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Jason Coplin Mrs. Reynolds English 2 10-20-11 Moral Decline in the Great Gatsby Many of you have read the famous book, The Great Gatsby, and if you have you know that most of the book is about cheating, lying, and death. This book is based off of moral decline and how quickly the world is going downhill. There are accounts of actual moral decline, complaints about moral decline, and irony in some people who complain about it yet are the ones causing it. The amount of fakeness in this society is tremendous, everyone is lying and doing something they shouldnt be. This book should be a lesson to everyone who reads it that your actions have consequences. Lets first delve into the first part where we see actual moral decline. First off there is Tom who abuses his wife and cheats on her constantly and doesnt try to hide it. He has been cheating on her since the beginning of her marriage and has no remorse for it (Fitzgerald 77). He has forced her to do things and has almost broken her finger because he is a strong and edged man who doesnt know his own strength I know you didnt mean to, but you did do it (Fitzgerald 12). He is currently cheating on his wife, Daisy, with someone named Myrtle. When Tom cheats he doesnt hide it, or even make an attempt to, he blatantly shows it off in front of Nick and anyone else who is around. Next there is Daisy who seems so innocent by wearing white and seems very kind and caring at first glance. Daisy is actually pure when the novel starts, however when she starts having an affair with Gatsby (Fitzgerald 96) she almost gets a divorce. The only reason that

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Daisy stayed with Tom is because Tom reminds her of his social class and how hers would go down if she left him for Gatsby. Thirdly there is Jordan who is a compulsive liar and cant maintain a stable relationship because of it. She is also widely known for cheating in professional golf games. Fourthly there is Gatsby who looks like a respectable rich man but he has gotten his money through illegal methods (Fitzgerald 133). Suspicious as it sounds it is so bad that even the people who do know how he got the money are too afraid to tell others how he got it. He also is trying to steal Daisy away from Tom and separate a marriage and their household because of his selfish desire to have the past again. There is much more moral decline in this book but those are just the main characters. The second thing is that people who complain about the moral decline are actually causing the moral decline! Tom, the man who is a rugged alcoholic, cheats on and hits his wife, lies all the time, and hits his mistress and is one of the worst people in this book, has the nerve to say that people are sneering at family institutions (Fitzgerald 130) when he himself is one of the main causes. He is hypocritical and is blind to his actual faults. Nick who, right after setting up an affair, is sitting on the steps and complains about how the moral values have declined much like Tom. With everything going on in this book it was hard for everyone to keep a level head, which is why it got so disgusting and horrible. If Tom had stopped cheating on Daisy they would have never started fighting and Daisy wouldnt want to be with Gatsby. Though it doesnt matter who started it, we all make our own decisions in life. Each thing we do effects us and the ones we love either in a positive or negative way. We need to take a look at ourselves and set boundaries before ending up like Tom or Daisy or even the great Gatsby.