In this extract from the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the corruption and decay of the society is highlighted by the uses of various elements such as conflict, setting, characterisation and imagery. In first person, Nick shows his conflicting thoughts of what he thinks of the party. He feels the party and the people there are vulgar, yet appealing. This contradicts the way in which introduces himself – a non-judgemental who in most cases looks over the situation.
The setting of the extract is of Myrtle’s and Tom’s apartment in New York and a flashback of Myrtle’s first encounter with Tom. Fizgerald used colour images to enhance his messages on the corruption of the 1920’s American society, both upper and lower classes. The people live meaningless lives of pleasure and only for the moment, which the author criticizes deeply. One of the settings of this extract is in Tom’s New York apartment which was bought to accommodate myrtle and his affair.
New York is a busy city and represents the recklessness of the pursuit of pleasure of the Americans trying to live the ‘American Dream’. The people at the party are just as ‘corrupt’ as Tom as they do not criticize his immoral actions, but rather enjoy the disloyalties portrayed by Tom and Myrtle to their spouses. The setting changes in time, to Myrtle’s flashback to her first encounter with Tom – which she thinks of as the most wonderful day of her barren, prosperous life. The fact that she thinks this shows her questionable moral values and hints her desperation to climb the social hierarchy.
The fact that she was “going up to New York to see her sister” shows that she was ambitious to get away from her poor reality and live the American dream. In the train, Myrtle “couldn’t keep” her “eyes off him” mainly because of how he dressed – the complete opposite to her husband, Wilson. Fitzgerald’s intention is that many individuals of 1920’s wanted to seek a better life, trying to run from their harsh reality which many could not bear. This was sadly achieved through losing their morality and the core values of human beings.Myrtle is a typical female from the lower class who is desperate to become rich. She achieves this through her affair with Tom.
Her only reason to justify her wrong doing is that she “can’t live forever”. Fitzgerald emphasises this dialogue by repetition which shows its importance. Because many Americans believed they couldn’t “live forever”, or that their lives were too short, they decided to live for the moment. This lead to the corruption and decay of the society as people only considered their appearances – as long as their front was appealing, their values did not matter.Myrtle is “excited” at her chance to achieve her dream, which she is terribly wrong about.
She is the only one was remembers and put meaning to their first meeting. She “lied” to Tome and was hoping he would notice her lie and to take her away from her unsatisfactory marriage. She laughs with an “artificial laughter” which very much resembles that of the upper-class women. Fitzgerald has seen many women trying to act as if they are upper-class and sympathises with the fact that these women do not realise that they are not as corrupt as the upper-class.That although they have the chance to redeem themselves, they choose not to.
Tom is the opposite of Wilson, which is why he was so appealing for Myrtle. Tom puts out a “bottle of whiskey – a second one” to show that he has the money and power to go against the law. Because America was under alcohol prohibition, it meant that they were expensive and hard to gain. Tom enjoys the fact that he is superior over everyone else at their apartment party. That is why, although he does not belong to this level of people, he purposely arranges parties such as this.
He wore a white shirt, which allowed him to look pure and innocent like an angle, so that Myrtle thought of him as a saviour. The fact that he rode the train in the same compartment as the lower class shows that he purposely approached Myrtle. He was looking for any lower lass female to become his toy. When he “pressed against” Myrtle’s arm, he already dominated her at that moment and knew that she would follow. Fitzgerald criticize the upperclassmen like Tom, who like to express their superiority over the over class.
The upper-class has no sense of morality and the author is sad that a country like America is ruled by those humans who have discarded the things which make them human – that separate them from animals. Nick faces an internal conflict in the beginning of the extract. The use of oxymoron “within and without” and “enchanted and repelled” enhances his state of drunkenness and confusion. Because he is non-judgemental and pretty much the only incorrupt man in the novel, he should have felt repulsion of the vulgarity of this party.The “line of yellow windows” is important in describing the people present at the party. Yellow symbolises happiness but also of deception as it is only an imitation of the genuine gold.
The “line of yellow windows” therefore shows that the people at the party are all trying to imitate the upper class and that none of them are really genuine – showing their true selves. The truly wealthy upperclassmen would be in the West Egg, not in New York. However, this is what fascinates Nick – he has never experienced such glamour and luxury that even a “proper” man like him was sucked into the world of facade.He tries to imply that he wanted to leave but as he was “entangled in some wild, strident argument” shows that he was involved anyway. In this extract, Fitzgerald exposes to the readers the corruption and decay of the society.
He portrays a much bleaker side by focusing on the indulgence, hypocrisy and the shallowness of the people. The people neglect their most precious characteristic, of ‘morality’ to achieve their materialistic goals. From this the readers reflect on their own world and how each individual has been corrupted and tainted by the demands of society.
