The Lack of Morality in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Back in the 1920's, many people’s lives revolved around money and status. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the upper class as devoid of morality. The protagonists of the novel are involved in a complex webs of affairs, and only have selfish desires to amass wealth and status, which contribute to The Great Gatsby's overarching theme: the lack of virtuousness.

The protagonists in the novel are very corrupt and duplicitous. From Nick Carraway’s first encounter with Jordan, he states, “she was incurably dishonest,” (Fitzgerald, 46) in addition to her superiority complex. Jordan cheats in a golf tournament in order to gain recognition. Gatsby himself gained riches through illegal business with Mr. Wolfsheim (Fitzgerald, 103). However, Gatsby isn’t the only person in the novel to acquire money in an unlawful manner. Myrtle and Daisy both escape their marriages in the pursuit of wealth. Having been unhappy in her marriage with her husband George, Myrtle has an affair with Tom, referring to George as a “regretful misunderstanding” (Fitzgerald, 29). Daisy also falls in love with Gatsby and his lavish lifestyle, despite being already married to Tom. These characters display an absence of loyalty with each other, and are blinded by materialism. Countless scandalous affairs reveal how money can corrupt core values.

Additionally, this fascination with wealth and status causes the characters in The Great Gatsby to lose sight of what is important. In the tragic death of Myrtle, Gatsy spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered regarding the car accident (Fitzgerald, 110), instead of taking into consideration the loss of life that occured. Daisy reacts to Myrtle’s death by avoiding the consequences and attempting to cover it up. This is what exemplified Nick’s description of Gatsby and Daisy as “...careless people” who “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” (Fitzgerald, 137). To these people who lack morality, death is not nearly as significant as money or status, in fact, they believe, idealistically, that money can solve all problems.  

The Great Gatsby shows us that the obsession with wealth and status can prevent us from understanding what is most important in life: being honest and treating people around us with fairness and kindness. Fitzgerald illustrates the negative outcomes of negligent moral ethics in the death of Myrtle and the events that preceded it. And this web of lies and deception eventually led to the novel’s ultimate tragedy, Gatsby’s death.