Examples Of Lying In The Great Gatsby

Lying is a part of human nature, many want to seem more interesting than they truly are. People will lie and go out of their way to achieve this goal. Many, like the characters in The Great Gatsby, put up a front to gain respect and attention; when really they are nothing more than deceitful liars. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the actions of the main characters to expose their real, blundered personalities. Jay Gatsby stands for the new money side of the American Dream, as well as how deceiving it can be. Whilst Nick is attending his first so-called Gatsby party, he runs into a put together man, who is a little rough on the edges. “I was looking at an elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made”(Fitzgerald 179). Towards the end of the story Nicks informs us about Tom and Daisy's blatant disregard for others. Throughout the book, we learn more and more about Daisy’s flawed personality. “Daisy is responsible for the hit-and-run, but she never tells Tom how Myrtle was killed. Gatsby immediately offers to take responsibility for the accident, and Daisy allows him to do so”(Nagel #6). To maintain her perfect reputation and appearance, Daisy lets Gatsby take the blame for the murder. His love for her is so robust that he would do anything for her. However Daisy could only love Gatsby under the right circumstances. “If Daisy's love for Gatsby is to endure, it must exist in non-Platonic, physical terms. It must exist in the world of money”(Lathbury #8). Gatsby must meet her selfish needs in order for her to love him. She does not care what he wants or yearns for, as long as things go her way all is well. Daisy put up a front, one that leads everyone to believe she is the epitome of perfection. In reality, she is a spoiled and selfish

Nick sees himself in a higher light than others in the book. “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known”(Fitzgerald 59). While Nick comes from a wealthy background, he finds everyone else to be pretentious. He sees himself as the only person in the story to be authentic and honest. “Above all he disapproves of those who do not know how to act. That is why it takes him so long to ascertain that Jay Gatsby, a walking compendium of social gaucheries, is nonetheless worth any number of Buchanans”(Donaldson). Nick sees his companions as nothing more than money hungry lumps on a log. They act as though nothing is their fault and their actions have no consequences. Even though Nick differs very little from them, he believes he has a higher standard. Why then would he put himself around people that he is so much better than? To belittle them, of course. “Nick judges, and condemns, practically everyone he meets in the course of the novel”(Green). We see Nick all throughout the novel judge and look down on every character. Through his narration, we get to see how he views people. We constantly see him holding himself to a higher standard. Nick Carraway may seem like a reliable narrator for The Great Gatsby, but in reality he glorifies his actions by