Ari WellsMr. DydeEnglish 2 Honors1 January 2015

The Great Gatsby – Argumentative essay

Which of the central protagonists best embodies the moral decline that occurred in post-war America?

The essay prompt is a question of morality, and thus in evaluating which central protagonist of The Great Gatsby can be concluded as the least moral by the end of the novel. In order to judge which character in the novel is the most immoral, an explicit definition of morality must first be defined. Before the ethics presented in The Great Gatsby can be discussed, morality needs to be established at a meta-ethical level. The distinction between ethics and meta-ethics is that while ethics aim to discover what is moral versus what is immoral, meta-ethics explore what morality itself is. How can morality be determined? How is it possible to know that certain actions are morally correct while other actions are considered morally incorrect? Christine Korsgaard is a professor of philosophy at Harvard University who attempts to answer these very questions. She states that the human mind is self conscious in the sense that it is reflective; this gives human beings a problem that no other animal has. A human’s ability to turn his or her attention onto his or her mental activities is also the ability to bring those activities into question. When a human being desires, he has an impulse to act upon that desire. Human beings do not just merely act upon their impulses; they need a reason to act, and when somebody tells you that they have a reason for conducting an action, it denotes that they have had reflective success. Korsgaard goes on to state that autonomy is the key to morality because autonomy allows the individual to decide whether his impulses are moral. “We cannot conceive of a reason which consciously responds to a bidding from the outside with respect to its judgments” (Korsgaard 94). She furthers that if this bidding from the outside is desire, then an individual needs to endorse that bidding before he or she can act on it. It is obvious that individuals will only commit to actions if they believe that those actions are moral, and that in order to achieve morality, individuals need to have the freedom to chose which actions they want to commit and which actions they do not want to commit. A violation of autonomy occurs when an individual prevents another individual from having the capacity to realize his or her desired ends. In this essay, I intend to expose how throughout The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan violates other characters’ autonomy by preventing them from reaching their desired ends, and in turn is the least moral character in the book.

Nick Caraway, the narrator of the book, first introduces Tom Buchanan to the reader by stating that, “He was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward… you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage – a

cruel body”(Fitzgerald 7). Upon initial viewing of Tom, the reader is already under the impression that he is a very controlling and individual. It is important to note that the description of Tom that the reader understands is only Nick Caraway’s opinion of the character. Thus, Nick’s characterization of Tom is also a reflective characterization. Although Nick’s characterization of Tom may not accurately represent Tom himself, it is still the only viewpoint on Tom that the reader can access, since Tom is the narrator of the book. Thus in evaluating which character is the least moral, it must be evaluated from Nick’s viewpoint. Right off the bat, it is easy for the reader to tell that Tom is not a moral character in that he is described as having a “cruel body,” capable of “enormous leverage.” Under the moral framework used to decide which character is the least moral in the novel, it has been established that the least moral character is the one that violates other individuals’ autonomy the most. The phrase “capable of enormous leverage” implies that Nick uses other people to his advantage. The deontological philosopher Immanuel Kant states that it is immoral to treat other individuals as a means to an end because it violates their autonomy, and instead individuals should be treated as ends in themself. “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end”(Kant). Thus, Nick is directly relating to the reader that Tom is immoral because he uses his body with enormous leverage, to treat others as means to his desired ends, and to violate their autonomy. Additionally, Tom states that, “If we don’t look out, the white race will be utterly submerged. It’s up to us to watch out or theses other races will have control of things”(Fitzgerald 13). From this quote, it is again easy for the reader to realize that Tom is a very controlling individual who does not want to lose any of the power that he has been brought up with, and that Tom is also an individual who violates black individuals’ autonomy by treating them as a means to his ends.

The main individual whose autonomy Tom violates is Daisy. She mainly functions as an object that Tom uses to legitimize his power. Tom grew up in a society in which family was valued, and so Daisy’s main function is to satisfy that need. Tom does not use Daisy for her beauty, which is easy for the reader to tell due to the revelation of Tom’s Mistress Myrtle. Tom initially violates Daisy’s autonomy by essentially forcing her to marry him. He uses the device of a $350,000 pearl necklace to win her over, but after she receives a letter from Gatsby, Daisy changes her mind. Towards the end of the novel, Tom violates his wife’s autonomy by coercing her to remain together with him. “ ‘She’s not leaving me!’ Tom’s words suddenly leaned down over Gatsby ‘certainly not for a common swindler who’d have to steal the ring he put on her finger’ (Fitzgerald 133). It is evident to the reader that Tom is a megalomaniac who wants to keep his control over his wife. This directly violates the ethical framework initially established in that Tom prevents Daisy from realizing her desired ends, and due to the fact that he prevents Daisy from having the capacity to be self sufficient. This is probably the root cause for Daisy’s ingenuous personality. Toward the beginning of the book it is evident to the reader that Daisy has undergone some mid-life crisis. She has no freedom to pursue her desired ends, and all of her needs are taken care of by her husband; she does not have the need to earn anything that she is given. Additionally, Daisy most

definitely does not fell loved, needed, or wanted by her husband in that she is cognizant of her husband’s mistress. Thus, Tom is immoral because he violates his wife’s autonomy.

The second individual whom Tom takes advantage of is his Mistress Myrtle. He uses her as a means to his desired end of sexual pleasure, disregarding both her husband, and her needs. It is clear to the reader how Tom violates Myrtles autonomy when Myrtle recounts how she met Tom. “It was on the two little seats facing each other that are always the last ones left on the train. I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn't keep my eyes off him, but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. When we came into the station he was next to me, and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm, and so I told him I'd have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn't hardly know I wasn't getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever; you can't live forever’ (Fitzgerald 36). Although Myrtle may enjoy being in a relationship with Tom, he still violates her autonomy because he is simply using her as a means to his desired end of pleasure. Although Tom may care about Myrtle’s well being, this only stems from the potential pleasure that Myrtle can offer Tom, he does not genuinely care about her. Thus, Tom violates Myrtles autonomy.

Although there are many other characters in the novel that use others as means to their own desired ends, no one does this to the extent that Tom Buchanan does. The claim can be made that the Great Gatsby uses Daisy as a mean to legitimizing his power, and fulfilling his desired ends like Tom. The distinction between the two is that Tom does not legitimately love Daisy because he cheats on her with multiple individuals. On the other hand, Gatsby has a legitimate love foe Daisy. Daisy is often argued as the least moral character in the book because she ends up just moving on when Gatsby dies at the end of the novel. Although this is the case, all of Daisy’s actions can be interpreted as the result of Tom’s subjugation of Daisy. Thus, Tom can be evaluated as the least moral character in the novel in that he likes to exercise his power over all of the individuals he meets, he subjugates black people, he violates Daisy’s autonomy and Myrtles autonomy.