Examples Of Disillusionment In The Great Gatsby

Illusion and Disillusionment in The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald examines the negative consequences of an individual’s idealistic view of the world and how the destruction of that idealization can impact them. One of the most notable examples of a character with an idealized world is the novel’s protagonist, Jay Gatsby, who becomes dependent on his idealized version of both his romantic interest and himself. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby as a representation of the dangers of mental illusion and the loss of such illusions.

Jay Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy Buchanan clouds his judgment of reality and removes him from his own identity. “He hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according

Gatsby had spent so much time and effort pursuing this unrealistic view of Daisy that it became impossible for her to live up to these expectations. He never made a real effort to find out who she actually is, or even simply respect that she had created a life apart from him. It’s unsurprising that he is disappointed by reality; he has been living in an elaborate dream, deluding himself to believe that his plan to win her over will work just because he wants it to, and ignoring the real factors that would break this illusion until it is broken for him. Gatsby is aware of the factors playing against him when it comes to his dream of being with Daisy, such as her marriage and commitment to her family, but he creates a mental version of events that serve him when he cannot accept this reality. Subsequently, he suffers from realizing that his imagined perfect version of Daisy and their perfect life together is not real or reasonable. Having been apart from Daisy for five years, Gatsby had plenty of time to build up an image of her that was inaccurate and removed from the real person. Gatsby’s idealization of Daisy caused him to place unrealistic expectations onto her which resulted in his own disappointment when she did not match his

Gatsby used to live in his dream where it was comfortable and “warm”, but when he realized it would be unattainable, he began to see the world in a different way. He started to care less about the world because of the loss of his dream, which made him see it as colder; he was essentially punished for removing himself from reality and depending on unrealistic fantasies. Due to how encompassed he became in this dream, he grieved when the reality behind it became clear to him. After this realization, Gatsby sees harshness or disgust in things that may have once seemed beautiful– “He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky. . .and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass” (161). Fitzgerald symbolizes disillusionment through Gatsby’s material world suddenly feeling unfamiliar and revealing his vulnerability beneath the mask. Without Daisy and the persona he had created, he could no longer rely on his idealized perception of the world and was left feeling insecure and without hope. Disillusionment and the destruction of idealization causes an ultimate degradation of the sense of self and the