The Great Gatsby: Appearance Vs Reality
The Great Gatsby: Appearance VS Reality
F. Scott Fitzgerald presents multiple themes and characters that have an overlaying façade that they portray throughout the novel. Fitzgerald’s main representation of illusion is with James Gatz or Jay Gatsby as he is known in the time covered in the novel. Gatsby can also be considered to be the embodiment of illusion within the novel.
It is revealed that James Gatz created the persona of Jay Gatsby. As the novel continues it becomes apparent that James Gatz no longer exists and that Gatz has completely internalised Jay Gatsby making it his true identity. This appears to have damaging effects on Gatsby that we find out throughout the novel, however Gatsby appears to be in denial about these effects “Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!” In order for Gatsby to preserve his identity he has to keep up the façade of having a wealthy upbringing and that he attended Oxford. The reason as to why he invents this persona is evident from the beginning of being introduced to his character. Gatsby uses his phony identity to achieve a higher social status using his frivolous parties to prove his wealth “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” However it is implied that he actually got his money from illegal trading. The novel is set during prohibition and it is implied that Gatsby gained his money as a bootlegger and used drugstores as a front for his bootlegging. To illuminate how Gatsby created his new identity, Nick Carraway compares him to Jesus Christ, therefore a comparison can be made that Gatsby transformed himself into the ideal man that he envisioned, a “Platonic conception of himself”.
Gatsby influences other characters with his illusions of grandeur of the “American Dream”, to the extent that they become corrupted by wealth. Gatsby corrupts Daisy with the wealth he provides her and is ignorant to how he is influencing her “It makes me sad
F. Scott Fitzgerald presents multiple themes and characters that have an overlaying façade that they portray throughout the novel. Fitzgerald’s main representation of illusion is with James Gatz or Jay Gatsby as he is known in the time covered in the novel. Gatsby can also be considered to be the embodiment of illusion within the novel.
It is revealed that James Gatz created the persona of Jay Gatsby. As the novel continues it becomes apparent that James Gatz no longer exists and that Gatz has completely internalised Jay Gatsby making it his true identity. This appears to have damaging effects on Gatsby that we find out throughout the novel, however Gatsby appears to be in denial about these effects “Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!” In order for Gatsby to preserve his identity he has to keep up the façade of having a wealthy upbringing and that he attended Oxford. The reason as to why he invents this persona is evident from the beginning of being introduced to his character. Gatsby uses his phony identity to achieve a higher social status using his frivolous parties to prove his wealth “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” However it is implied that he actually got his money from illegal trading. The novel is set during prohibition and it is implied that Gatsby gained his money as a bootlegger and used drugstores as a front for his bootlegging. To illuminate how Gatsby created his new identity, Nick Carraway compares him to Jesus Christ, therefore a comparison can be made that Gatsby transformed himself into the ideal man that he envisioned, a “Platonic conception of himself”.
Gatsby influences other characters with his illusions of grandeur of the “American Dream”, to the extent that they become corrupted by wealth. Gatsby corrupts Daisy with the wealth he provides her and is ignorant to how he is influencing her “It makes me sad