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Lies In The Great Gatsby Essay

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In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals that lies may be used to protect one’s self from the truth. This is best proven through affairs, love, and lies one makes to cover up their life. In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald describes a variety of lies from everyone in the book. For example, Daisy lies about her love for both Tom and Gatsby. Another example, could be Tom having his affair with Myrtle and Wilson later discovering Myrtle’s affair. Lastly, Gatsby creates a lie about who he is, where he comes from, and what he does. This is all a diversion from the truth to cover up what he is doing and where he comes from. Lying hurts people, but sometimes lying can protect them from how painful the truth actually is. However, the …show more content…

“I love you now-isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.” She began to sob helplessly. “I did love him once- but I loved you too”’ (Fitzgerald 132). Daisy tells Gatsby, she loves him and only him, but she forgets to mention her loving Tom as well. In the hands of affairs, love goes right along. In a person’s life they may lie about an affair or love, but they also may lie about who they are and where they came from. Overall, They may have a reason for lying, or they just want to make themselves be seen as a way they are not. Life is often portrayed in a way that one lives it. Gatsby’s father praises him for being wealthy and successful, but he does not know the truth behind his wealth and how he earned it (Fitzgerald 168). As a parent, one is suppose to love their child no matter what. It is easy to love them when all you hear about is how successful they are, but not for what one thinks. It is not easy to trust someone who can not make up their mind about what they want to tell people. Gatsby easily gives himself away because he thinks of a lie, he is going to tell someone, but since he has it planned someone can easily catch him in the lie: ‘“I thought you inherited your money.” “I did, old sport,” he said automatically, “but lost most of it in the big panic-the panic of war.” I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered, “That’s my affair”, before he

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