Given these points, because of the importance of being rich in the society, Tom becomes selfish by wanting always a little more. All things considered, the social feelings of the 1920s clearly affect the character in the novel. They take immoral decisions and they follow the wrong values of the time. Gatsby is carried away by the world of consumerism and involves himself in criminal activities to get a woman. On the other hand, Tom, born in the world of richness, feels superior and pushes the consumerism idea to the extreme.
The American Dream is portrayed by a dreamer who pursues to progress form scratch to riches, while gaining love, social status, wealth and power. Those in power, typically involving bribery, portray corruption as dishonest or fraudulent conduct. This applies to the western world where corruption is contributing to the downfall of society. Corruption in society is what leads us to think of the nation in a pessimistic way. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s vision of America is negative and his depiction is that when man is concerned with only his success, the result is corruption.
For example, Fitzgerald conveys the greedy nature of wealthy people in his novel when Nick Carraway states, "[T]o-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther" (Fitzgerald 180; ch. 9). With this quote, Fitzgerald exposes that the people who have gained unimaginable amounts wealth and material possessions are never satisfied and continue to want more. Fitzgerald is able to spark an idea in the minds of his audience that happiness is not gained through wealth nor owning material goods. O’Connor takes a different approach to show her disapproval of greed by giving an example of the immoral and corrupt methods people try to satisfy their greedy desires.
People say that "money makes the world go around." It may, but in the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald money is what causes greed and death. The novel is filled with multiple themes but one predominate theme that the author focuses on is immorality. The novel was written in the1920s which was a time that drew away from social and moral values and yearned for its greed and empty pursuit of pleasure. Gatsby, gains his wealth through bootlegging only because he wants to show Daisy his wealth.
The social elite of Gatsby's time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an "enormously wealthy" family, seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind (Fitzgerald 10). Nick describes Tom's physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner...arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face...always leaning aggressively forward...a cruel body...[h]is speaking voice...added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" (Fitzgerald 11). The wealth Tom has inherited causes him to become arrogant and condescending to others, while losing his morals. Rather than becoming immoral from wealth as Tom has, Gatsby engages in criminal activity as his only path to being rich.
He rises to the top of the social order in a fraudulent way; he's earned his fortune through illegal activities – he’s a criminal. The "old money" folks are able to see right through his deceptions. He's not "great" to them, he’s just a sham. Irrevocably when his house of cards falls, all those friends that he treasured turned out to simply be parasitic people who take advantage of his generosity. - Then there's a third way of looking at the title, the “Great Gatsby”.
Gatsby’s dream is what actually leads to his downfall. People who prove that success cannot buy happiness surround him. Fitzgerald specifically shows this with his use of the characters Tom and Daisy. A marriage full of cheating and lies, both consistently searching for something bigger than what they already had, Fitzgerald successfully and effectively showed the reader how one’s dreams can be ruined and destroyed by materialistic societies.
Even though he simply wants tickets away from the drums becasue it will bother is head the way he deals with this situation makes him look like a greedy fool. This will be the first of many occasions where we will see this character act out in the nature of greed. Throughout the novel we see many incidence surrounding the aspect of money and gold. Sometimes when people receive a large sum of money they tend to let it all go to their head. They will spend their money on matericalistic accessories.
Accurately established by many historians, the capitalists who shaped post-Civil War industrial America were regarded as corrupt “robber barons”. In a society in which there was a severe imbalance in the dynamics of the economy, these selfish individuals viewed this as an opportunity to advance in their financial status. Thus, they acquired fortunes for themselves while purposely overseeing the struggles of the people around them. Presented in Document A, “as liveried carriage appear; so do barefooted children”, proved to be a true description of life during the 19th century. In hopes of rebuilding America, the capitalists’ hunger for wealth only widened the gap between the rich and poor.
In edition these authors use characters, particularly Jack and Macbeth, as examples of man’s self-corruption by letting our natural greedy self-centred self’s come through. Through their works it is shown, likewise their belief that if everybody revealed their true natures, the world would tear itself apart by the unconscious want for power that man will stop at nothing to get. Nevertheless in this game of survival, dishonorable tactics are used to climb the ladder swiftly with the deep craving of attaining the pinnacle of power. On the other hand, and perhaps more importantly evil is also revealed by the telling actions of the characters. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph, the nobler of the two leaders on the island, has the conch, which symbolizes power.