Examples Of Reality In The Great Gatsby

Name

Ms. Norris

English 8th hour

3-6-23

Illusion v.s Reality

We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality (Iris Murdoch).In the great gatsby by F.S Fitzgerald some characters aren't happy with their lives so they pretend to be something they are not to give others the illusion of something they want to be seen as to fit into society. The people in the great gatsby have trouble accepting their reality so they build a world full of illusions and lies. There are many types of illusions in the book like Gatsby and Daisy's love for each other but in reality, they both love money more than each other. Gatsby has the illusion that Daisy is the perfect

Nick's family wants to be seen as a powerful wealthy family. ¨The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we’re descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch, but the actual founder of my line was my grandfather’s brother, who came here in fifty-one, sent a substitute to the Civil War, and started the wholesale hardware business that my father carries on to-day¨(Fitzgeard,). Nick’s family achieved the American Dream through hard work. Referring to the family’s tradition of who they were descended from, he admits that’s all an illusion. Gatsby wants people to think that he comes from a wealthy family. “I'll tell you God's truth… I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west .”(Fitzgerald,). the truth of his family background is a definite example of the false reality Jay portrays. Gatsby also wants to be seen as an intelligent wealthy man. ¨See!’ he cried triumphantly. ‘It’s a bonafide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too – didn’t cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?¨(Fitzgeard, ). Gatsby’s life is all for a show, he has a library filled with books that have never been read, making him seem more cultured than he is. While Gatsby can buy the things that rich people have, he can’t buy education or

Tom is having an affair but he refuses to divorce daisy because he doesn't want people to gossip about him. ¨What I say is, why go on living with them if they can't stand them? If I was them I'd get a divorce and get married to each other right away. ' 'It's his wife that's keeping them apart¨(Fitzgerald,). Tom wants people to see him as a loyal man with a perfect family but in reality, that's not true. Myrle love the idea of having a wealthy life with a rich husband but she didn't have that so even tho she loved her husband she loved the idea of a wealthy life which led to her having an affair with tom. ‘I spoke to her,’ he muttered, after a long silence. ‘I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God. I took her to the window’ – with an effort he got up and walked to the rear window and leaned with his face pressed against it – ‘and I said ‘God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!’ Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night. ‘God sees everything,’ repeated Wilson ‘That’s an advertisement,’ Michaelis assured him. Something made him turn away