Ethics in Gatsby: An Examination of American Values

The Article “Ethics in Gatsby: An Examination of American Values”, by professor Tony McAdams, discusses the ways in which Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby provides “an excellent ground for the examination of American ethics” in respect to wealth, class, and the “American dream” (McAdams 111). The article outlines his analysis of Fitzgerald’s clever characters, and of the ways that the values of the 1920’s, the era that the book was written, impacted Fitzgerald and were incorporated into his great novel. In the first movement, McAdams focuses on the main characters, such as nick who matures from a “priggish country boy to a mature wiser man” (McAdmas 113), who mirrors the six stages of physiological development. He believes that the moral and circumstantial experiences Nick is exposed to in the east has transformed him into acquire a sense of the hidden complexity and hardships of the rich life. He proceeds to discuss Gatsby’s life of delusion, and the reasons why he is such an attractive character. Although Gatsby is “adolescent in live and, and makes us of others” like Nick for “his own selfish purposes”, McAdams argues that readers still admire him because of his charm, commitment, and “embodiment of the American Dream” (McAdams 114). He also analyses Tom and Daisy and how they “personify the doubts that Fitzgerald seemed to feel towards the wealthy world”. He also brings up that all the characters seem to be in some respect—liars. Another point that McAdams touches on is the corruption of American Values, and how these corruptions affected both Fitzgerald’s life and later, the plot and characters in his Great Gatsby. After a close study of Fitzgerald’s background, McAdams found that the writer himself was turned down by two rich women that he loved because like nick, he was not rich. According to McAdams, “The Great Gatsby is a commentary on the themes of wealth and class in America in the Roaring 20’s”(McAdams 118) and that the American Dream is in fact, a “Dream corrupted by materialism”.

Alexandra Giedd
Rachel Zidar
Stephen Rogue