Dishonesty In The Great Gatsby Analysis

Throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald the theme of The American Dream and Illusion versus Reality are interlinked and are also evident within the novel. This is seen through the protagonist Jay Gatsby, recently changed from James Gatz, who once lived with a poor lifestyle, strived for greatness and luxury in order to achieve The American dream, and is now living in West Egg. This is where people of new wealth go to live their lives. Gatsby’s tale of rags-to-riches can be seen as living The American Dream, however Gatsby always wants one thing in order to complete this desire; Daisy Buchanan. She is first introduced as an innocent and generous woman who is genuine in all the things she says and does. Gatsby was once

“... it is a story about failure and death, an idealistic quest for unworthy goals, and the almost total collapse of the aspirations of nearly all of the principal characters” (Nagel 113). The Great Gatsby is a story that represents people’s unachieved aspirations that lead to a sad existence and ultimately death. They are all trying to attain one thing, the American Dream. The American Dream is almost impossible to attain and that is why a lot of people failed when it came to living out the American Dream. In Fitzgerald’s, “The Great Gatsby”, Gatsby tries to attain the American Dream through Daisy throughout the whole novel but fails and is left heartbroken.

Nick and Gatsby’s relationship becomes especially clear at the end of the novel. In life, Gatsby appeared to have it all - wealth, status, an innumerable amount of friends, judging by the attendance of his parties. But in death, he was no one.

Deception is an act intentionally inflicted upon others in order to, satisfy one's wants and needs. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby deceives others for both his personal gain and love. While Jay Gatsby lives day by day deceiving others, he thinks not much of it. Gatsby sees himself has merely just moving on from the past and onto a new life. However, through his acts of deception he is stirring up a fatal situation. Fitzgerald portrays Jay Gatsby as a man who is wealthy and as some may say “living the life”. Jay Gatsby however, is merely a mask put on by James Gatz, the same man, to live the life he has always desired. Once settled in as Jay Gatsby, he starts to find it difficult to maintain an image expected by others. In this novel, James Gatz lives a false life as Jay Gatsby to satisfy his wants and needs, but has his act of deceiving others comes to an crumble Fitzgerald is able to showcase the struggle and cost of deception.

The first dream that does not get fulfilled is the one of Gatsby. He starts off as an underprivileged boy and struggles his way to the top. We make his acquaintance when he is on the top of his life. He is enjoying his big house and his vast wealth. The one thing he cannot have is his lovely Daisy. Gatsby’s story reflects the “classical” American dream: Anyone can make anything of himself/herself with just elbow grease, spirit and a whole lot of confidence. Jay loves Daisy and, sadly, she is the one thing which he cannot procure to his “perfect life”.

Lies are a treacherous thing, yet everyone tells a few lies during their lifetime. Deceit surrounds us all the time; even when one reads classic literature. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald makes dishonesty a major theme in his novel The Great Gatsby. The falsehoods told by the characters in this novel leads to inevitable tragedy when the truth is revealed.

Gatsby creates an identity for himself as a wealthy man, who lives a glamorous life by throwing huge parties, and is known by the most prestigious figures in New York. What the partygoers don’t realize is that the parties and his wealth is all in the hopes of rekindling with his love from the past, Daisy. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a young man named Jay Gatsby, who came from nothing, and built up to be everything that he had hoped and dreamed of being. However, his one dream did not become a reality due to misfortunate events. All the money in the world couldn’t make Gatsby happy, as he died as his true self, not the identity he created for himself.

With the physical death of Gatsby, Nick's hope for the realization of the American Dream is extinguished. He also has a feeling that Gatsby's faith and hope in his dream is fading away and that Gatsby is beginning to doubt, feeling lost and empty:

The ‘American Dream’; a thirst for wealth and success. Many want it, but few end up succeeding in achieving full success. Jay Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a fictitious version of someone who achieved success, and demonstrated his goals even from an early age. “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something.” (Fitzgerald, 116) Says Mr. Gatz, who was Jay Gatsby’s father. This quote demonstrates how Gatsby had always planned to become successful, even when he was at a young age. Another one of Gatsby’s ambitions is Daisy. Even though Daisy is married to Tom, he sets his hopes high as she is the love of his life. “He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs.” (Fitzgerald, 91) This quote demonstrates how infatuated Gatsby is with Daisy. He set his hopes so high that he wanted to be with somebody who is ‘Old Money’, which is perceived as a higher class; and, the person that

Gatsby's dream was doomed to failure because of his lack of principles. This shows a major flaw of the American Dream philosophy, just like the get rich quick schemes of today, Jay is trying to buy Daisy?s love, not earn it. Nick attempts to tell Jay that his dream is pointless by saying that the past cannot be relived. Jay quickly told Nick, "Yes you can, old sport." This shows the confidence that Jay has in fulfilling his American Dream, and his commitment to it.

In “The Great Gatsby” a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald discusses the American Dream and the Pursuit of Happiness. He expresses throughout the novel how the idea of the American Dream is romanized and ultimately impossible to achieve, which is shown through the careless and selfish social values and through the ‘easy’ money (made by Gatsby) causing this idea of the American Dream to become warped and and corrupted. The large contrast between the two social classes of the upper class- ‘old money’ and ‘new money’ is also expressed throughout the novel, where Jay Gatsby portrays the self-achieved newly rich, while Daisy and Tom Buchanan represent the aristocracy of the ‘old money’. Fitzgerald portrays this large contrast

Jay Gatsby’s sole purpose in life is to achieve the American Dream: to become a land owner, married to the love of his life, who live in comfort and abundance. However, he never gets everything he wants as his love for Daisy is not as fully reciprocated as he wishes it to be. His dream, and the one Nick pursues as well, are only dreams in the end. The culture of the time only gives empty fulfillment with no real substance. The people, like their dreams, are only illusions of what they want to be.

The moment Gatsby died you realise how sometimes no matter how hard you work for something; it still might not come to fruition and the same can be said about the American dream. Gatsby had made it his life purpose to win over Daisy and had sacrificed so much to achieve this goal and losing her was like losing the world. The man had waited many years, resorted to criminal activities and dedicated his life for the sole purpose of one day having Daisy at his side. Before his death, Gatsby put his

Even though Jay Gatsby seemed to have everything in the American Dream such as a large house, an elaborate car, and a high social standing, he still didn’t have everything he wanted. His American Dream was to get the love of his life, Daisy to fall back in love

Jay Gatsby is the epitome of an American dreamer. He has lived the past five years of his life reaching and stretching for the love of his life, the alluring Daisy Fay. He will stop at nothing to reach his dream, to make Daisy his wife and for her to love him like she did all those years ago. Due to Nick’s ambivalence towards Gatsby, it makes it difficult to distinguish if he reached his goal. But, it can be seen through his quick demise that Gatsby was a failure. Gatsby not only didn’t get the girl of his dreams, but he died for it. He spent his entire life working towards this image that he created for himself, and let it all crumble due to his stretching for perfection. The dream was so close that he could taste it, but he had it bitterly ripped out of his hands before he could grab it.