Essay 2

Submitted By joegrec1
Words: 885
Pages: 4
Open Document
Joseph Greco
Mrs. D
English V
4 October 2012

Dishonesty of the “whole damn bunch” Honesty is the major human trait that can separate an admirable person from a deceptive person. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, most of his characters are dishonest. Each character that lies or is dishonest affects someone else. Through the perspective of his narrator, Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald demonstrates that dishonesty can tear apart friendships and can affect society as a whole. Jay Gatsby is one of the most well-liked characters for readers, but he is dishonest in many ways about himself. Gatsby lies to Nick in the beginning when Nick asks him, “What part of the Midwest” he is from, and Gatsby replies, “San Francisco,” a city that is clearly not in the Middle West (Fitzgerald 65). Gatsby does not lie to hurt anyone or make people feel inferior but rather to hide his past and his road to wealth. He is nervous that his true past as a North Dakota farmboy might reflect badly upon him, so to explain his wealth he continues, “My family all died and I came into a good deal of money” (Fitzgerald 65). Gatsby lies only to augment his life in the past, and never is out to hurt anybody. Nick also describes Jordan Baker as being dishonest when he utters, “She was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able to endure being a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness” (Fitzgerald 58). Jordan is a professional golfer, and Nick tells us that she cheated on her first golf tournament by changing the lie of her ball. Her lies mostly affect Nick because she lies to make other characters think she is more honest than she actually is. Jordan’s lies served to show the reader that she was part of the “damn bunch” that is dishonest and who didn’t care about anyone else but themselves. Although Jordan was a minor character; she was dishonest in ways, which portray her brutal attitude towards others and even herself.
A more vicious liar is Tom Buchanan, another major character that possesses the trait of dishonesty. He has several moments when he lies to people, and eventually his lying is the cause of Gatsby’s death. Tom has been cheating on his wife Daisy with Myrtle Wilson, who is also married. They both lie to their spouses about where they’re going and head to New York. Tom’s biggest deceit, however, leads to Gatsby’s death by lying to George Wilson about who runs over and kills Myrtle. Tom tells George that the driver of the yellow car that hits and kills his wife is Gatsby. The real driver is Daisy, but by Tom telling George that Gatsby committed the crime, Wilson immediately became enraged. George’s adrenaline kicked in and he went straight to Gatsby’s house and killed him for something that he didn’t even do. Whether or not Tom knows that Daisy is the actual driver of the car that kills Myrtle, he decides to say that the driver is Gatsby because Tom knew that Gatsby was falling in love with her. Nick may be thought out to just be an observer, but he has several moments of dishonesty within this novel. Nick believes that he is the only true honest character, and that everyone else around him is untrustworthy. He is the narrator of the story, so Fitzgerald makes him out to be a good honest person. Nick even says, “I am one of the few honest people that I have known”(Fitzgerald 64). Nick tries too hard to make
Show More

Related Documents: Essay 2

Essay 2 Term 2 Rubric

FOUNDATION COURSE 2014-2015 FB2 TERM 2 ACADEMIC ENGLISH ASSESSMENT ESSAY 2 There is a real danger of a house price bubble in London. Discuss. Format 800-1000 words Arial Font 12 Double-spaced Single-sided Cover page References in the essay and at the end of the essay You will be assessed on Use of source material: you should use 3-8 reliable sources, including at least one academic journal article. Cohesion, coherence and organisation Communication and task fulfilment Lexis Grammar 1st Draft Week…

Words 348 - Pages 2

Essay 2

Christian Gonzalez Stevens AP Lang & Comp Essay #2 As the generations pass, the technology advances, creating changes in life style. Communicating is a big change. Richard Louv writes in his essay “Last Child in the Woods”, this world has become purely based on “material” needs. The once known views on the physical world have been pushed aside. Through his essay Louv presents the clear separation now created between nature and people. The diction he uses throughout the first two paragraphs indicate…

Words 377 - Pages 2

Essay 2

Essay 2: Explaining Concepts (Ch. 5) – Generation Who? Paper Requirements: 3-4 pages typed MLA Format 1 additional source found using the MSJC Library Databases (EBSCOHOST) Due Dates: Introduction Paragraph - due Wednesday, March 4 no later than 11:59pm via Blackboard assignment link in Week 6 folder Peer Workshop Draft – due Wednesday, March 11 no later than 11:59pm via Blackboard Discussion Board in Week 7 folder (see group assignment and find link) Final draft – due Sunday, March 15 no later…

Words 730 - Pages 3

Essay 2

The Legend of Hercules I had known this moment was coming any day now; I just didn’t know how soon. I like to sleep outside and make sure no pesky little varmints enter my yard, but I was starting to move inside to my heated kennel in the garage. The leaves had begun to fall, and the air was becoming crisper every day. Yes, you guessed it. I am a dog, but I am no ordinary dog. I am Hercules, a 12-year old black lab and seasoned veteran of hunting pheasants. I had reason to believe that the pheasant…

Words 1810 - Pages 8

Essay #2

Destynee Lerma ENGL 1303 Lewis Jaime 9/27/2013 Essay #2 Multicultural education provides student with knowledge about the histories, and cultures of diverse groups. Today teachers gave student from different societies, cultures and many with their own language. Many of these students have English as their second languages. Multicultural classroom promote decision making and more critical thinking. Teachers and other education in universities want to give there…

Words 571 - Pages 3

Essay 2

Ismaiel Almatrok EN 131E Essay 2 (Final draft) 01/26/2015 Mark Fischer The Importance of Education for a Decent Job We toil in life to provide for ourselves and our family the daily needs of food and medication to survive. Let’s think of our life as two stages, the first stage is the life of decision and the other stage is the life of applying. In the life of decision, there are two important points. The first point is to decide in what college you want to be. It is essential to love it “Because…

Words 1151 - Pages 5

Essay 2

Nathan Delia ENG 201 – Professor Brevda Essay #2 – 2/8/15 A Difference In Philosophy: Machiavelli and Thoreau When examining the work of The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli and Civil Disobedience by Henry Thoreau, both would agree that lawless actions are necessary in certain situations. However, Machiavelli and Thoreau would not always see eye to eye regarding some of their other principles and philosophies. While Thoreau believes “That government is best which governs least,” (Thoreau, 305) meaning…

Words 1032 - Pages 5

Essay 2

Cobi Brough Microeconomics Essay 2 John Maynard Keynes Widely known English economist, journalist and financier, John Maynard Keynes, is best known for his theories on the causes of prolonged unemployment, referred to as Keynesian economics. After developing the groundbreaking Keynesian economics theory, John Maynard Keynes is regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern day macroeconomics theory. John Maynard Keynes was born on June 5, 1883 in Cambridge to an upper middle class family. Keynes…

Words 716 - Pages 3

Essay 2

Jaydon Rasmussen Professor Jan Hamer English 1010 October 25, 2012 Essay 2 As most people may know, freshwater is becoming more scarce in this day and age. Aquifer water levels are dropping quickly, the climate around the world is becoming more dry and we are using more water faster than it can be replenished by rainwater. As water becomes more scarce, the cost of water will continue to rise and cause disruption in people's lives and the worlds economy. Mankind has tried to sustain and conserve…

Words 1269 - Pages 6

matt essay 2 2

act was passed, in which directly opposed “freedom of speech”, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The act stated it was against the law to voice anything false or malicious in the name of the government or it’s officials. The “Essay on the Liberty of the Press”, written in 1799 by Virginia legislator- George Hay, strongly opposes the Sedition Act of 1798. Hay The passing of the Sedition Act of 1798 created restrictions regarding the First Amendment of the United States, “freedom…

Words 367 - Pages 2