Ben Polster

3/28/15
Pd.8

Reading The Great Gatsby, one gets the feeling that an entire group of people,
save one or two, have lost their heads and have no conscience whatsoever. The Great
Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald during the Jazz Age, a time when American
Society seemed to have lost its values, at least in some portions of the country. Fitzgerald
introduces characters that are rotten to the core and whose actions lead to the demise of
Jay Gatsby, a man who is misguided by love. Fitzgerald uses both setting and characters
to show that a lack of conscience leads to tragedy.

A conscience is the voice within a person that tells them right from wrong.
Certainly, in the novel, some of the characters inner voice speaks louder than others,
while some characters find it easier to forget about that voice altogether. The main
character and narrator of the story, Nick Carraway seems to be the only one who shows
that he has a conscience, while everyone else acts as though they either do not have one,
just push it aside for the sake of their own interests, or as in the case of Gatsby, act not

according to their conscience but in pursuit of their ultimate dream. Nick is the only
character who does not lack common sense or depend on his peers to help solve his
problems. He talks and thinks as a well educated man, who lives according to moral
principles. Indeed, one of the things he learned from his father was Whenever you feel
like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the
advantages that you've had (Fitzgerald, Chapter 1, page 1). We can also tell that he has a
conscience because of how friendly and loyal he is to Gatsby up to Gastbys death.

Another character who I believe has a conscience is Mr.Wilson. This is because

he is the only character who is influenced by the eyes on the billboard of Dr.T.J.
Eckleburg. He believes that the eyes are watching over everyone and are a symbol of
God. This can relate to conscience because the eyes are facing towards NewYork which
is where the book claims people lose their souls and God is watching it all unfold. The
glasses can also represent all those young people leaving their conscience behind to go
live life and be irresponsible and careless. Mr.Wilson however does not partake in any of
the partying or the lifestyle that the other characters live. In fact, he only snaps after
Myrtle is killed and he believes that nothing else matters anymore.

Opposite Nick and Wilson, throughout the book Tom and Daisy seem to lack a
conscience and appear morally bankrupt. Tom is a brute, conducting an affair with a
desperate lower-class woman (SIRS knowledge, F. Scott Fitzgerald). In other words,
Tom is a horrible person who cheats on his wife with another woman, Myrtle Wilson,

who lacks a conscience herself. Daisy is an upper class woman, but also an original
material girl, trapped in her own elitist prison (Sirs Knowledge source F. Scott
Fitzgerald). One good example of that is, she even hopes her daughter grows up to be
dumb because that is what is socially expected of women in that time period I hope
shell be a fool, a pretty little fool. Thats the best thing a girl in this world can
be(fitzgerald). She is a woman who pretends to be someone other than who she really
is, and who depends on her wealth and status to stay happy. Daisy is probably the
novels most careless character. For example, she kills Myrtle in a car accident and lets
the man she loves (Gatsby) take the blame and get murdered by George, Myrtles
husband. Daisy is guided only by her needs to keep her social status, which is why she
can never be with Gatsby. Gatsby will never be able to understand that, because he is
only guided by his love for her. He builds his entire life and fortune, which he acquires
illegally, not on his conscience but on his desire to get Daisy. To him, it is the only thing
that matters.

As stated in The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald (Ronald Berman,

The Great Gastby and the Twenties), Tom and Daisy have freed themselves from
troublesome conscience and from even more troublesome self awareness. Nick himself
comes to that conclusion at the end of the novel (chapter 9) when he says: I couldnt
forgive him or like him, but I saw what he had done was to him entirely justified. It was
all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisythey
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 You get the feeling that through Nick, Fitzgerald tells readers
how he feels about the American society of this time, or at least the upper class. It is not a
surprise that Fitzgerald sets his novel in and around New York City, which was the heart
of the Jazz Age and the symbol of what was wrong in American society at the time. As
described in The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald, New York was a city
where life was monied, vulgar, chaotic, noisy and immoralin other words a city
where people were driven by anything but their consciences.

At the end of the novel, Fitzgerald conveys the clear feeling that Nick is
disgusted by the immoral and careless actions of Tom and Daisy. Nick decides to leave
that life behind and go back to the Midwest, where leaving a life according to ones
conscience stands a chance.