Selfish People

The novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald had alot of very meaningful life lessons and gave us an example of what not to be like. The novel has themes such as jealous, greed, and unrequited love. Another theme of the novel is Selfish people. Each character does certain things to help themselves succeed. They are willing to do anything to get ahead and be the best of the best.

One of the first character we seeing doing selfish things is Tom Buchanan. Tom has an affair with a lower class woman, Myrtle Wilson while he is happily married to his wife, Daisy. Tom has a beautiful family, a loving wife, and a happy marriage, but he decides to go for a lower class woman for his own selfish reasons. Daisy, also has some selfish traits as well. Throught the novel the real reason she marries Tom unravels. She only married Tom for his money, even though she was still in love with Jay. But Jay did not have the money to support her, so she married Tom. Another character that displays selfish character is Myrtle Wilson. Mrytle like Tom also has a loving spouse. Her husband realizes that she is unhappy with their living conditions and tries his best to provide for her. He knows she wants to live the lavish lifestyle and be showered with gifts, but as much as he would like to do that, he can't. To get what she wants, Myrtle decideds to have an affair with a rich man, Tom Buchanan so he can satisfy her wants. These characters portray selfish traits throughout the novel and are perfect examples of what we should not act like.

Gangsters

1n the 1920's, gangsters weren't people involved in gangs and shootings. People were considered to be gangsters if they went against Prohibition and bought alcohol to consume. Jay Gatsby was involved in this in the book. He is therefore considered a gangster. This is ironic, however, because he doesnt seem like a typical gangster. He is well put together and has a good image. Many wealthy people were involved in this because they could afford the crazy prices of alcohol.

"Jay Gatsby effectively overturned the dated assumption that gangsters were lowlifes from the Bowery and replaced it with an upscale figure who was enviably wealthy and fashionably stylish. Significantly, this portrayal was an outgrowth of actual changes in existing criminal conditions. Fitzgerald understood better than Asbury that since the advent of Prohibition, gangsters were, in fact, on the rise; not only were they gaining more wealth and power, but they were presuming to status and respectability as well. If Fitzgerald's Gatsby was solidly grounded in these historical developments, he too came perilously close to being an implausible gangster and a distortion of fact. Though readers still find Gatsby too romantic, too idealistic, and too naive to be a criminal success, Fitzgerald counteracted this impression by cloaking his gangster in mystery, then frustrating Nick's efforts to penetrate it, and finally suggesting that Gatsby, like Asbury's dandy, may be more dangerous than Nick realizes. If this elusive figure involved a significant modification of the actual gangsters on which Fitzgerald was drawing, he was not the specious fabrication that Asbury was decrying. To characterize Gatsby as a "dandy" might seem inappropriate since clothing is rather incidental to his depiction. This quality is communicated to Nick more by his other possessions than by his white suit, silver shirt, and gold tie-his palatial house, his grand parties, his fancy automobile, his hydroplane, and his library of real books. His flourish of expensive shirts late in the novel merely embellishes this image. This Gatsby is an ideal consumer in his expenditure of so much on the nonessential. He is a dandy who buys expensive merchandise to take on its desirability and to convince Daisy of his worthiness. These traits confirm the potency of a consumer culture and illuminate the social instability generated by the age's myriad products and aggressive advertising. The new credit economy of the 1920s accelerated social mobility and empowered a new ethos whereby merchandise rivaled background, profession, and merit as a determinant of status." (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14769861.html)

Unrequited Love

Unrequited love is defined as love that in not reciprocated or returned. Each couple in the novel expresses unrequited love in almost every situation they are in. Each relationship is not stable. There are affairs involved, and unfaithfulness as well. For example, there's Daisy and Tom Buchanan, a happliy married couple, from what we see. But, underneath their smiles they are both hiding something from eachother. Tom has a mistress in New York, Myrtle Wilson. Mrs. Wilson is also married, but they both love to continue their affair. Myrtle is only with Tom, because of his wealth. So, they are not actually in love, but rather in it for selfish purposes.

Daisy, Tom's wife is also very flirtatious. She is constantly flirting with Jay Gatsby, her former lover. And although Gatsby is madly in love with her, she does nto love him back. she is in love with her husband Tom. Daisy first rejected Tom because he was not weathly enough to support her. When Tom assumes that they are having an affair he casues great conflict, and Jay convinces Daisy that their love is real. Eventually Daisy picks Tom, because she is madly in love with him, and has been. Each relationship explained is very disfunctional and each person loves someone who is already in a relationship. Which is why the married couples realtionship is unrequited.

source: The Great Gatsby