Examples Of Skewed In The Great Gatsby

During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives. In the novel entitled The Great Gatsby, by Fitzgerald, the ideals of the so called American dream become skewed, as a result of the greediness and desires of the main characters …show more content…
Daisy says she loves Gatsby. Gatsby spends years making the money by becoming a bootlegger. He believes that this money would buy Daisy’s love, “Her voice is full of money, he said suddenly. That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it” (120). Gatsby lives a corrupted illusion that his wealth will lead to love and satisfaction. Gatsby wants Daisy so badly that he uses corrupt and illegal ways to make his money. The irony is that he chooses a life of immoral and illegal behavior to get a woman, who in the end, he never gets. In fact, he loses everything, including his life. Gatsby has people all around him, going to his parties, yet no one truly knows him. Born a poor man and son of a farmer, James Gatz desires living the "American dream". Because of this dream, he creates a false identity, Jay Gatsby, "he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end"(104). He wastes his life trying to impress others with material success, corrupting his true goal, Daisy. Gatsby is the type of person to do anything to get happiness even if it is the false kind. Gatsby is man who will have it all and believes Daisy, an image of money and happiness, is a perfect fit: “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a …show more content…
Daisy is materialistic from the start of the story. During Tom and Gatsby’s heated conversation in the hotel, Gatsby angrily retorts, "She only married you [Tom] because I was poor" (130). The fact that Daisy left Gatsby and married Tom for his money shows that she is materialistic. Daisy does not care about others feelings, and she values Tom's money, a simple material, over Gatsby's love. The materialistic values that Daisy posses ultimately corrupt her. Daisy’s corruption is furthered when Gatsby later describes to Nick Daisy's car accident: "Well, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and lost her nerve and turned back...Daisy stepped on it." (143). Daisy's lack of action shows her corruption, since she continues to drive, without any second thought of Myrtle. Letting Gatsby take the blame, and going back to hiding in her money shows that she is corrupt, by not letting herself take the consequnces and blowing it off onto someone else. As is evident, her materialism results in her lack of a sense of humanity. She disregards the well being of others, because she cares only for her personal well being. Furthermore, Daisy's selfishness causes her to act selfishly through her careless lifestyle. Nick states, "Daisy...smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into [her] money or [her] vast carelessness..." (188). Daisy uses her money and social class to escape whatever