“Lying is an elementary means of self defense”- Susan Sontag. Due to the importance of superior egos in the society the novel Great Gatsby takes place in lying is a key factor of getting by. Every single character is entwined with at least one lie, they entire book is based of those lies. It's commonly seen throughout the book as Gatsby's character develops and also with the extensive amount of adultery. There are many different types of lying as you can see but another form of lying that is evident in the novel is deception.Deception is “ the act of propagating beliefs in things that are not true, or not the whole truth”. These themes were clearly used to provoke the ego that each character had. Untrue egos are a way of making oneself feel …show more content…
Earlier I said that every character was entwined with some sort of lie; for some of those characters the lie has to do with cheating. Tom and Myrtle constantly lie to their spouse because they are having an affair. In marriage you are only supposed to be with and love that person. Daisy and George likely had no doubt that the other was having an affair until problems/subdivisions began to occur. In chapter 7 this cheating twisted mess is unveiled, “There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control.” (pg 133) Tom had been caught in the deceitful act of cheating on daisy and was rather “Flushed with his impassioned gibberish” (pg139) Tom won his way out of this sinful action of lying to daisy by.. Lying to daisy. To cover and fix the ego Tom held with Daisy he lied to make her feel loved, “He nodded sagely. "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in awhile I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time." (pg 140) Although Tom says his heart truly loves Daisy and that he loves her I see this a blunty obvious lie. If he really did love her he would have never cheated on her. Similar to many of the other lies in the story, Tom cared so much about his “power couple”/old money marriage status he had with Daisy that he would rather lie to himself and others about loving her than separating from her.
The novel Great Gatsby is a story that has literally been written off of dishonesty and misconception. Without the repetitive theme of lying and deception the book would simply not even exist. It is evident to see that in many aspects and characters of the book lying and deception plays an important role. This theme is truly weapon in self defense which builds