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The Great Gatsby

 

            
             What is good character? Does a person just have to generally align with society's values to be morally right? The answer is obviously no, because when society's values are based on how rich a person is and how well they are endowed with class, there are still people who are not the corrupt and powerful, who look within themselves to find their character strong and standing alone. The others may be treacherous and immoral while one person holds out because they respect themselves and want to build on their kindness they have shown other people. The society that is out of wack can cause a person to become confused that generally is good and bring them down alongside the fall of that society. The web of materialism and power can entrap the innocent ones falling on the corrupt people. In the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals a tone of contempt toward materialism, while emphasizing the importance of strong character.
             Fitzgerald's tone of contempt surrounds Daisy Buchanan targeting toward her materialistic emphasis on life. The statements she makes and the actions she does are all fake and shallow. While talking to Gatsby for the first time in many years, Daisy's voice is heard "on a clear artificial note I certainly am awfully glad to see you again'- (Fitzgerald 91). This feinted gladness shows her moral instability and how she is not truly glad to see this man from her past come out of nowhere and try to see her again. The aspects of her personality require her to have material things before anything else, showing society's influence on how she lives her life based on the capitalist economy that controls America. To further develop the covetous nature of Daisy, Fitzgerald uses the sudden change of her behavior upon viewing Gatsby's house and his wardrobe to express that greedy people change their mannerisms to get what they want. Daisy swings from being a fake, happy acting person, to a small child with "her head in the shirts crying stormily They're such beautiful shirts, she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds.


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