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.
James Gatz did not come from a family of lavish wealth like those of West and East Egg, so when he gained his wealth working his way up the ladder of success, he wanted no ties with the man that he once was. He changed his name just as he had changed his life, to show that he could control who he was. Gatsby’s attitude toward wishing to control everything is pervasive throughout the novel and ties into Gatsby’s overwhelming desire for his love: Daisy Buchanan.
Jay Gatsby not only wants to have Daisy as his very own, but he also desires to protect her. At a turning point in the novel, Daisy is driving Gatsby's
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He has the illusion that all of his deceptions over the years have made him untouchable, and everyone seems to agree with him. His pastries are the most lavish, his home the largest, and his car the fastest. He is what every man in 1920s America wants to become; he is the literal embodiment of the American Dream.
Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows the corruption and decline of the American Dream. Yes, Jay Gatsby started from the bottom and ended up at the top, but his rise was built upon mountains of lies and deceptions. If Gatsby is meant to represent the American Dream, the reader can assume that the American Dream had become corrupt; that it could only be achieved through illegal deals and lies that got him the life he wanted but didn’t deserve. The American Dream through Gatsby is built upon deception and sooner or later, the truth must