Reality In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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

In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald the concept of a reality is ever changing throughout the story. The ways that the characters treat and act towards each other is a cause of the inability to interpret the differences between reality and illusion. Through the lies, gossip, and empty speech of characters, F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the way that people treat each other when they do not understand the difference between reality and illusion.

The narrator Nick goes into detail about the history and the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. Gatsby and Daisy meet while Gatsby is in the army, Daisy growing up wealthy and Gatsby a poor young man has no right being with her, Gatsby gives Daisy a sense of security and they have a short relationship. One night when they are together they kiss and Fitzgerald writes, “She had caught a cold, and it made her voice huskier and more charming than ever, and Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor” (Fitzgerald 150). While poor people are struggling in life, Fitzgerald refers Daisy to money. Throughout Daisy’s life she doesn't experience, struggles and instead lives a life with money that gives her anything she wants. Gatsby on the other hand is poor and sees what money gives you, Gatsby sees that money puts someone above people like him. In reality Daisy isn't living a life she appears to be, she is using men in the army to fill her void of loneliness, if she doesn't have money the men wouldn't all be in love with her. She puts herself as a prized possession for them to have because she has money. Daisy at a young age, and when she gets older uses her money to assert herself over others.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is the story of the idiosyncratic millionaire Jay Gatsby. It is narrated by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner from Long Island who later moves to Manhattan. Gatsby’s life is organized around one desire, Daisy, the woman he loved. This desire leads him on an expedition from poverty to wealth, reuniting with his old love, and his eventual death. In his novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to portray the American Dream where people seek out self-gratification and pleasure. He captures the romance of the roaring twenties with the cars, money, illegal alcohol and the wildest parties one could imagine. Much like the character, Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), wasn’t born into the upper class. While Gatsby is from the lower class, Fitzgerald from the middle class, both end up becoming exceptionally rich, fall into the wildest and reckless life, and use their fortunes to win the love and approval of the women they once loved.

Gatsby does not realize that Daisy also represents the corruption that comes along with wealth. "Her voice is full of money, he suddenly said. That was it. I'd never understood it before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white Palace the King's daughter, the golden girl" (127). Gatsby becomes obsessed with Daisy and her voice that promised riches, but he does not realize that money was the only thing she offered. After listening to Tom, Nick describes Daisy and Tom as careless people who "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" (188). Daisy lets Gatsby take the blame for Myrtle’s death and shows no concern over Gatsby’s death showing her carelessness with people’s lives. Tom and Daisy’s actions indicate the corrupting effects that wealth can have on someone. They focus too much on appearance and materialism and ignore other people’s feelings and lives.

Have you ever wanted something so desperately that when it came true there was much of a disappointment? We’ve all been through a time when we envisioned something or someone as the perfect one we wanted it to be, despite the fact that it’s the opposite, and that’s the kind of love depicted by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book, The Great Gatsby, in which the main character, Jay Gatsby’s love and obsession on Daisy was predicted on reciprocal illusions.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby focuses on the excitement and adventure of the roaring twenties, a time filled with great economic success and parties said to last the whole decade. New to Long Island and New York, aspiring bond man Nick Carraway becomes infatuated with the lifestyle of his rich peers living the “American dream”. He gains interest in his mysterious neighbor Jay Gatsby, who lives in an incredible mansion and has a vast amount of wealth. Gatsby uses his money to try and steal his love, Daisy Buchanan from her unfaithful husband, Tom. Characters in The Great Gatsby are unhappy and unfulfilled with their lives due to greed manipulating their view of The American Dream. This skewed perception also affects their unreasonable life expectations and their narcissistic thoughts create a larger potential for failure, such as Gatsby’s extravagant plan to steal Daisy Buchanan.

However, Gatsby is not old money like Daisy, and does not see the difference between him and her. Gatsby’s bigger purchases like his car and his house are both very flashy and ostentatious, which is not the way of old money. Gatsby's car is bright yellow and makes a statement, unlike Tom, Daisy’s husband’s car, which is blue. The fact that Gatsby’s car is yellow also proves that he does not see the difference between old money and new money. Gold and it's display is one of the strongest differences between old money and new money that creates the division of classiness and flashiness. Clearly, Gatsby misinterprets the meaning of the color yellow and equivalates it with gold, which leads him to lie he is old money when in fact he is new money.

Daisy is one of the main characters whose obsession with wealth influences her life decisions. “ Her voice is full of money” (Fitzgerald 128). this quote shows that even people around Daisy can hear the longing for money in her voice. She is obsessed with money and thinks that if she has it she will achieve happiness. “ She wanted her life shaped now, immediately- and the decision must be made by some force-of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality-” (Fitzgerald 161). Daisy thought money and love would make her life more fulfilled and she believed it was the only way for it to be more adequate. She wanted her life to be perfect and she was willing to go with whoever could provide her more money and love. In Daisy’s marriage with Tom she felt a lack of love because of Tom’s mistress, which is why she was drawn to Gatsby once again. When Gatsby and Daisy first met he was lacking money but they were in love. Daisy was consumed by the idea that she must have both money and love in order to get happiness, that she ended

   The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel about one man's disenchantment with the American dream. In the story we get a glimpse into the life of Jay Gatsby, a man who aspired to achieve a position among the American rich to win the heart of his true love, Daisy Fay. Gatsby's downfall was in the fact that he was unable to determine that concealed boundary between reality and illusion in his life.

We look back in history in order to learn from our mistakes and to help society progress in the present and in the future. “The Great Gatsby” was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. Fitzgerald wrote this piece during the 1920s after WWI and it perfectly replicates the time period. The narrative captures the essence of the Jazz Age by depicting characters, showing power struggles and by defining the societal conflicts of the time. The novel tells us about different influences on the 20’s such as the Prohibition Act, the success of Wall Street, and aspects of the American Dream. “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald possesses the social constructs and ideas of the Roaring Twenties.

The Great Gatsby is a well written novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald where a midwesterner named Nick Carraway gets lured into the lavish and elegant lifestyle of his enigmatic neighbor, Jay Gatsby. As the story unravels, Nick Carraway begins to see through Gatsby's suave facade, only to find a desperate, heartbroken and lonely man who just wanted to relive the past with his one and only desire. This sensational love story takes place during the well known“Roaring Twenties” in New York City. The genre of this thrilling and exciting novel is historical fiction.

After World War I ended, America appeared to be a promise land of opportunities for people who are willing to work for it. However, for some, it corrupted them as they set to reach the American dream by acquiring wealth for the only purpose to pursue pleasure. The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald showing that no one is unaffected by the corruption. This novel is seen through the eyes of Nick Carraway, who moves from the mid-west to west-egg to chase his American dream. He observes the people and events around him as he follows the attempts of his neighbor Jay Gatsby, to gain back Daisy Buchanan’s love. Through the novel, characters appear to enjoy the freedom of the 1920s, but it comes to an end as characters are

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, provides a dark and pessimistic outlook into the American life style in 1922. Jay Gatsby, an American wealthy social identity, appears to have it all. But wealth, stature and an extravagant lifestyle seems not to be enough for Gatsby; he still yearns for his old idealistic love Daisy. In an ideal world this has the making of a great love story with a happy ending, but Fitzgerald chose to carry the story as a reflection of the American era the book is set in. An era consumed by appearances and excess and overall pursuit of the American dream.

Daisy grew up spoiled due to the vast wealth she obtained from being ‘old money’, which caused her to become selfish and self-centred. Daisy had become selfish to the point that she has an expensive and materialistic desire or want. When Gatsby shows Daisy his mansion, she gazed in awe as “she admired […] the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils […] and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate.”(Fitzgerald,97) Daisy, all along, does not have feelings for Gatsby, but more for his money and expensive possessions, as she revealed her true self during Tom and Gatsby’s argument. Daisy is selfish even if money was not involved, as she does not feel grateful for Gatsby taking the blame for her killing Myrtle Wilson. For instance, when Nick tells Gatsby about Mrytle dying, Gatsby replies “’Yes,’ he said after the moment, ‘but of course I’ll say I was.’” (Fitzgerald, 154) When Daisy cried in Gatsby’s mansion, she was crying about her actions in killing Myrtle, meanwhile she does not care about Gatsby’s act of chivalry. Furthermore, Daisy takes advantage of Gatsby by taking Tom along to Gatsby’s party, when Daisy was personally invited to essentially go alone. When Gatsby saw Tom appearing to his party, Gastby with a light temper has a conversation with Tom. He says “I know your wife’, continued Gatsby, almost aggressively.”