Similarities Between Ready Player One And The Great Gatsby

A Corrupt Fantasy “Better a dish of illusion and a hearty appetite for life, than a feast of reality and indigestion therewit,” ("Famous Quotes About Illusion") is a quote by Harry Allen Overstreet that brilliantly puts the power of illusion into perspective. An individual can freely and easily create illusions that bring vitality and dampen the despair brought on by reality. When careless and corrupt societies come into context, illusions acquire an exorbitant amount of value. The characters in Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby demonstrate that living in an illusion is better than living in reality. This concept is best illustrated when illusions support sociability, provide an escape from reality, and promote happiness. To begin with, in Ready Player One illusions are often seen supporting sociability and camaraderie. To explain, teenage Wade Watts is “nothing but an antisocial hermit. A recluse.” (Cline 198). Truthfully, Wade Watts is explicitly what he says he is – a dismal extrovert who

To illustrate, during a conversation between Nick and Gatsby it had come up that Gatsby had been “educated at Oxford because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years” (Fitzgerald 66). What is most interesting about this information is that Gatsby is lying. Eventually, Gatsby revealed that he “only stayed 5 months. That’s why I can’t really call myself an oxford man” (Fitzgerald 115). An admirable education is critical in maintaining the elite reputation that Gatsby carries with him. A prestigious education is what separates the wealthy from the poor. Gatsby creates an illusion in respect to his education so that he is recognized amongst the elite and exclusive personalities residing on Long Island. This illusion helps Gatsby with his social life tremendously and proves that living in illusion is better than living in