Morality In The Great Gatsby

Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald addresses the morality of the people he saw as representative of his time through the behaviors of the characters in the novel and how these characters react to various situations. The 1920s was an era marked by money, cars, and breaking down social barriers. Fitzgerald examines certain characters who are not always led by their moral compasses, and the extent to which these characters have evolved to share the shifting views of the time. Various characters throughout the novel, including Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby, use their wealth and social statuses as shields to protect themselves from taking responsibility for their actions.
Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, is a …show more content…
After Tom and Myrtle argue over whether she is allowed to say Daisy’s name, Tom punches her in the nose, causing her severe pain. While the other two women in the room, Mrs. McKee and Myrtle’s sister Catherine, are helping Myrtle relieve her pain, the men at the party vanish from the scene. Mr. McKee “turned around and stared at the scene” and then continued to stroll “on out the door”, while Nick also quickly left the scene (Fitzgerald). During the 1920s, women were crossing social barriers. Although the role of women in society changed greatly throughout the 1920s, with women being liberated by being granted the constitutional right to vote and with society beginning to accept that “women could be independent and make choices for themselves in education, jobs, marital status, and careers”, The Great Gatsby took place in the early 1920s (Benner). While the views of some were evolving greatly, the stances of many, like Tom, were growing to be more conservative. Tom, Nick, and Mr. McKee refusing to even help Myrtle allows for Fitzgerald to depict how some still regarded women only as caretakers and as motherly …show more content…
By doing this, Fitzgerald emphasizes how Tom fails to grasp how his actions affect others. Fitzgerald argues that Daisy and Tom “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” in order to highlight how the pair are only motivated by their self interests (Fitzgerald). Daisy, despite murdering Myrtle, refuses to recognize how leaving the scene of the crime is damaging to the lives of others, such as Wilson. Meanwhile, Tom believes that because he has so much money he can use this money to abandon a situation when tough times prevail. The pair leaves Nick to clean up their mess and to plan Gatsby’s funeral, without even saying