How much of his behaviour in the book is concerned with hypocrisy?.
You take the trouble to construct a civilization . . . to . . . to build a society based on the principles of. . . of principle . . . you endeavour to make communicable sense out of natural order, morality out of the unnatural disorder of mans mind . . . you make government and art, and realize that they are, must be the same . . . you bring things to the saddest of all points . . . to the point where there is something to lose . . . then all at once, through all the music, through all the sensible sounds of men building, attempting, comes the Dies Irae. And what is it? What does the trumpet sound? Up yours. I suppose there's justice to it, after all the years . . . Up yours. .
This is the best, poignant and blunt example of George's hatred of Nick's hypocrisy and it also goes beyond Nick himself, here George also make direct reference to the American educational system in general. It is interesting to note that George does not only hate Nicks hypocrisy but he sees the American educational system as the true source of hypocrisy, but he despises people like Nick who feed on that hypocrisy, and see their success as inevitable. It is this naivety which George despises in Nick, the fact that Nick sees his success and power as a foregone conclusion. It is particularly useful to note that Nick reminds the reader of a George in his younger days and George can see Nick heading along the same path as George and he can se Nick ending up just being in' the Biology department as opposed to being' the Biology department. George sees himself as a member of society who attempts to create a society which is based on sound principles and he sees the new modern day American education system as a society which is based solely on hypocrisy and goes against everything which society should stand for. Therefore, it is an interesting question to ask one self does George hate hypocrisy or the new American education system.
