Immoralism In The Great Gatsby

In his novel The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald attempts to show that Americans resort to illegal and immoral means in order to exceed their own grasp. Fitzgerald has no problem with setting goals, but he clearly shows that there is a problem once one strays from their morals, as many do throughout the novel. Specifically Daisy is worried about protecting her image and stability that comes along with class, but the only way she is able to attain this is through immoral ways that involve her pinning murders of Gatsby. Class not only affects Daisy, but it also leads to Gatsby straying from his own morals. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby to show that success in America is only possible with a corrupt and immoral path. Similar to the immoral path Gatsby …show more content…
There is nothing wrong with Meyer Wolfsheim striving to reach beyond his grasp; the problem lies in the fact that he is willing to harm others and resort to illegal mean to do so. Meyer Wolfsheim has absolutely no regard for the faith of the american baseball fans; he goes so far as to throw the world series while in the process of reaching for his own personal goals. Gatsby explains to Nick that Meyer Wolfsheim is in fact a gambler, “The Ideas staggered me. I remembered , of course, that the world series had been fixed in 1919… It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people- with the single- mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe.” (73). Meyer Wolfsheim seems to be almost solely at responsible for throwing the world series in a time when baseball was a key to the culture. Meyer Wolfsheim has no problem with disturbing America 's pastime in order to further is own wealth and image.For so many years baseball has been the constant Amrica can fall back on in hard times, but Wolfsheim shows no concern. Wolfsheim 's “single mindedness” goes to show that the process by which he is reaching to exceed his grasp is the true problem, not the actual goal goal itself. Other than Wolfsheim 's shady business dealings and throwing the 1919 world series the most disturbing part about him must be the cufflinks he wears that are made of human molars. Nick initially comments that Meyer Wolfsheim 's cuff buttons were “composed of fine pieces of Ivory” to which Wolfsheim corrects, “Finest specimens of human molars… (72).” Meyer Wolfsheim has some unique cufflinks that would not be exactly easy to come by. In order for Meyer Wolfsheim to atatin these molars someone would have to go through excruciating pain. Once again Wolfsheim has no sense of morality while wearing human molars