Examples Of Lying In The Great Gatsby

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”-William Shakespeare This does not appear to be the case with the character Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Although he did achieve a lot in the life he was given this does not give him the right to be called great. One cannot simply be called great for the things they achieve but how they achieve them and the way Gatsby raised to the top is anything but great. All Gatsby turns out to be in the end is fallacious. He lied; he manipulated people and was naive. This is not the kind of person you would want to refer to as ‘great’. Gatsby was never one for honesty. His whole identity of ‘Jay Gatsby’ is a lie itself as Nick tells us the story

It is common knowledge that Gatsby’s greatest desire is Daisy and throughout the book we watch as Gatsby stops at nothing to achieve this goal, as it is the sole purpose he is even there. The first example of this is with Jordan Baker. Shortly after Jordan meets Gatsby with Nick he calls upon her as his butler approaches them and tells Jordan that “Mr. Gatsby would like to speak with [her] alone.” (Fitzgerald.51) This was the first part of Gatsby’s plan. After Gatsby finishes talking with Jordan she asks Nick to come see her where she reviles the next part of his plan. Gatsby used Jordan to ask Nick if he would invite Daisy over to his house as she is closer to Nick and is afraid that if he asks himself he “might be offended.” (Fitzgerald.77) When asked why he did not just ask her she states, “he wants her to see his house…and your house is right next door” (Fitzgerald.77). Gatsby is able to successfully manipulate Nick, simply using him as a bridge to bring Daisy unknowingly to him. Although Gatsby has already gotten what he had longed for all those years he is still not satisfied, this is when he begins to manipulate Daisy. As Nick says himself "he wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you’.” (Fitzgerald.105) After the heated argument