The Great Gatsby Deceptive Appearance Analysis

The visual appearance of the upper class, as presented by Fitzgerald in “The Great Gatsby”,, is a perfect example of how deceptive appearance can be in misleading others. This is shown to the reader through Gatsby, when he deceives Daisy into believing he is of higher class than the “penniless young man” (pg 141) he actually is. The identical army uniform that Gatsby wears strips away at his personal and true identity by instead producing a common and undistinguishable image resulting in no aspect of his lower social class being revealed. The deceptiveness of appearance is highlighted through Fitzgerald’s diction of the word “cloak” (pg 141) with the word, used to describe the effect of Gatsby’s uniform, providing connotations of secrecy and deceit to the character of Gatsby’s and thus depicting just how effective appearance can be at deceiving others from a

This is supported when Lady Bracknell is viewed as someone who “judges people by their wealth and parentage rather than…conduct or personality” and questions Jack in order to deduce his “income” (pg 67) and thus Jack’s economic and social status allowing Wilde to expose, through Lady Bracknell’s behaviour, the economic and social values of the upper class. “The Great Gatsby” also reinforces how appearance can deceive to allow social mobility with Fitzgerald suggesting that “appearance blinds” as a result of the upper classes fixation with appearance rather the character underneath. Gatsby is a character obsessed with attaining this upper class status, allowing him the chance to win the affection of Daisy, and in order to reinforce his claim to being a legitimate member of the upper class he attempts to deceive the upper class in the only way they recognise, through