In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby deceives everyone around him concerning the legitimacy behind his wealth, claiming that he had become affluent through respectable means. Gatsby’s deception is intended to regain Daisy Buchanan’s love, which he had long-missed ever since before he went to war. However, with this deception, Fitzgerald makes clear the hypocrisy and deceit present in the 1920’s – deceit not only within relationships and interactions but also in the very mantra of the United States, the American dream. Fitzgerald reveals his views with Gatsby’s superfluous luxury, which he prominently displays, whether in the form of lavish parties or a grandiose house. He takes every opportunity to make his wealth known; for example, he often offers a multitude (and often excessive) of favors to Nick, implicitly desperate to make his wealthy reputation spread across the city. Although these ostentations seem purely to appear magnanimous, powerful, and enjoyable, as we progress through the novel, we find that Gatsby’s true motivation is to impress Daisy so much that she falls back in love with him. This is evidenced by his requesting Nick to set up …show more content…
At the beginning of the novel, we are lead to believe that Gatsby is simply an admirable, highly-accomplished, extremely kind individual. Later, when we learn his true aim, we believe him to be love-struck individual, one to sympathize, even empathize, with. However, once Gatsby’s deception is revealed, his illegally earned wealth, we are repulsed by his lack of morality. Indeed, his desire to be the object of Daisy’s love was so strong that it effaced much of the honesty within him. Gatsby finds no qualms about lying, even in such an intimate action as love, causing the readers to reconsider his