Elements Of Idealism In The Great Gatsby

Jay Gatsby himself is an illusion, whose loyalty and naive personality make him a victim of senseless people who lack morals. Given the name James Gatz at birth, he “invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent” by taking his hopes and dreams and molding them into his new identity. He even goes as far as creating a new name, Jay Gatsby. He lived, and continues to live, the dreams of a seventeen year old boy. In reality, Gatsby creates a new, substantive persona from nothing. Parented by poor farmers in North Dakota, Gatsby relinquished his past by leaving his parents, poverty, and the limitations of being poor behind in order to become a successful, wealthy gentleman who desires to win over the
heart of Daisy Buchanan for a second time. Gatsby portrays the illusion of being the “son of some wealthy people in the middle-west” (66) with an education from Oxford. This facade allows Gatsby to present himself as a sophisticated, classy, and educated gentleman. However, towards the conclusion of the novel it becomes evident he is a young, naive man who is involved in illegal business deals. He is madly searching for an unattainable dream; to revive a relationship he had with Daisy five years ago. She was the driving force and inspiration Gatsby needed to obtain extreme success and wealth. However, he is blinded by this desire to impress and attract Daisy. As a result, shallow and morally deficient people take advantage of Gatsby. They arrive by the hundreds each week for Gatsby’s lavish parties, and his beloved Daisy even does the unconscionable and allows Gatsby to take the blame for the car accident which kills Myrtle. Sadly, Gatsby’s new money “friends” and Daisy, the love of his life, do not even have the decency to attend his funeral which demonstrates even further the shallow and materialistic nature of the people. Though Gatsby gives the illusion of being very sophisticated, his naive personality and his lack of ability to see past the illusions of others is what leads to his demise.
In addition to being an illusionist, Jay Gatsby believes the illusion that he can rekindle past relationships.
His previous romance with Daisy failed because Gatsby was not wealthy. As a consequence, he is determined and driven to reinvent himself by creating a new identity which will then impress and provide Daisy with all she longed for. Under the new persona of Jay Gatsby, along with an abundance of extremely substantive paychecks, Gatsby believes he can make amends with Daisy and the troubles in their previous relationship, and then create a future together by revitalizing their past relationship. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is of the flawed illusion that one can repeat the past, and when Nick tells Gatsby that it is simply impossible, Gatsby incredulously implies, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” (100). It is this immature and fruitless mindset which ultimately leads to Gatsby’s demise. He is asking Daisy to erase the past five years of her life with her husband, Tom. He wants her to tell Tom she never loved him, and finally relive the years with Gatsby as they did in Louisville. Because Gatsby believes money can repair their previous problems and win over Daisy’s heart for the second time, Gatsby quickly begins to truly believe that money can buy happiness. He is convinced their relationship will blossom again and ultimately lead to happiness once Daisy recognizes how much wealth Gatsby has acquired. However, in most cases money cannot buy happiness. Therefore, though Gatsby is an illusionist himself, he is also a victim of illusion. He is completely blinded by his own illusions and, as a result, is unable to recognize the reality that Daisy has changed and is not the same girl she was five years
ago. Gatsby’s impossible ideal of Daisy ultimately leaves him disillusioned and disappointed when he comes to realize she is corrupt and destructive. Prior to meeting Daisy for the second time, his illusion of her is one of innocence, morality and purity; qualities she possessed in Louisville. However, reality strikes Gatsby when he comes to recognize that Daisy is materialistic and shallow, and possesses a misleading “‘voice [which] is full of money’” (108). While Daisy truly loved Gatsby, she chooses Tom as her husband rather than Gatsby because Tom is extremely wealthy, something Gatsby could not provide. Daisy’s actions represent the fictitious and corrupted qualities she obtains, as well as her motivation for money. Interestingly enough, Daisy’s name is symbolic because the physical characteristics of the flower, Daisy, have white petals and a yellow center. The outer white petals represent the appearance of being virtuous, upright, and morally correct. Yet, the yellow center of the Daisy represents immoral and corrupt qualities. Similarly, Daisy masks herself with the illusion of being angelic like the petals of the flower. However, she is strongly warped and immoral, like the yellow center, by the money and materialism of the 1920s. Therefore, “Daisy tumbled short of [Gatsby’s] dreams…..because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (153) that Daisy is still the untouched and pure girl he met in Louisville. Despite Gatsby idolization of Daisy as a symbol of perfection, innocence, and wholesomeness, her greatest interest is in money and material items. Her shallowness and how she “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into [her] money or [her] vast carelessness or whatever” (153) is the reality which disappoints and, ultimately, changes Gatsby’s outlook. The illusion does not compliment his idealization. In the end, Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship is tarnished by Gatsby’s inaccurate illusions of Daisy, loosely based on reality, but also largely based upon unrealistic hopes and dreams.