F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the lifestyles of the rich people of the roaring 20's in his book "The Great Gatsby". Tom and Daisy Buchanan were wealthy, careless and selfish. Nick Carraway held him judgement until the very end, although he could have judged them at many points in the book. Their behavior was so superficial; they cared only of wealth, material possessions and themselves. If anything went wrong in their plastic world, they could ignore it or pay someone else to fix it. Daisy considered her daughter a possession. She showed her off like a new piece of furniture. She dressed her up like a doll, presented her to her company, and could always send her off to the nanny when she was done. She calls her daughter "Bles-sed Pre-cious", or "the baby", never by her name, throughout the entire novel her name is only mentioned by the nanny. Daisy asked her daughter, "How do you like mother's friends? Do you think they're pretty?" Because to Daisy, nothing matters but appearances, and she's raising, or rather having someone else raise her daughter to be just like her.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great GatsbyDaisy had no cares in the world; everything was replaceable and disposable. Tom cheated on Daisy throughout their marriage, starting on their wedding night. The only reason Daisy married Tom was because he was rich and Gatsby was poor. Tom was seeing Myrtle, but he did not spend a day mourning for her. She was a possession, one of Tom's toys that he could easily replace. Tom and Daisy do not seem to know how they hurt others and they could not care less. After the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George, which they had all caused indirectly, they went to Europe with their consciences clear and their blinders on. They were too concerned with continuing their carefree lifestyle; it did not phase them that there had just been three deaths. They took off with reckless abandon to ignore the mess they had made, and left others to live with the consequences. Tom and Daisy bought a new house and went away to Europe to replace the void in their lives left by their dead lovers. Everything was replaceable, no matter what it was and they knew not what they did. The 20's were a time of confusion and recklessness, where the wealthy could do anything they pleased, they drank during prohibition and drove fancy cars irresponsibly. Tom and Daisy were no exception. They lived life as if consequences could never reach them; their money protected them from all harms. They fit in with the times and were not much different from the rest of the East Eggers. Nick's final judgement of them was accurate and truthful. He saw through their money, and saw who they really were, and so, through his eyes, we discovered their selfishness.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby