Corruption In American Dream Essay, Research Paper

Nancy Flores

The Effects of Corruption in the American Dream

The dictionary defines the word corruption as an impureness that offers or accepts bribes and bad influence (Oxford Advanced Learner s Dictionary of Current English pg. 193). Throughout life, people meet various ways of corruption; we can actually see this through the government and its leaders. Corruption is some type of dishonesty and fraud. This type of action affects people in various ways. We see several ways this word is actually reflected in Fitzgerald+s novel, The Great Gatsby.

Throughout the novel, we read about a mysterious man who lives in East Egg and has just become rich. He followed his dream of being wealthy and successful. Gatsby worked hard to achieve his dream; he even was forced to make several illegal moves. He came from a very poor and humble past, not from a prosperous family.

Gatsby tried to follow his dream, his American dream. Jay wanted to earn enough money and be from a high status in order to be satisfied with himself and be able to get Daisy s love back. This American Dream is somewhat an aspiration to possess the ability to come from nothing, to be an absolute nobody, and build yourself up into a real somebody. In a way, to be able to create yourself, and your own version of reality; to turn yourself independent from anything that surrounds you. In life, many people dream about becoming this type of person, that is what is known as The American Dream.

I would say that Gatsby was corrupted by society, a society that placed such emphasis on wealth. This is some type of superficial world that allowed for such a huge division of classes to exist. There was a giant focus on money, and on class division. This influence is what led Gatsby to attain such wealth, most likely through illegal means (as said before). He did all of these things in order to get Daisy back. Gatsby was only trying to fit in, to become a part of the society of the 20’s. Of course, one that involved drinking, parties, affairs, money, etc.

James Gatz was a nobody; a poor, average person, but he made himself anew. He was reborn into Jay Gatsby, who was really his creation. He was a lie. Everything about him was fake and phony. Gatsby did not exist; he was actually a boy who came from a regular home, not from a rich past. Gatsby followed his dream and accomplished it. By this, we can see how society corrupted him. He wanted to become a person who would attract others and be noticed. He needed to call the attention.

Following the topic of corruption, we see some people who are corrupt in the story. Tom Buchanan is very bossy and egocentric. He is not a fair person; he likes putting people down and making them feel bad. Tom has his own lover (Myrtle) and disrespects his wife and friends. He criticized and punished his wife for being close to Gatsby, but he did not look at himself before judging–at his mistress. Tom s corruption intimidated people.

In this book, there were also some minor characters who seemed corrupt also. Jordan was another person who was a cheat. Just like Gatsby, she was probably not satisfied with herself. She liked bossing people around and hardly cared about others+ feelings. To begin with, she cheated on her first golf tournament, just like cheated on Nick by leaving him for another man. This shows her irresponsibility and life status. The other cheating character is Wolfsheim. Wolfsheim was a man who planned one of the finals in a World Series.

There are a lot of hypocrites and corrupt people in the world. In The Great Gatsby, we see how there is an exploration of the American Dream as it exists in a corrupt society. The American Dream itself is somehow corrupting since it puts pressure on people to do things that can really get out of hand and bring out bad consequences. Corruption affects the lives of people, it affects the people accomplishing their dreams and the way they can live.