Lie In The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby Essay To be great is to be giving, honest and being devoted to doing the right thing. A person that is great is selfless, and puts others before himself. A great person does not lie or do wrong to others to benefit himself. In the novel The Great Gatsby by FitzGerald, the character Gatsby is the exact opposite of great. The title itself is merely a sarcastic statement and readers realize that as they continue reading the novel. Gatsby is not great because he is self-centered, obsessive and a liar.
The Great Gatsby is shown to be self-centered in many parts of the book. Readers can interpret this when the text states, “‘I want to get the grass cut,’ Said Gatsby. We both looked at the grass, there was a sharp line where my …show more content…
ragged lawn ended and the darker, well kept expanse of his began. I suspected that he meant my grass,” (Fitzgerald 89). This passage illustrates that Gatsby is not only being rude, he also only wants Nick’s grass to be cut so that Daisy will like it and it will leave a good impression of Gatsby on Daisy. This makes Gatsby self-centered because he is doing this for his own reasons, not because he wants Nick to be happy. Nor does he ask Nick if he can get his grass cut, he just assumes that he can. This also makes him self-centered because he doesn’t care about Nick’s ideas or feelings on this topic; he just cares about what it is that he wants. Another time when Gatsby is being self-centered is when Gatsby uses Nick to get Daisy. He is extremely nice to him, he offers him to make more money by working with him, he takes him in his brand new car and he sends a chauffeur to especially invite Nick to his party. However, he only does this because he wants something from Nick. He wants Nick to help him win Daisy back from Tom. He doesn’t do all the nice things for Nick because he wants to develop a strong friendship; he only does this for his own reasons, which makes him very self-centered. Lastly, Gatsby’s self-centered personality is portrayed in the novel when he dies and no one comes to his funeral. Although it is a very sad event in the novel, it portrays that no one cared about Gatsby, because Gatsby never cared about anyone. He was self-centered and only cared about himself and never took out the time of his day to do something nice for someone else. His self-centeredness left him alone at the time of need.
Another trait that makes Gatsby not great is that he is obsessive. Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy and repeating the past he had with her. This is clearly illustrated in the passage by Gatsby reaction when Daisy states, “Oh, you want too much! She cried to Gatsby. “‘I love you now, isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past…. I did love him once, but I loved you too.’ Gatsby’s eyes opened at closed. ‘You love me too?’ he repeated,” (132).This illustrates that Gatsby is obsessed with reliving the past with Daisy. He wants to Daisy to feel about him the way she did five years ago. The fact that Daisy fell in love with her husband Tom, after Gatsby, shocks Gatsby. In his mind, Daisy only loved him and she just settled with Tom because she got tired of waiting for Gatsby. Gatsby’s obsessive dream of recreating the past with Daisy is shattered when he finds out that she also loved Tom. Another time when Gatsby is obsessive is when he shows Daisy her pictures from five years ago that he has. This shows that Gatsby was obsessed with Daisy. While Daisy had moved on with her life and married Tom and also had a child with him, Gatsby never moved on and kept pictures of her for five years. Instead of decreasing over time, Gatsby’s love for Daisy turned into a strange obsession. Another time in the novel when Gatsby obsesses over Daisy is when he stops throwing his extravagant and large parties. Initially Gatsby started throwing parties in the hope that Daisy may appear at one of them, and see Gatsby’s luxurious life. However, when Daisy does show up at one of his parties, she doesn’t like it and Gatsby, all of a sudden, just stops throwing parties; just because of Daisy. The fact that Gatsby spent so much money and time on his parties in the hope that Daisy might show up and that he stopped throwing parties because Daisy didn’t them shows how obsessed he was with Daisy.
Gatsby is a liar because he lied many times in the novel.
This is shown in the text when Gatsby states, “‘I’ll tell you God’s truth. I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West, all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition,’” (65). This passage reveals that Gatsby is lying. He is in fact, not the son of wealthy people, his parents were middle class farmers; and none of his family members or ancestors ever went to Oxford, because they were all too poor. Also when Nick asks him where in the Middle West is he from, he answers San Francisco, which is nowhere near the Middle West, which proves that he made up the whole thing. Also, at one point in the story Gatsby accidently tells Nick that it only took him three years to gather up money to buy the mansion. Nick then questions him and says that he thought Gatsby inherited the money. Gatsby quickly realizes his mistakes and tries correcting it by saying he lost all the money in the panic of war. However, that makes no sense at all, and it is proven that Gatsby is lying to Nick. Another time Gatsby lies to Nick is when Nick asks him about what business he does. Gatsby’s instinct was to reply to Nick with a sharp response and tell him that it is none of his business. However, he realizes that he has been rude and he corrects himself and says that he was in the drug and oil business, but he is not in either now. At this point Gatsby is clearly lying to Nick because in reality he is doing illegal business with Myer Wolshiem that he doesn’t want anyone to find out about. Gatsby not only is a liar, he is also involved in serious crime and does many wrong
things.
In conclusion, being great can mean many things; however, it mainly means not being selfish, not lying to anyone, and not doing the wrong things. To be great a person must be selfless and put the needs of others before him, he must honest and do the right thing. The character Gatsby from the novel The Great Gatsby, is in reality not great at all. He is a selfish man who is also obsessive and dishonest.
The Great Gatsby is shown to be self-centered in many parts of the book. Readers can interpret this when the text states, “‘I want to get the grass cut,’ Said Gatsby. We both looked at the grass, there was a sharp line where my …show more content…
ragged lawn ended and the darker, well kept expanse of his began. I suspected that he meant my grass,” (Fitzgerald 89). This passage illustrates that Gatsby is not only being rude, he also only wants Nick’s grass to be cut so that Daisy will like it and it will leave a good impression of Gatsby on Daisy. This makes Gatsby self-centered because he is doing this for his own reasons, not because he wants Nick to be happy. Nor does he ask Nick if he can get his grass cut, he just assumes that he can. This also makes him self-centered because he doesn’t care about Nick’s ideas or feelings on this topic; he just cares about what it is that he wants. Another time when Gatsby is being self-centered is when Gatsby uses Nick to get Daisy. He is extremely nice to him, he offers him to make more money by working with him, he takes him in his brand new car and he sends a chauffeur to especially invite Nick to his party. However, he only does this because he wants something from Nick. He wants Nick to help him win Daisy back from Tom. He doesn’t do all the nice things for Nick because he wants to develop a strong friendship; he only does this for his own reasons, which makes him very self-centered. Lastly, Gatsby’s self-centered personality is portrayed in the novel when he dies and no one comes to his funeral. Although it is a very sad event in the novel, it portrays that no one cared about Gatsby, because Gatsby never cared about anyone. He was self-centered and only cared about himself and never took out the time of his day to do something nice for someone else. His self-centeredness left him alone at the time of need.
Another trait that makes Gatsby not great is that he is obsessive. Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy and repeating the past he had with her. This is clearly illustrated in the passage by Gatsby reaction when Daisy states, “Oh, you want too much! She cried to Gatsby. “‘I love you now, isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past…. I did love him once, but I loved you too.’ Gatsby’s eyes opened at closed. ‘You love me too?’ he repeated,” (132).This illustrates that Gatsby is obsessed with reliving the past with Daisy. He wants to Daisy to feel about him the way she did five years ago. The fact that Daisy fell in love with her husband Tom, after Gatsby, shocks Gatsby. In his mind, Daisy only loved him and she just settled with Tom because she got tired of waiting for Gatsby. Gatsby’s obsessive dream of recreating the past with Daisy is shattered when he finds out that she also loved Tom. Another time when Gatsby is obsessive is when he shows Daisy her pictures from five years ago that he has. This shows that Gatsby was obsessed with Daisy. While Daisy had moved on with her life and married Tom and also had a child with him, Gatsby never moved on and kept pictures of her for five years. Instead of decreasing over time, Gatsby’s love for Daisy turned into a strange obsession. Another time in the novel when Gatsby obsesses over Daisy is when he stops throwing his extravagant and large parties. Initially Gatsby started throwing parties in the hope that Daisy may appear at one of them, and see Gatsby’s luxurious life. However, when Daisy does show up at one of his parties, she doesn’t like it and Gatsby, all of a sudden, just stops throwing parties; just because of Daisy. The fact that Gatsby spent so much money and time on his parties in the hope that Daisy might show up and that he stopped throwing parties because Daisy didn’t them shows how obsessed he was with Daisy.
Gatsby is a liar because he lied many times in the novel.
This is shown in the text when Gatsby states, “‘I’ll tell you God’s truth. I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West, all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition,’” (65). This passage reveals that Gatsby is lying. He is in fact, not the son of wealthy people, his parents were middle class farmers; and none of his family members or ancestors ever went to Oxford, because they were all too poor. Also when Nick asks him where in the Middle West is he from, he answers San Francisco, which is nowhere near the Middle West, which proves that he made up the whole thing. Also, at one point in the story Gatsby accidently tells Nick that it only took him three years to gather up money to buy the mansion. Nick then questions him and says that he thought Gatsby inherited the money. Gatsby quickly realizes his mistakes and tries correcting it by saying he lost all the money in the panic of war. However, that makes no sense at all, and it is proven that Gatsby is lying to Nick. Another time Gatsby lies to Nick is when Nick asks him about what business he does. Gatsby’s instinct was to reply to Nick with a sharp response and tell him that it is none of his business. However, he realizes that he has been rude and he corrects himself and says that he was in the drug and oil business, but he is not in either now. At this point Gatsby is clearly lying to Nick because in reality he is doing illegal business with Myer Wolshiem that he doesn’t want anyone to find out about. Gatsby not only is a liar, he is also involved in serious crime and does many wrong
things.
In conclusion, being great can mean many things; however, it mainly means not being selfish, not lying to anyone, and not doing the wrong things. To be great a person must be selfless and put the needs of others before him, he must honest and do the right thing. The character Gatsby from the novel The Great Gatsby, is in reality not great at all. He is a selfish man who is also obsessive and dishonest.