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Sacrifice In The Great Gatsby

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Throughout the book, many of the characters are depicted sacrificing any moral standing in the world in order to seek the immense wealth and social standing promised by the American Dream. After Gatsby’s death, Nick is compelled to move back out West, away from New York. Before he leaves he feels obliged to go see Jordan to discuss and close whatever their relationship may have been. He describes the incident recalling, “I saw Jordan Baker and talked over and around what had happened to us together and what had happened afterward to me . . . When I had finished she told me without comment that she was engaged to another man. I doubted that though there were several she could have married at a nod of her head but I pretended to be surprised”(Fitzgerald …show more content…
Whether Jordan had married or not, her decision not to pursue a relationship with Nick shows her focus on her social status. Now that Gatsby is dead and Daisy has stopped communicating with Nick, he is now just another stock-broker in New York with nothing substantial to his name. Jordan realizes this and avoids a relationship with, even going so far as to say that she was wrong to have felt anything for Nick in the past. Before Nick is able to leave, he also sees Tom Buchanan walking down a street a bit ahead of him. Tom pauses in front of a jewelry store and then stops Nick to talk when he sees him. They discuss the events leading up to Gatsby’s death and Nick asks him what he told George Wilson the night Myrtle was killed. Tom passionately responds by exclaiming, “He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute he was in the house. . . What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him” (Fitzgerald …show more content…
McAdams also makes a point about the main character’s morality in terms of their honesty. McAdams believes that each of the main characters in The Great Gatsby can be defined as “Liars”. He uses their actions and goals to identify them as liars and dig deeper into what the moral bounds that each of them were willing to warp. McAdams writes, “We then talk about Tom Buchanan and his mistress, Daisy’s failure to reveal her role in Myrtle Wilson’s death, Gatsby’s life as a lie and an illusion , and so on” (McAdams 114). McAdams argues that nearly every character in The Great Gatsby acts against the better judgement of common moral standards throughout the novel. Tom’s willingness to cheat on Daisy multiple times throughout their relationship, Gatsby’s creation of an entirely new persona, and Daisy’s common tendency to withhold the truth show that their personal goals of social standing and wealth outreach their strength of their own morals. Gatsby sacrifices a his morals the moment he stepped onto Dan Cody’s yacht. Tom is portrayed as the personified monster of wealth and success so much so that it is hard for Nick to find any notion of him ever following a solid moral code. Daisy is forced to relinquish her own moral code when Gatsby dies, her only possible choice other than immense wealth and power is now gone. That is to ignore the likely outcome that she would have chosen that power regardless of Gatsby’s fate. All of

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 emotional
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 physical,
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 achieving
a
dream
difficult
or
even
appear
to
be
impossible.
In
American
literature
 dreams
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unattainable
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barriers.
 
 In
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the
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of
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dreams,
goals,
and
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come
in
contact
 Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:35 PM Comment: Broad
Topic
 Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:35 PM Comment: Narrow
Topic
 Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:36 PM Comment: Thesis
Statement
 Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:36 PM Comment: Clincher
Sentence
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