Ari Wells

Mr. Dyde
English 2 Honors
1 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 humans 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 Caraways opinion of the character.
Thus, Nicks characterization of Tom is also a reflective
characterization. Although Nicks 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 Nicks 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 dont look out, the white race will
be utterly submerged. Its 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 Daisys
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
Toms Mistress Myrtle. Tom initially violates Daisys 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 wifes autonomy by coercing her to remain together with
him. Shes not leaving me! Toms words suddenly leaned down over
Gatsby certainly not for a common swindler whod 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 Daisys 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 husbands
mistress. Thus, Tom is immoral because he violates his wifes
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 Myrtles 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 Daisys actions can be
interpreted as the result of Toms 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 Daisys autonomy and Myrtles
autonomy.