Behavior Vs. Environment Essay, Research Paper
There is a very direct similarity between one?s behavior and one?s
environment. Humans are products of the environments they inhabit. Humans evolve
and adopt behaviors which are very similar to those found in their social
climate. This is especially true when examining the characters of F. Scott
Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald presents the characters in his novels as products of a
society void of moral integrity. Since Fitzgerald?s protagonists in The Last
Tycoon, The Great Gatsby, and Tender is The Night, succumb to the moral desert
of high society, they end their lives in failure. Fitzgerald places his
protagonist in The Last Tycoon, The Great Gatsby , and Tender is The Night, in
the moral desert of high society; an environment very foreign to these
characters. Jay Gatsby, the protagonist in The Great Gatsby, is drawn into the
decadent and morally defunct society of upper-class Long Island. Daisy
illustrates the moral void that exists in the Long Island society when she
discusses her daughter with Nick. Daisy says: It?ll show you how I?ve gotten
to feel about–things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows
where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked
the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl and so
I turned my head away and wept. ?All right,? I said, ?I?m glad it?s a
girl. And I hope she?ll be a fool– that?s the best thing a girl can be in
this world, a beautiful little fool.? … I (Nick) felt the basic insincerity
of what she had said. It made me uneasy… as if she had asserted her membership
in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged (21).
Daisy depicts the moral void that exists in Gatsby?s society with her
insensitive and selfish response to her daughter?s birth. In addition to this
Daisy also depicts the snobbery that exists in this society through the way she
treats Nick, the narrator of the novel. Nick makes an observation that shows the
lack of moral value held by the Long Island society when he describes Tom and
Daisy. Nick says, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed
up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast
carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people
clean up the mess they had made . . ."(180) These quotes clearly illustrate
the insensitivity, snobbery and utter selfishness held by those who inhabit the
morally void society. This society influences Gatsby?s moral decline. The
amoral Long Island society in The Great Gatsby is very similar to the corrupt
Hollywood society found in The Last Tycoon. Again in The Last Tycoon the
protagonist is catapulted into a corrupt society that is unfamiliar to him. The
protagonist Stahr, has entered into a deviant society saturated with characters
full of lust, greed, and capitalism. The narrator depicts the valueless society
and what it can do to decent people when describing the character Reinmund. The
narrator says: Reinmund was a handsome young opportunist, with a fairly good
education. Originally a man of some character, he was being forced daily by his
anomalous position into devious ways of acting and thinking. He was a bad man
now, as men go. At thirty he had none of the virtues which either gentile
Americans or Jews are taught to think admirable. (46) Reindmund is
representative of many of the people living in Hollywood. Therefore the above
quote proves Stahr did in fact enter into a society lacking virtue. The moral
decay of this society can also be seen through the characters Cecilia Brady, and
her father, Pat Brady. Cecilia Brady is a character of very little moral value.
She lusts after Stahr and throws herself at him while he is involved with the
woman of his dreams, Thalia. Her father Pat Brady is an equally immoral
character. An example of this behavior can be seen when he attempts to steal the
production business from his partner. He tries to achieve this when Stahr (his
business partner) is extremely ill in New York. Not only is Brady a shady
businessman he also a capitalist participating in the immoral act of degrading
the art of film-making to increase profits. Writer R. A. Gallo, makes a similar
observation about Hollywood?s cultural wasteland as she writes: In The Last
Tycoon Fitzgerald examines his conception of the contemporary wasteland. The
deprivation of the Hollywood wasteland is cultural. Films have become a
bastardized art form, exploited by the Bradys whose interest in the ?booming
circus? stops at the box office. (120) The behaviors of Pat, Cecilia and
Reinmund clearly illustrates the state of moral decay that Stahr?s Hollywood
find acceptable. The moral decay of Hollywood spilled over to the society of
Tender is the Night. In Tender is the Night , the protagonist, Dick Diver
marries into the morally challenged upper class society throughout Europe during
the 1930?s. This upper class European society is highly influenced by
Hollywood, and is full of mental illness, adultery and snobbery. Fitzgerald
sketches the snobbery of the society through the way Rosemary?s observations
on the differences between the upper and the lower classes. The narrator says:
Rosemary looked for a place to sit. Obviously each family possessed the strip of
sand immediately in front of its umbrella; besides there was much visiting and
talking back and forth–the atmosphere of a community upon it would be
presumptuous to intrude. Farther up, where the beach was strewn with pebbles and
dead sea-weed, sat a group with white flesh as white as our own. They were
obviously less indigenous to the place…. Rosemary found room and spread out
her peignoir on the sand. (6) Rosemary admits that the people on either side of
the beach are racially equal, but because they are of lesser means they are
?indigenous to the place.? This quote clearly shows the snobbery that exists
in Dick Diver?s amoral society. Diver?s society is also made morally complex
by the mental illness of his wife, Nicole, and the adulterous behavior of those
in his society. Thus, Dick Diver?s society is morally challenged. Moreover,
Fitzgerald uses these morally deviant societies as a strong negative influence
on his protagonists. Fitzgerald?s protagonists in The Great Gatsby, Tender Is
the Night , and The Last Tycoon, succumb to the moral desert of their respective
societies. That is to say that the Fitzgerald?s protagonists evolve throughout
their experiences in the moral desert of high society and adopt the behaviors of
that society. Jay Gatsby succumbs to his morally void Long Island society by
participating in the immoral actions of his society. Firstly, Gatsby explores an
adulterous relationship with Daisy, and descends into the world of the
virtueless: ? So he waited, listening for a moment to the tuning fork that had
been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her.? (100) Consequently, by
physically acting out his desires for Daisy, Gatsby descends into the depths of
moral defeat. Secondly, Gatsby succumbs to the immorality of the Long Island by
buying into the vain dream of that society. The dream was the good life. Gatsby
abandoned all his dreams so that he could achieve this status. Writer William H.
Fahey, observes Gatsby succumbing to the vain dream of the good life when he
writes, ? He has lived not for himself, but for his dream, for his vision of
the good life inspired by the beauty of a lovely rich girl.?(71) Gatsby
abandons his own dreams in pursuit of a vain dream inspired by Daisy. Hence,
Gatsby?s involvement with a morally void society causes him to succumb to
immoral actions. Stahr too succumbs to his morally corrupt society.
Hollywood?s influence on Stahr, causes him to submit himself into devious
behavior. Stahr submits himself when puts a hit on his partner, Pat Brady after
Brady tries to take over their business. Stahr, is the perfect example of a good
man driven by a bad society to do something heinous. By Stahr putting a hit on
Brady he succumbs to Hollywood?s corrupt society. Therefore, Stahr does in
fact succumb to his deviant society. Dick Diver also succumbs to his morally
challenged society. Firstly, Dick succumbs to his morally challenged society
when he pursues an adulterous affair with Rosemary Hoyt. Dick says to Rosemary,
?Oh, say that later! But kiss me now- love me now. I?ll love you and never
let Nicole see.?(76) Dick abandons all his virtue to pursue his adulterous
affair and conceal it from his ill wife. This quote shows how Dick has succumbed
to the moral wasteland of his society. Secondly, Dick continues to succumb to
his morally challenged society when he begins to drink heavily. Dick?s
drinking problem is illustrated in a conversation Dick has with the father of a
patient at Dick?s clinic: ?My son is here for alcoholism, and he told us he
smelt liquor on your breath…We hand Von Cohn to you to be cured and within a
month he twice smells liquor on your breath! What kind of cure is that there??
Dick hesitated… ?After all, Mr. Morris, some people are not going to give up
what they regard as food because of your son–?(163) This quote clearly shows
how Dick has succumb to alcoholism, a disease that runs rampant among the people
of his society. In addition to this Dick has succumb to the bitterness of
society, and has become emotionally hardened and insensitive. Therefore, Dick,
Stahr, and Gatsby have all succumb to the moral desert of high society.
Fitzgerald?s protagonists end their lives in failure. They achieve this
failure in their lives by succumbing to their morally dry societies. There is a
direct relationship between the protagonists? inability to resist the moral
desert of high society and the cause of their failure. In other words,
Fitzgerald?s protagonists receive justice for their immoral actions. Jay
Gatsby ends his life in failure because he is unable to remain a moral character
in his society. Firstly, he dies an unhappy man unable to benefit from the
potential of his wealth, because he bought into the vain dream, of a vain a
society. William H. Fahey writes: None cares. To be sure, in the radiance of
Gatsby?s single vision everyone is greeted as familiar; ?Old sport,? he
calls them all. But he has no friends. No cares who gives the parties. Nobody
goes to his funeral except Owleyes and Nick. ?No one else was interested,?
as Nick says, ?-interested, I mean, with that intense personal interest to
which everyone has some right at the end.? Rich as he was, he is a poor a
son-of-a-bitch like us all in the end. (85) Fahey clearly illustrates the
personal failure Gatsby achieved by buying into the vain dream of high society.
Secondly, Gatsby ends his life in failure due to an unnecessary death. How does
he die? Indirectly, he dies not by murder, but by suicide. He dies because of
his indecent relationship with Daisy. Had Gatsby not succumb to his desire for
Daisy, she would never have been in his car and their would never have been a
shooting. Had he not succumb, he may have had a chance at a fulfilling life.
Therefore, Gatsby?s inability to remain virtuous in the moral desert of high
society was the source of his failure. Stahr?s failure at the end of his life,
like Gatsby?s, is unnecessary death. Stahr ends his life in failure because he
was unable to resist succumbing to the moral desert of high society. Stahr dies
tragically in a plane crash and is unable to marry his one true love, Thalia.
Yet this tragedy could have been avoided. If Stahr had not put a hit out on
Brady, he would never have been on the plane to New York and he would still be
alive. Therefore, it can be said that Stahr?s unnecessary death was an outcome
of his own ineffectiveness to remain a moral character. Dick Diver ends his life
in personal and professional failure. His failure comes from his inability to
resist the immorality of his society. Nicole comments on Dick?s failure in
life when she says, ?…you used to want to create things–now you seem to
want to smash them up.? (267) Dick ends his personal life in failure because
had succumb to the immorality of society. Nicole says, ?You don?t care for
me anymore…It?s all just habit. Things were never the same after
Rosemary.?(308) This quote clearly states that the cause of Dick?s personal
failure was his adulterous relationship with Rosemary. Dick?s professional
failure was again caused by his inability to resist the immorality of society.
Dick?s drinking was the reason he was bought out of the clinic. It can also be
assumed that his drinking ruined his professional career after he left Europe.
Therefore it can be said that Dick, along with Gatsby, and Stahr, failed in life
because they were unable to resist the moral desert of high society. In
conclusion, it can be said that one who lives among the immoral will succumb to
their environment. In the case of Fitzgerald?s protagonists in The Last
Tycoon, The Great Gatsby , and Tender is The Night, failure is the justice for
immoral action. Whether or not this is a balanced justice is debatable, but it
is justice nonetheless.