Reckless, Carefree Behavior
Illustrated With Three Concise Examples
It is true in life that everyone finds themselves behaving negligently or poorly at times. But The Great Gatsby is full to the brim with these behaviors. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a work filled with characters careless and reckless in every way. Tom Buchanan womanizes with little care for secrecy. The upper class party crowd is reckless in their drinking and partying, and Daisy Buchanan is reckless in relationships, reckless on the road, and does not show a care in the world for the man she used to love. Though the characters in The Great Gatsby are diverse in values and morals, they exemplify every aspect of recklessness and carelessness.
Tom Buchanan is the …show more content…
A behavior that categorizes these folks as reckless is going to party at Gatsby’s house with no regard for the danger he might present. The party-goers all believe that Gatsby has some sort of fantastic past, but these rumours of danger do nothing to dissuade them from going anyway. Whether they believe Gatsby, “...killed a man once,” (Fitzgerald 45) is “a bootlegger, [or is] nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil.” (Fitzgerald 60), they keep attending. If the party-goers believe any one of the rumours, they should be terrified, or at least concerned enough not to go into his home. The fact that they attend the parties of this dangerous man proves beyond doubt that these people are …show more content…
Guests are drunk for days, even a week at a time. (Fitzgerald 47) During one particularly wild party, a man who claims to, “know very little about driving- next to nothing” drives his car into a ditch, (Fitzgerald 54) and on another night Ulysses Swett is so intoxicated he runs over Ripley Snell’s right hand. (Fitzgerald 61) Drinking too much is quite dangerous to one’s health and to one’s judgment, and as these men exemplify, drinking impairs an already poor driving ability. Yet the party-goers do not seem to care about the harm they could cause while under the influence. Again, these guests show no regard for their safety, the safety of others, or the safety of their possessions, thus proving their reckless nature.
But there is yet another facet to the recklessness of the alcohol consumption of these party-goers. Gatsby’s parties take place during the prohibition years. These people are roaring drunk at a huge party at a stranger’s house. (Fitzgerald) All it takes is one person in a bad mood to call the prohibition agents and everyone could be charged with alcohol possession and consumption. There may have been cops already there! The fact is, these parties are so big, the guests have no way of knowing who’s in attendance, and everyone being “roaring drunk” is yet another indication of their
Illustrated With Three Concise Examples
It is true in life that everyone finds themselves behaving negligently or poorly at times. But The Great Gatsby is full to the brim with these behaviors. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a work filled with characters careless and reckless in every way. Tom Buchanan womanizes with little care for secrecy. The upper class party crowd is reckless in their drinking and partying, and Daisy Buchanan is reckless in relationships, reckless on the road, and does not show a care in the world for the man she used to love. Though the characters in The Great Gatsby are diverse in values and morals, they exemplify every aspect of recklessness and carelessness.
Tom Buchanan is the …show more content…
A behavior that categorizes these folks as reckless is going to party at Gatsby’s house with no regard for the danger he might present. The party-goers all believe that Gatsby has some sort of fantastic past, but these rumours of danger do nothing to dissuade them from going anyway. Whether they believe Gatsby, “...killed a man once,” (Fitzgerald 45) is “a bootlegger, [or is] nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil.” (Fitzgerald 60), they keep attending. If the party-goers believe any one of the rumours, they should be terrified, or at least concerned enough not to go into his home. The fact that they attend the parties of this dangerous man proves beyond doubt that these people are …show more content…
Guests are drunk for days, even a week at a time. (Fitzgerald 47) During one particularly wild party, a man who claims to, “know very little about driving- next to nothing” drives his car into a ditch, (Fitzgerald 54) and on another night Ulysses Swett is so intoxicated he runs over Ripley Snell’s right hand. (Fitzgerald 61) Drinking too much is quite dangerous to one’s health and to one’s judgment, and as these men exemplify, drinking impairs an already poor driving ability. Yet the party-goers do not seem to care about the harm they could cause while under the influence. Again, these guests show no regard for their safety, the safety of others, or the safety of their possessions, thus proving their reckless nature.
But there is yet another facet to the recklessness of the alcohol consumption of these party-goers. Gatsby’s parties take place during the prohibition years. These people are roaring drunk at a huge party at a stranger’s house. (Fitzgerald) All it takes is one person in a bad mood to call the prohibition agents and everyone could be charged with alcohol possession and consumption. There may have been cops already there! The fact is, these parties are so big, the guests have no way of knowing who’s in attendance, and everyone being “roaring drunk” is yet another indication of their