Gatsby Illustrates the 7 deadly sins Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Gatsby Illustrates the 7 deadly sins - Essay Example Old fears about the war were wearing off, and a materialistic new modernism was emerging, where money and social success were the key components of the so-called â€Å"American Dream†. The book’s narrator, Nick Carraway, who is perhaps the most virtuous of all the characters in the book, reveals his fascination with money at the start of the book when he thinks to himself: â€Å"I bought a dozen volumes on banking and credit and investment securities, and they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold shining secrets† (Fitzgerald, 1990, p. 10) At this point money is presented as something shining and good, full of promise for those who work to obtain it. The character Gatsby is presented also at first as a person to be admired, somewhat mysterious, but nevertheless an example that country boy Nick is keen to follow. In fact, however, Gatsby and his world lead Nick into contact with all seven of the deadly sins, and this p aper traces the journey down that slippery slope in the narrative of the novel. The seven deadly sins in the Christian tradition are named as pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony and lust. In The Great Gatsby there is evidence of a great deal of pride in the way that Nick and his friends behave on a daily basis. In the character of Tom Buchanan the reader can see what this does to a person’s character: Tom is larger than life, very loud and overbearing, and lacking in any true kindness or concern for others. He is utterly selfish, and treats his wife Daisy with arrogance and insensitivity. Nick is not as bad as this but his whole circle of friends clearly move around the upper levels of New York Society, thinking themselves far superior to ordinary people. Gatsby himself is so proud of his wealth and position that he hides the fact that he was born of a poor family in North Dakota, and even changes his name from â€Å"Gatz† to â€Å"Gatsby.† They all dri ve expensive cars, and wear fashionable clothing to all the social events that they attend. Appearance is everything, and this is what attracts Nick at first to the glamorous Jay Gatsby. Nick is himself a wealthy man, and he thinks he has better taste than Gatsby, who is a very showy person, even to the point of being rather vulgar in terms of the way he dresses and the way his house is decorated. Nick envies Gatsby, however, because Gatsby possesses a certain allure and social cachet that Nick cannot hope to share. This persona that Gatsby presents is, however, entirely false. It comes from the young James Gatz’s envy of the rich and beautiful elites that he imagined himself destined to belong to: â€Å"The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Fitzgerald, 1990, p. 63). This inflated opinion of himself leads Gatsby to envy those who have been born into wealth. So it is that Nick envies Gatsby, and at the same time Gatsby envies Nick and his friends. Instead of being content with what and who they are, each wants what the other has. Wrath is an old fashioned word for anger, and it is seen in the novel particularly in the character of Tom Buchanan. When Gatsby puts on his Oxford airs and graces, Tom is angry and mocks Gatsby: â€Å"Oxford, New Mexico†