Motifs

Adultery-

One of the recurring motifs in “The Great Gatsby,” is adultery. In the story Tom is married to a woman called Daisy. However, Tom also has a mistress named Myrtle Wilson, whom he cheats with. Myrtle is married to her husband George Wilson. Daisy also in a way, cheats on Tom by being with Jay Gatsby. This conveys a sense of disorder and tension with the characters throughout the story. This dysfunction even leads to the act of George Wilson murdering Jay Gatsby because he believes that this is the man cheating on him with Myrtle Wilson.

Hope-

Another one of the recurring motifs in “The Great Gatsby,” is the idea of hope. During the course of the story many of the characters display of hope. Nick for example, shows hope by how he would like to come to New York and he hopes that he can become a good Bondsman and make lots of money here. Jay Gatsby shows hope by him hoping that he will win back Daisy and they will get married and things will go back to as they were when they first met each other. Tom was hoping that Daisy would stay with him during the fight at the hotel with Gatsby. And also, Daisy was hoping that she could make the right decision about who she wanted to be to be with, either Tom or Gatsby.

Materialism-

The idea of materialism is very prevalent in this story, because the story revolves in East Egg and West Egg which are both very rich and well to do neighborhoods. The story is also set in the nineteen twenties in a very rich and on the rise New York City. Also, the American Dream is what everyone is looking for in this time period, which is the pursuit of happiness and the love that is shared between a man and a woman. During the story many of the characters are materialistic. Tom for example, inherited a great wealth of money, which he uses to buy a big mansion with many cars, clothes, planes, and lavish trips all around the world. Jay Gatsby also owns a big house, cars and planes, and nice clothes. All of the characters “American Dreams,” get corrupted by their greed and of their wanting for more things in their lives.