tHE GREAT GATS
In the driving statistics published in 2012, New York State Department of Motor Vehicles discovered that there were 1,082 fatal car crashes (“Summary of Motor Vehicle Crashes”). Due to reckless driving, preventable car crashes are becoming more inevitable. Most reckless drivers don’t usually pay attention to what their actions may consequence as. Similar to many reckless New York drivers, the wealthy in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald kill the dreams and the people who harbor the American dream. Using the motif of driving, Fitzgerald illustrates that the recklessness of the wealthy destroy the American dreams of the poor.
Jordan Baker, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, as the wealthy one percent, demonstrate recklessness throughout the novel. Jordan, careless and naive, “[passes] so close to some workman that [the] fender flicked a button on one man’s coat” (Fitzgerald 63). She does not even slow down, which proves that Jordan doesn’t care about if she hit the man. She thinks that everyone should get out of her way and maybe because Jordan is wealthy, she believes that she’s totally free and off the hook from everything. Unusually, later in the chapter Jordan mentions that she dislikes careless people although she is careless. Fitzgerald inserts the irony of not only Jordan’s attitude but the attitude of the wealthy of them not concerned about others except themselves. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are the epitome of “careless people...they smashed up things and creatures and then they retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” (Fitzgerald 188). Daisy flirted with Gatsby’s heart like Tom did with his mistress. They both toyed around with their “lover” and immediately backed away when things got serious. Daisy also makes the atmosphere around her seem lighter and care-free, but that’s what makes her dangerous to approach like a venus fly trap. Tom and Daisy don’t care for anyone’s feelings except themselves because they does not own a single care in the
Jordan Baker, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, as the wealthy one percent, demonstrate recklessness throughout the novel. Jordan, careless and naive, “[passes] so close to some workman that [the] fender flicked a button on one man’s coat” (Fitzgerald 63). She does not even slow down, which proves that Jordan doesn’t care about if she hit the man. She thinks that everyone should get out of her way and maybe because Jordan is wealthy, she believes that she’s totally free and off the hook from everything. Unusually, later in the chapter Jordan mentions that she dislikes careless people although she is careless. Fitzgerald inserts the irony of not only Jordan’s attitude but the attitude of the wealthy of them not concerned about others except themselves. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are the epitome of “careless people...they smashed up things and creatures and then they retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” (Fitzgerald 188). Daisy flirted with Gatsby’s heart like Tom did with his mistress. They both toyed around with their “lover” and immediately backed away when things got serious. Daisy also makes the atmosphere around her seem lighter and care-free, but that’s what makes her dangerous to approach like a venus fly trap. Tom and Daisy don’t care for anyone’s feelings except themselves because they does not own a single care in the