Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the American Dream has become corrupted and this can be seen in the behavior of the novels characters. The novel's main characters Tom and Daisy Buchanan show disrespect for anyone in a lower class or social standing than them. From the very beginning of the novel, Daisy's excitement to tell Nick about their butlers deformed nose shows how disrespectful they are to people who are physically different from them: "I'll tell you a family a secret.Its about the butlers nose. Do you want to hear about the butlers nose?" This shows how people in rich, 1920s America think and behave in a rude and inconsiderate fashion. We see her characters true nature later in the novel when Daisy and Gatsby are coming back from the city, Daisy kills Myrtle Wilson by hitting her with the car, but Daisy doesn't even flinch at the fact that she just killed a woman. .
In addition to Daisys rude nature, Tom Buchanan also shows characteristics of someone with a distorted view of the world. This can be seen during his lunch conversion with Nick when he brings up The Rise of the Colored Empires: This fellow has worked out the whole thing. Its up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things. (P.17) This racist and hypocritical view really demonstrates the arrogance and closed-minded mentality of the upper class. This prejudiced view of minorities also can be witnessed in his violent behavior with women. Tom represents the homicidal American male attitude of the time when he punches his mistress Myrtle Wilson in the nose during a verbal argument at one of their parties. .
In addition, to the main characters pathetic qualities, the guests at Gatsby's party are obnoxious and lacking in decentness. Nick, the narrator, voices this at his first Gatsby party: I looked around, most of the remaining women were having fights with men said to be there husband (Fitzgerald 51).