Examples Of Disillusionment In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the many relationships between the 1920s, the American Dream, and disillusionment. Fitzgerald narrates the story as Nick, a man living in the 1920s moving east in order to become a stockbroker. Nick lives on the West Egg of Long Island next to Jay Gatsby, a very rich, powerful man with a mysterious past who will do anything in order to obtain the love of Daisy. Daisy is Nick’s cousin who lives across from Gatsby on East Egg and seeks seemingly nothing but money and power. Nick acts differently around everyone, in an attempt to “get ahead” in life and prosper. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays in his novel, The Great Gatsby, how people put on facades to hide their imperfections in order to

While Nick speaks of his father, he describes how something he said caused him to think differently, “In consequence, I’m inclined to reserve all judgements, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also has made me the victim of not a few veteran bores” (1). We are given an insight into how Nick is able to show or withhold certain parts of himself until enough information is gathered to pass judgement on someone. He will act differently in order to gain the trust of another, or to simply learn more about a person. This is shown clearly in the way Nick acts when he is with Tom versus with Gatsby. While talking to Gatsby, Nick is generally more reserved and observant of Gatsby’s actions whereas with Tom he questions them more. Because Nick reserves judgement, he learns a lot about others but he often never tells others what he learns, making personal gains. If Nick had shared the information he learned with others, multiple illusions the characters possessed would have been ruined. Nick puts on a mask in order to learn more about other people and to use this to make personal

The two most prominent masks he wears are when he is with Daisy and Nick. While with Nick, Gatsby tends to be this flamboyant character that feels the need to prove himself and his life to Nick in order to obtain a favor. Once again the use of masks for personal gain appears. When Gatsby is with Daisy, he is extremely mellow and content as he has obtained the thing that he had desired and worked for for five years. This mellow, lovey mask is soon replaced by one of possessiveness and paranoia. After a party where he invited Daisy to come he speaks with Nick about his thoughts: “‘She didn’t like it,’ he insisted. ‘She didn’t have a good time’” (108). Gatsby feels defeated after he realizes that the facade he had been putting on to impress Daisy had failed. No longer is he optimistic about his act working, because he insists that she didn’t like it. This destroys him and massively hurts the illusion of Daisy that he had been attempting to catch with his elaborate facade. This signals his attempt to pursue her even more and do anything in his power to attain her love. These “masks,” or facades lead to the uncovering of his true past and to his eventual