Reality And Reality In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

The very integrity of a person’s reality is subject to being questioned as their mind begins to intertwine the realm of reality and illusion. The fabric of James Gatz’s reality ripped long before Nick Carraway met him. It might have even ripped long before F. Scott Fitzgerald externalized him into his novel, The Great Gatsby. There is no certainty in even believing that James Gatz was ever able to separate these two realms, therefore, there is no certainty that Gatz ever had a concrete reality to live in. Fitzgerald plays with this uncertain factor throughout the novel, as he inserts facts and descriptions of Gatsby’s “life”, with which he proliferates uncertainty and makes the reader subject to the same ideal he is using in his literary work. The ideal that illusions are seldom disparate from reality, and that everything can be considered a reality until proven otherwise. Furthermore, Fitzgerald also integrates this theme into other aspects within his novel, in subtleties such as the false hopes of Daisy and Myrtle, the euphoria that was experienced by the guests during Gatsby 's lavish parties, and even Nick’s perception of Gatsby’s character.

Jay Gatsby is never a concrete character within the novel; his background story and his statements are ever-changing, and are usually proven to be untrue. However, just as quickly as some statements are proven untrue, other arise to substitute them, which keeps the reader in a constant state of skepticism. In fact, the vagueness with which Jay Gatsby asserts himself might be due to his own uncertainty of his life, as he has always thought himself deserving of more, which could have led to a dissociation in