During the roaring twenties, religion and morality had vanished leaving wealth
and social status the only way to survive. Fast automobiles, flappers and extensive
wardrobes were of importance. The worship of material items eventually led to the
irrelevance of those less fortunate. Gatsby did everything he could to rise above the
society that he was introduced to, even if it meant leaving others to clean up the mess.
Tom Buchanan, brain washed by lust neglected monogamy and yet in the end fooled no
one but himself in the end. High society use any circumstance would use any excuse to
consume alcohol, party and have a good time. Does money blind those who obtain it and
give them an excuse to behave arrogantly and selfishly, or more often, does money and
wealth make them wiser and more responsible?
Mr. Jay Gatsby's past is some what blurred and unknown. He has definitely
become the man that he wanted to be.
The cover of the first edition of The Great Gatsby...
The Great Gatsby (1926 film)
The Great Gatsby (1974 film)However his way of forging ahead meant doing
whatever it took, not doing what was right. Tom Buchanan points the guilty at Mr.
Gatsby in an attempt to expose him when Tom Buchanan said, " I guess your friend
Walter Chase wasn't too proud to come in on it. And you left him in the lurch didn't you?
You let him go to jail for a month in New Jersey" (134). Although to Tom's knowledge
of Gatsby isn't extensive, it is a step closer determining Gatsby's true past.
Tom Buchanan cheats on his wife Daisy. His wife Daisy does not know who
Tom's woman in Chicago is; she does point out to him abruptly in public that something
is up. She says, " Do you know why we left Chicago? I'm surprised you haven't told
them about that little spree" (125).