Matt Sanjur

Mrs Trebtoske
Honors English 11
3/31/2015

Conscience Essay
Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby conveys that wealthy people are capable
to do as they please and not have any repercussions nor feel any remorse for their
actions. This is shown throughout the book through character endings and decisions.
Of the many parts from the text that could be used, one of the most important
ones happen when Myrtle was hit by the car that came out of the darkness, wavered
tragically for a moment and then disappeared. (Fitzgerald 144) Daisy and Gatsby were
in the car, with Daisy driving; more specifically, Daisy first turned away from the woman
toward the other car, and then lost her nerve and turned back.(Fitzgerald 151) This
event right here is an important one as it marks the start of death in the book. Daisy was
angry, at Toms remarks about Gatsby and she earlier in the scene, Tom even made
them both drive together to mock Gatsby. Everyone knew about Toms affair and so
seeing that it was Myrtle on the road drove Daisys decision to turn to hit her even more.
What better way to take your anger out than to take it out on someone else. When they
all get home, everyone but Daisy had some sort of reaction to the scene. It was Gatsby
who said how Daisy stepped on it..: (Fitzgerald 151), this shows that Daisy did what
she did, and her turning back around toward Myrtle showed she made the decision that
she was going to kill this woman; and she did not feel any sort of guilt for it.

Another major event, relating to death as well proves the claim made. In fact one
can also say Myrtles death triggered a chain of other peoples deaths also. Mr. Wilson,
devastated over the murder of his wife, in vengeance goes to kill her murderer. Gatsby
took the blame for Daisy and so Gatsby was shot and killed in his pool on a laden
mattress and a thin red circle in the water (Fitzgerald 170). Not only him, but Wilsons
body a little way off the grass, and the holocaust was complete (Fitzgerald 170). This
shows how the wealthy have no remorse for any of this because in fact later on nobody
showed up to Gatsbys funeral. Even Daisy and Tom had gone away early that
afternoon, and taken baggage with them (Fitzgerald 172). After everything that took
place in the book, Daisy felt nothing for Gatsby and proceeded to get on with her life
and left, leaving the scene, no remorse at all, not even paying some type of respect for
the man that loved her.
In Daniel Golemans Rich People Just Care Less article, what stood out was
when it was mentioned that Higher status people are also more likely to express
disregard..and are more likely to take over the conversation and interrupt or look past
the other speaker (Goleman Online). In the book this is shown to be very true,
countless times the higher status people, being the old money class wealthy people like
Tom, spoke solely because they wanted to keep the hierarchy of being superior in
place. It is also said that the more powerful were less compassionate towards the
hardships described by the less powerful (Goleman Online). This is also very true in
the book as already stated earlier Daisy was not compassionate at all especially
regarding Gatsbys death, she simply escaped any and all repercussions of it. In
Matthew Hutsons The Rich Are Differently Moral, it is said that wealth and status

reduce empathy because money allows one to be independent... (Hutson Online).

Daisy already had Tom and could be independent with Tom and has been independent
with Tom, all in all Daisy really never needed Gatsby because she already had what she
wanted, and so she showed that by them leaving everything behind after Gatsbys
death.
Wealthy people can and will do as they please and will not feel any sort of guilt
nor have any consequences for what they did. This all can be found within Fitzgeralds
The Great Gatsby through character decisions and endings plus outside sources to
back up the text.

Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY:
Scribner, 1996. Print.
Goleman, Daniel. "Rich People Just Care Less." Opinionator Rich People Just Care
Less Comments. N.p., 05 Oct. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Hutson, Matthew. "The Rich Are Differently Moral." Psychology Today. N.p., 1 Apr. 2013.
Web. 31 Mar. 2015.