Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, which was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story that reflects the life of the 1920's in New York. The 1920's was a decade of prosperity and opportunity, but also of prohibition and organized crime. The life in the 1920's was filled with moral decay (immoral decisions) and corruptness. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows how the American Dream is dead through immoral decisions and corruptness in Gatsby's and Myrtle's life. The first character that shows how the American dream is dead is Jay Gatsby. His life shows how the American Dream is dead by how he acquires his wealth illegally. Jay Gatsby didn't acquire his money from inheritance, but from organized crime. He wanted people to think the inherited the money, but in reality he didn't. Gatsby said "that's my affair, ‘I dabbled inn the oil business and the drug business.'"( ). Then Tom was doing some investigating on Gatsby, and Tom said "the man is involved in bootlegging and other illegal acts."( ). Both of these quotes support how Gatsby came of his money, and what illegal operations he did to acquire the money. This quote also shows how the American Dream is dead because Gatsby isn't working
hard for his money; he took the easy way out to acquire the money so he could move up in the social status. The next character that shows that the American dream is dead is Myrtle.
Myrtle shows how the American Dream in dead by how she tired to get into the upper class by using Tom and his money to try and fit in, but she could never fit in because she didn't know the slang and other thing the rich used to talk and communicate to each other. She also cheated on her husband, Mr. Wilson, who was a result of how the American dream is dead. Myrtle's attempt to break into the class which the Buchanans belong to is doomed from the start. She enters into an affair with Tom, takes on all the negative qualities of his social group, and not only becomes corrupt and immoral, but she scorns people from her own class. "I thought he knew something about breeding but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe"
(39) To conclude, throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows how the American Dream is dead through immoral decisions and corruptness in Gatsby's and Myrtle's life. For example how Gatsby is involved in bootlegging and in the drug store business. Myrtle also shows how the American dream is dead because she used Tom to try and find her way into the upper class, and take the easy way out, and not earn the money to fit in that society.