Daisy. This blatant behavior shows his affluency. As he kept throwing the shirts over the balcony Daisy saw financial security flying over the balcony that she could have had with Gatsby while also having love and she longs for this yet all she can verbalize is “‘They’re such beautiful shirts she sobbed,’ her voice muffed in the thick folds.”(Fitzgerald, pg. 92) When she says this, she is so overcome by emotions and regret that she

Jay Gatsby is a self-made man, he turned himself from a farm boy to one of the richest men in America at the time and bought himself a beautiful mansion on West Egg, Long Island with the other new millionaires. In contrast to the newly rich, there is those who have inherited their wealth from family before them such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan. These people were lucky to be born into their lives and reside on East Egg along with other family’s with “old money”. Readers come to easily identify that despite their different

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is an exploration of the American dream in modern society, in which money and prosperity are significant factors and it may not be as simple as you think; and the movie Citizen Kane is another example of the complex issues relating to the American dream. First, we will explore the American dream, in which it is to make a great deal of money because it provides for a comfortable living, and characters in the novel reflect upon this very ideal. Second, achieving the American dream of wealth is perceived to bring happiness, but that is not always the case as will examine the dream relating to the characters in the novel. Third, we will explore the

The west eggers on the other hand would do anything to be looked at as equal as their foes. The whole idea that inherited money meant more then earned money was more important then if you even had money at all. Tom, when realizing the lust that Gatsby and daisy were hiding for each other, was angrier at the fact that she would associate let along long to be with someone from the "west egg". This whole notion of the expectations that the East eggers had for the wealthy and rich society of New York were constantly strived toward by the west eggers driving some, such as Gatsby mad with greed and corrupting both societies from the inside out. Gatsby constantly strived to lead a rich and glamorous life to impress people like the long time wealthy such as daisy, corrupting him form a young age which he carried throughout his whole life.

Jay Gatsby moves from being the son of "shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald 105) to becoming the owner of a huge West Egg mansion with "a marble swimming pool and over forty acres of lawn and garden" (Fitzgerald 11), this exemplifies the possibilities offered by the American dream. Gatsby earns his money through illegal means, which places him in the new money category, and as a result he flaunts by throwing extravagant parties and purchasing expensive cars. The main reason Gatsby does these things is to get the attention and win the affection of Daisy, which is the major component of his dream. Old money, on the other hand, has had money for generations, so they do not flaunt their wealth. Old money, people like Tom and Daisy, look down on the newly rich, because they got rich quick, illegally and, because they are threatening the status quo.

There have always socioeconomic divisions in the modern world. No matter what solution there is to try to fix this division between people, a select group, who are used to being wealthy, will always feel entitled and elite to others. In The Great Gatsby, this division is represented by the characters from West Egg, where people like the Buchanans who come from old money live, and East Egg, where people like Gatsby who come from new money live. Most of the conflicts of The Great Gatsby come down to money. In this scene, where the five main characters are in a hotel suite on a hot summer day together, there is a lot of tension between Gatsby and Tom. Though they are both extremely wealthy, they believe that they are very different and their only common interest is Daisy. Tom and Gatsby get into a heated argument about her and, while this is included in both film adaptations, the scene is presented in a slightly different way.

New York City, overwhelmed with success, money and image in the 1920s was drowning in corruption. F Scott Fitzgerald composed a riveting novel, The Great Gatsby, which follows the journey of several characters dealing with love, greed, confusion and lust during the 1920s. Fitzgerald illustrates the corruption of the American dream by allowing us to follow the downfall of Jay Gatsby, revealing the reality of the American dream.

One of the major topics explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce,