ipl-logo

Deception And Identity In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

914 Words4 Pages

Dylan
Ms. Lohmeyer
Communications
10 February 2023
The Great Gatsby
Deception and Identity:By Dylan Edson Deception and Identity are key themes in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. James Gatz was an ordinary poor farmer but he convinced himself he was more and built a world of lies and tried to live up to the name he created for himself as Jay Gatsby. He mastered deception to give himself the identity he wanted people to see. Gatsby made his identity uncertain yet notorious, everyone knew him, but nobody knew why. Gatsby's lies motivated him to be who he wanted to be, and changed who he was as a person and how he acted and portrayed himself to the world. J Gatsby was motivated by a drunken millionaire that changed his life …show more content…

He created an identity with the help of Dan Cody that got him into the finer places in life. Deceiving the people that he was not just some dirt poor farmer. He kept deceiving but had the act to back it up, he did not have to make everything true just believable, and that is what he did to win the attention of one of the most beautiful people in the world, Daisy. Unfortunately he could not continue to be with Daisy because of war and was going to come back to her afterwards but she had married and moved on. When Gatsby returned from war did everything he could to regain her attention, throwing parties the size of festivals right across the water from her house. Gatsby tells Daisy that he has done everything for her. F Scott Fitzgerald pg. 97 This was not a lie Gatsby’s life work was to be good enough for Daisy. He had deceived to get her attention once he could do it again. Alas they were together again but with something in the way by the name of Tom Buchanan. Tom, along with many others, did not buy into Gatsby’s …show more content…

There was always speculation, when you are living a lie there is bound to be people that do not believe you. Gatsby made an identity so that people would treat him a certain way. Some people treated him with respect, others with unsurety, and some, like Tom, of utter disgust. Something gatsby could not control was the wide range of reactions to his large rise in economic growth. He could not lie his way out of doubters and nonbelievers. Having an identity made upon deception makes life a lot harder, you have to be meticulous and caring to make sure you keep up an act. Gatsby was caught up in his deception and after the deception of just one nonbeliever Gatsby had lost his life. Some people even thought Gatsby was a murderer. F Scott Fitsgerald pg. 53 Gatsby could not control what everyone thought so he lived in danger and lived carefully. Even before he was famous his lies led his life, some came to life and some were just an act that had to be kept

Show More
Related
833 Words | 4 Pages

This illustrate how cheap she is and liar. Another critical thing in the novel is Gatsby's betrayal to himself. Growing up Jay Gatsby constantly attempted his best to improve as a man. Gatsby had numerous deep desires and had arranged out ways so he could improve as a man. He spent his life on pursuing empty dreams.

Read More
739 Words | 3 Pages

Skylar Placek Ms. Anderson English III Honors 8 March 2023 The Great Gatsby Essay Throughout the novel, “The Great Gatsby”, the character Jay Gatsby puts on a false front on many occasions. He continuously tries to deceive many of the characters in the book and lies about numerous things. These fabrications of his brought about many negative repercussions and even resulted in his own death.

Read More
644 Words | 3 Pages

He tried to cover up his past life by giving them a false name. “ Jay Gatz - that was really, or at least legally his name” (75). This shows that Gatsby lied about his name and told them something totally different to make other people think otherwise about his name. “ The idea was that they were lying to someone that they could potentially deceive” ( The lying game). It also shows that Gatsby can somewhat not be trusted because if he will lie about his name he would lie about anything else.

Read More
1132 Words | 5 Pages

Love and Wealth Through Lies Truth, Lies, and Storytelling In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby The only thing worse than a liar is someone who believes that lies will give the perfect fulfillment for life. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby uses lies and deception to ultimately end the life of Gatsby. The Great Gatsby thoroughly connects truth, lies, and storytelling through the tales of James Gatz and his path throughout life and relationships.

Read More
442 Words | 2 Pages

In order to impress Daisy and gain her attention, Gatsby created an entirely different image of himself through an exceedingly large amount of lies. The personality of Jay Gatsby was taught to him by a well known, rich man by the name of James Gatz. Who showed him the ways of taking on the roll as a well- educated and respectful gentleman, in order for him to look acceptable for the love of his life Daisy. When the truth is that in reality, Jay Gatsby was born into a family of poor, low-life farmers in North Dakota. Jay Gatsby took on the persona of James Gatz because he felt as if he deserved a lot more out of life than what his poor family could provide for him.

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

Deception often has its roots in self-preservation. In many cases. The individual does not intend to help or harm others through his dishonesty but rather aims to protect his own personal safety by lying. This is the case for young James Gatz in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, who deceives everyone he meets and assumes a new persona to match his lavish, new life: Jay Gatsby.

Read More
1210 Words | 5 Pages

The Fake Persona of Gatsby: Deception for Self-protection as well as Naïve Love in The Great Gatsby Deception is common in many stories as well as real life. There may be various purpose for people to hide their real persona when socializing with others. In F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby deceives everyone he meets about his past. He makes a fake persona regarding his education, business as well as family background by pretending himself to be a well-educated gentle man despite actually coming from a poor family in Mid-west and becoming rich through illegal affairs such as distributing illegal alcohol and trading stolen securities.

Read More
1336 Words | 6 Pages

As said by other critics, “Jay Gatsby's determination to establish a new identity for himself sets him apart from the other characters in the text” (Verderame). Gatsby grew up as a poor farmer boy. Born into poverty from the beginning, Gatsby cared little for his family and was determined to leave them behind for a new life. This tragic past encourages Gatsby to entirely start a new life by changing his identity and personality before the reader is even introduced to the character. “So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (98).Critics say, “In doing so, Gatsby has proven to himself that he can successfully change the story of his past” (Scisco).

Read More
1191 Words | 5 Pages

During Gatsby's party when no one knows who Gatsby is, Nick and the members of the groups discuss the many things that they have heard about Gatsby. To their surprise many of them don't match up, such as they heard he was, “‘a german spy during the war’” ( Fitzgerald22) or that “‘ he told me he once was an oxford man, I don't think he went ‘“(25) , and they think “‘he killed a man’”(23). Gatsby telling each of them different stories like how he was an Oxford man and portraying himself falsely leads many of the party members to doubting him as they hear different and conflicting stories mixed with other rumors . By telling conflicting stories that don't match up Gatsby makes them trust him less and distance themselves from him even though the stories were designed to make him look better.

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel “The Great Gatsby”, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates a mysterious character that catches the attention of all his readers. The bootlegger? The WW1 hero? Second cousin to the devil? Jay Gatsby.

Read More
1940 Words | 8 Pages

Gatsby doesn’t really show what he really is to the public, and that makes him a different person from what the others think of

Read More
1373 Words | 6 Pages

The seclusion and wonder that shrouded Gatsby stems from his mysterious characterization that plagues him with gossip, rumors, and fake relationships throughout the entirety of the book. The mystique that Gatsby creates for himself has an enormous impact on the relationships he builds, or lack thereof, as this charisma casts Gatsby in a light of charm,majesty, as well as doubt throughout the entire

Read More
508 Words | 3 Pages

It always seems that lying is an easy way out, rather than explaining and convincing other people with honesty. Even before Gatsby appears in the novel, wild rumors circulate about him; however, surprisingly they do not affect him at all. This shows that when humans get in the habit of lying, it is hard to understand and trust them. It is difficult to know what to expect of them. In chapter eight, when Gatsby narrates to Nick the first time he meets Daisy he states that“he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself-that he was fully able to take care of her.

Read More
808 Words | 4 Pages

From an early age Gatsby was obsessed with self-improvement. His father even shows Nick the book in which held Gatsby’s schedule for self-improvement. Gatsby wanted to be more than what he already was. When Gatsby changed his name, he was not doing it to hurt anyone. Gatsby only wanted his name to

Read More
1659 Words | 7 Pages

Characters throughout The Great Gatsby present themselves with mysterious and questionable morals. Affairs, dishonest morals, criminal professions, weak boundaries and hypocritical views are all examples of immorality portrayed in The Great Gatsby. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, lies and mischief fill the lives of many and significantly damage numerous relationships. First, Jay Gatsby's whole life is consumed into a massive lie. His personality traits set him apart from others and the attention he accumulates motivates him to falsely portray his life.

Read More

More about Deception And Identity In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Related Topics

Open Document