Illusion and Reality in The Great Gatsby Essay

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

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is filled with many characters with different personalities. Jay Gatsby one of the main characters, though mysterious, he is determined to live his “American Dream”. The relationship Gatsby has with Daisy also affects the way he is. There are many different layers to Gatsby, and as we learn more about him everything starts to make more sense and fall into place. Jay Gatsby is portrayed as a mysterious figure in the beginning of the novel.

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.

First of all Fitzgerald embodies Gatsby as a failed American dream during the time period by presenting Gatsby as a person who achieves happiness and materialism with money. Gatsby wants to

The book The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it’s a narrative told from the perspective of Nick Carraway. He tells the story of the tragic life of Jay Gatsby and talks about the society of the wealthy people with high social status. He talks about the conflict between the two huge power Tom and Gatsby, due to their similarity in their money and social status, while they compete for dominance and masculinity by fighting over Daisy. Through Nick’s narration and his close relationship with Gatsby, the readers realize that the motive behind everything that Gatsby does is to win back Daisy’s heart to repeat the past, the first time when he fell in love with Daisy.

Arguably one of the finest works of American Literature, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays an satirical United States taking place in the early twenties in New York. The roaring twenties often portrayed a happy time immediately following World War 1 however, it gave of a false feeling of joy and many people were truly unhappy. Even though Nick Carraway shows a realistic image of himself, The Great Gatsby encompasses an illusion created in this time period and portrays this image through the atmosphere surrounding the actions of its characters; it ultimately shows a conflict against reality, identical to that of the early 20th century.

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 effects their unreasonable life expectations and their narcissistic thoughts create a larger potential for failure such as Gatsby’s extravagant plan to steal Daisy Buchanan.

The Great Gatsby is a story is about a man named Jay Gatsby who revalves his life around getting his one true love back, Daisy. Gatsby lived an eventful life by going from poverty to wealth and then eventually to death. This story is based on the thought of the American dream that hard work can lead you from rags to riches especially when you have something to work for. Throughout the story to prove this it is demonstrated by the use of foreshadowing, flashback, similes, and metaphors. All these played a role in developing the story along with making things interesting.

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes many universal and timeless themes to make the novel a classic. He emphasizes that most people lack insight and can not see the truth. To the majority of the society, the reality is an illusion that they create in their minds. The characters, events, setting, symbols and imagery contribute to establishing this theme.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, portrays the life of a man who is truly focused on one dream: to reclaim the love of his life. Fitzgerald illustrates the problem of being so single-minded through Gatsby’s ultimate demise. His slow evolution and reveal of the character of Gatsby leads to a devastating climax once his dream fails. Fitzgerald uses extended metaphor and sharp diction to depict Gatsby’s crumbling life in his last moments.

When Daisy and Gatsby later reunite, they are standing in Gatsby’s bedroom, looking out across the bay. Gatsby points out the green light and says “If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay” (92). He then says “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock” (92). Daisy realizes that Gatsby has been waiting for her and has been looking at the light for a long time, and then she takes his arm. Nick then has the thought that perhaps the green light is not as important as it once was, because Daisy and Gatsby are now linked arm in arm.

According to Cynthia Wu, no matter how many critical opinions there are on The Great Gatsby, the book basically deals with Gatsby's dream and his illusions (39). We find out from the novel that Jay Gatsby is not even a real person but someone that James Gatz invented. Wu also tells us that Gatsby has illusions that deal with romance, love, beauty, and ideals (39). Wu also points out that Gatsby's illusions can be divided into four related categories: he came from a rich upper class family, a never ending love between him and Daisy, money as the answer to every problem, and reversible time. Through Nick's narrations we can really see who this Jay Gatsby is and the reality to his illusions, and from this we can make our own decision

For Gatsby, the green light on the dock symbolized Daisy. Gatsby longed for Daisy and would go to look at the green light that is at her house from across the bay. The green light remained far away from Gatsby but still remained visible to him. This shows that Daisy was too far away for Gatsby to reach but yet he could still see her as a result of his love for her. Now that Daisy is with Gatsby, Nick states, “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.” This shows that the light has lost its symbolic meaning Gatsby. With their reunion bringing them closer, the distance between them in the symbol is no longer there.

The Great Gatsby, a novel that takes place in the 1920’s, portrays many different themes that contribute to the diversity of the characters lifestyles and the symbolic attributes hidden within the story. This book follows Gatsby, a man who lives his life striving for one goal: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, with whom he lost five years earlier. Gatsby has a significant change from poverty to wealth, reunites with Daisy, and eventually ends in death. The Great Gatsby is a classic, entertaining story of American fiction. It is a novel of love and tragedy, and captures the story of a cross-section of American society.

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.