Materialism And Illusion In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

When I was in elementary school I was friends with what you would call the “popular” crowd. I thought it was the best thing and I would be with the cool crowd and help me not to become the target. At first I thought I was cool and they were nice because they were my friends, but in reality after being friends with them and hanging out with them for awhile I came to realize they were actually mean people and talked bad about people but was nice to their face. In the story The Great Gatsby i feel as if i relate to Nick as he learns that the people he's been around for a while aren't really the people he thought they were. By putting together the motifs of materialism and lies and illusion. F. Scott Fitzgerald gives an expression of a powerful theme that connects with the lesson I learned. In the beginning of the story Nick goes into town with Tom and they end up at Myrtle's apartment who is Tom's mistress. That's when Nick starts to comprehend that Myrtle is this woman who thinks she has all this money and prestique when in all
reality she lives in a apartment and her husband Mr.Wilson does not make a lot of money. “ She let four taxicabs drive away before she selected a new one” Nick doesn't really have a lot of respect for Myrtle. Later on Nick finds that Tom is lying to Myrtle about Daisy when Catherine tells him that Daisy is Catholic and that's why Tom won't leave Daisy. “ It's really his wife that's keeping them apart. She's a Catholic and they don't believe in divorce” Catherine tells Nick. As Nick knew that Daisy was not a Catholic “ Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie”. This lesson is with both of the motifs for that reason is why Nick starts questioning the people he's hanging around. Later on towards the rising action Fitzgerald continues to show the two motifs. Nick invites Daisy over for tea with Gatsby as they reconnect. Gatsby then invites them over to his house to show Daisy around. She is suddenly so amazed by Gatsby's house, as they walk in Nick starts to see how amazed she is and in awe. “ That huge place there?” Daisy cried. That's when the materialism comes in when Gatsby shows Daisy his room as she sits on the bed he explains all his clothes. “ I've got a man in England who buys me clothes.” As Gatsby starts throwing them down to Daisy covering her in all these silk and sheer linen shirts. “ They're such beautiful shirts” as Daisy starts sobbing “ It makes me sad because I've never seen such- such beautiful shirts before.” Nick then comes to the conclusion that Daisy really just loves the fact of all the money Gatsby can give her and Gatsby is trying to win her over with money. Later on Nick wonders if Daisy falls short of his dreams “ not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.” As the climax is built, Nick comes to realize that Daisy is really a bootlegger and Jordan and Tom are just as bad.
In the hotel scene of the book they all go into town to a hotel and are trying to cool off when a conversation rises with Tom and Gatsby. As Gatsby is waiting for Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him. Nick starts to realize that Daisy isn't going to leave Tom especially when she finds out that Gatsby is a criminal. As this shows the motif of lies as Gatsby is lying to Tom about where he gets his money. Tom says to Gatsby “But you've got something on now that Walter’s afraid to tell me about.” As later on Tom tells Daisy to go on ahead home with Gatsby right there in the scene Nick knows that Tom is confident that Daisy isn't going to leave him. Lies and illusion fits here as Tom is confident that Daisy won't leave because his money is not criminal money and Gatsby's is. “ You two start on home, Daisy, in Mr.Gatsby's
car.” In conclusion, Fitzgerald really shows the motifs of materialism and lies and illusion. It shows a theme that even though having an amount of material things can make a illusion so it seems you have people that care about you or like you when they really don't. As Nick discovers that the people he thought they were turned out to be the people they really weren't and they all just connected because of lies and riches. Just because you have all these nice things and wealthy materials, it doesn't mean you have a real connection with people it may be just because you share the fact of having money.