CRTICIAL PERSPECTIVES

In his work, "The Great Gatsby" as a Business Ethics Inquiry, Tony McAdams raises many points on the topics of ethics and business in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. McAdams asks the reader, “what is Gatsby’s dream?” and goes on to provide parallels between Gatsby and the American Dream, like how “[he] ‘invented’ himself,” thus his “vision and expression are a part of his dream.” (657) More specifically, he argues that Fitzgerald thinks that the “American Dream lies in the limitless possibilities in being human,” but he also warns of “the risks in losing sight of these possibilities in the glare of wealth.” (657) McAdams states, though, that while it can’t be used as an “objective depiction of the reality of America in the twenties,” it can be used to understand a “variety of enduring ethics/values themes.” McAdams concludes with the idea that even with all of the aforementioned ethics and values, whether or not Gatsby provides any “moral insight or moral decision making is unknown.” (659) I agree, as the character of Jay Gatsby, while morally questionable, clearly represents the ‘rags to riches’ aspect of the American Dream, as he was a ‘self-made’ man. Furthermore, Gatsby clearly describes the wealthy class as those who don’t take responsibility for their actions, as can be seen when Gatsby hits and kills Myrtle and “didn’t even stop his car” (141). Gatsby, in many instances, shows the carefree, extravagant and materialistic life of wealthy New Yorkers in the twenties, like when Gatsby tells Daisy about his “man in England who buys [him] clothes”. She is brought to tears at the shirts he shows her, saying that she “has never seen such beautiful shirts before” (92). This lifestyle is often associated with the American dream of achieving great success and acquiring wealth to spend however one pleases. Even so, McAdams said this lifestyle was not an “objective depiction of the reality” at the time. I think that the connections between Gatsby’s life and the American dream are obvious, and highlighted in McAdams’ work as connections with great ethical and moral value.