Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel with many themes and symbolism. One reoccurring theme shown in the novel is the theme of immorality. Another theme is the theme that Gatsby was always living in the past. The final theme is that the American Dream died.
One way in which immorality is shown in this novel are the affairs between Daisy Buchanan and Tom Buchanan that are going on throughout the book. Tom Buchanan is a rich man married to Daisy who is the second cousin once removed of the narrator Nick. Tom is cheating on his wife Daisy with a woman named Myrtle Wilson. When Nick was over Daisy's house Tom received a phone call from his mistress and at that time Nick was informed from Jordan Baker of the affair. Tom invites Nick to visit his mistress one day and Tom acts like it is a common act to cheat on his wife. There were very few points in the novel in which Tom showed even any remorse to his wife. Daisy also cheats on Tom with Gatsby during the plot. She does this even though she was unaware that Tom was cheating on her. So, both these people were immoral. Another part in the novel where Daisy does not seem to distinguish from right to wrong is when she does not confess to hitting Myrtle with Gatsby's car. Gatsby's death could have been avoided if she confessed her wrong doing. Tom automatically accused Gatsby of killing his mistress, therefore when Mr. Wilson was informed he went to Gatsby's house and killed him. If Daisy truly loved Gatsby like she said then why did she lie. Daisy and Tom were also immoral when after Gatsby's death and Myrtle's death they just up and left. They did not follow through on going to either ones funeral but just continued on with there lives. .
The second theme in the novel is that Gatsby was always living in the past. After Gatsby came back from the military where he met Daisy and fell in love with her, he always worked on getting her back and making things perfect like they were when they first met.