Great GatsbyA Moral Issue

A detailed Summary of Great GatsbyA Moral Issue

The Roaring Twenties was a time of parties and illegal practices; it was a time of change. This change affected society as a whole- both how the people viewed their lives as well as the way they viewed the importance of morality. Before the Roaring Twenties the American people were very traditional in their values. Their values included simple things such as being true to your spouse, raising your family with love and attention and earning an honest living. In the twenties, however, these traditional values seemed to be devalued. This was the time when things such as the bootlegging business became very popular. The Great Gatsby helped to portray the moral degradation happening throughout the time in which it takes place. The Great Gatsby exposes the moral decadence of the Roaring Twenties through its three main characters, Gatsby, Daisy and Tom.

"The parties were bigger...the pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser..." (Rayburn) During the twenties, peoples morals seemed to be a lot looser than they had been previous to that decade. The work week went from being a sixty hour week to being a forty-eight hour week giving people more free tim

e to do what they wanted. Many people began to party and drink more, as these things brought everyone together. The social world experienced a lot of change during this era. Girls and young women started wearing more make-up and shorter skirts which only a few years before had been worn only by women of ill repute. As Rayburn points out, "Dresses were loose and skimpy; swimsuits were tight and skimpy-the result of both changing morality and an explosion in new industrially fabricated synthetic materials..." Another indicator of this change in morality was that sex became more common as well as more discussed. Rayburn notices that "...youth freely discussed sex-if not always so freely performed it." Illegal businesses like bootlegging became more popular. "Breaking the law was the rule, not the exception..." (Rayburn, 3) As a whole, the twenties was a looser period in which people seemed to have lower morals. Many people began to expose themselves more, and got involved in more illegal actions.

The Great Gatsby exposes the moral decadence of the Roaring Twenties through its three main characters. Not one character is the most morally bankrupt, per say. They all can be rightfully accused of having poor morals whether its Daisy's superficiality and lies, Tom's affair, Gatsby's participating in an illegal business, Myrtle's affair, or George's murder. This book is an example of society in the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald wrote this book partly to tell his story but more importantly to inform his readers of what the modern society, whether it is in the twenties or during the year two thousand, is transforming in to. The actions of these characters helped to show the social decay that was occurring during the twenties but is as current now as it was then.

Gatsby, whom Fitzgerald calls "great", is also brought down with the rest. Euthyphro once said "...one must not give in to the doer of an impious action, no matter who they may be." And this is exactly what Gatsby allows to happen. Although the information about Gatsby's earlier life is somewhat ambiguous, I assume, at least, that Gatsby at one point was a decent, and honest man. That, he is no longer. Gatsby has put Daisy on a pedestal, thinking that she is the perfect woman and for her he would do anything. To get Daisy, Gatsby must somehow break into the upper class and acquire the money that Daisy needs. This is a process that would normally take a couple generations of hard work, but which took Gatsby only a decade. But, Gatsby was in a sort o

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Approximate Word count = 1696
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English