People of The Great Gatsby and People of Today :: Great Gatsby Essays

People of The Great Gatsby and People of Today The young adults in F.Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby are similar to the adults of today. They show resemblance by portraying racism, irresponsibility, and corruption. Like the young adults of today many display integrity and are innocent. The people of the two generations exploit violence and have gangs and gang leaders. The generation of the 20's and the generation of the 00's exhibit irresponsibility and corruption through many characters such as Myrtle, Meyer Wolfshiem and Tom. After Myrtle bought the puppy she took no care of it at all. She never took it for walks, didn't feed it continuously, and later we find his dog leash just lying around. Tom was irresponsible and prejudice towards other races which were different form his in many instances. His irresponsibility was displayed when he was having an affair with Myrtle and not staying together with Daisy. Tom's prejudice on other races was revealed when he said, "nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white,"(137). In society today many races are discriminated against because they are thought to be inferior. In school, at work, and in anyone's neighborhood there is discrimination because of the skin color and they are harassed. There was violence in the 20's with gangs and mob leaders such as Al Capone. He was a notorious racketeer who fought with other gangs. Today there are also gang crimes like in the music business there were killings of two rap artists. The killings took place because of animosity among the East Coast and the West Coast rappers. Even though there is discrimination and irresponsibility many young adults prove their integrity and assist others in the most crucial times. Everyone thought Gatsby was a killer and they were scared of him but he was compassionate. When Nick says, "They're a rotten crowd, You're worth the whole damn bunch put together,"(162), we feel the same way about him because his love for Daisy was most valuable to him. He takes the blame of Daisy for killing Myrtle even though he knows his life can be taken away in jail.