Gatsby Dishonesty Quotes

Honesty in the Great Gatsby
In F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald writes about dishonest characters in Long Island during the 1920’s. Many of his characters' lies spiral and cause problems throughout the novel–leading to a devastating end as the characters' lives unveil. Fitzgerald indicates dishonesty in the main characters Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby. Tom is arrogant and comes from an elite family where his dishonesty impacts his family and friends. Daisy, Tom’s wife, is a source of inspiration for Gatsby, and has built her life on half-truths. Gatsby is a millionaire who created a new persona about himself with lies to try to win back the love of his life, Daisy. Through the narrative of Nick, Fitzgerald shows the destructive

One of his biggest lies is cheating on Daisy, which starts at their honeymoon. Tom had gotten into an accident with another woman. “The girl who was with him got into the papers…she was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel” (Fitzgerald 49). He continues with his deceitful behavior throughout his marriage. During a dinner at Daisy’s house, her friend Jordan uses his adultery as gossip. She says, “Tom’s got some women in New York,” and then later mentions, “She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?” (15). Tom’s cheating is wrong, but is treated casually by everyone including Daisy. Although Daisy knows about his actions, she still doesn’t speak up. He continues this act of dishonesty through his relationship with his mistress, Myrtle. Nick is surprised how easily Tom lies after hearing him say he couldn’t get divorced because Daisy is Catholic. Nick thinks to himself, “Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little shocked that the elaborateness of the lie” (25). Tom’s pattern of lying carries throughout his relationships with many characters. His carelessness with the truth and for others leads to deaths and then letting “other people clean up the mess”

Gatsby lies to everyone about who he really is, and how he got his money. Gatbsy originally came from a poor family but secretly gained money through selling alcohol, and later uses his wealth to impress Daisy. “It was from Cody that he inherited his money” (Fitzgerald 64). Later Tom finds out and says, “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drugstores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter…I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him” (102). Throughout the story, the readers can see that Gatbsy lies about everything including his wealth. He also lied to Nick about where he is from. “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West–all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years” (42). He lies about his background to make himself seem more impressive. His lies also destroyed himself and others physically. Gastby’s dishonesty toward Myrtle's death was the reason that he died. He had told Tom that he was the one driving the car that hit Myrtle, not Daisy. “Was Daisy driving…but of course I'll say I was” (89). Gatsby was trying to protect Daisy, but when Tom told Wilson what happened Wilson shot Gatsby out of anger. Gatsby’s lies had caused so much destruction that Tom and Daisy decided to escape from all their problems–and they disappeared at the end of the novel. “She and Tom had gone away early