The Great Gatsby Reality Analysis

Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald there is a multitude of heavy themes represented. One of the more prevalent themes is the inability of the characters to decipher between fantasy and reality. In fact, this theme is what helped to create many of the conflicts and climaxes of this novel. This theme was also used to help develop the weaknesses of a lot of the main characters including the narrator Nick Carraway. Through the use of Gatsby’s social events as well as the pseudo mannerisms of the main characters, Fitzgerald was able to convey the message of illusions mistaken for reality. Fitzgerald implements this theme of appearances versus realities very early on in the novel during a dinner Nick attends at the Buchanan's

The primary source of all the misconception about Gatsby’s origins comes from his guests’ ostentatious rumors and stories. Everyone in West Egg knows of Gatsby and his over the top parties. That is what he is most credited for in West Egg, however, nobody knows anything else about who he is. Naturally, when people do not have the information they rumor and speculate about the truth and create their own version of truth from that. These ludicrous rumours and stories have caused many wild assumptions about Gatsby such as him having killed a man or him having been a German spy “somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.”.....“it’s more that he was a German spy during the war.”....I heard from a man who knew all about him, grew up with him in Germany,”(Fitzgerald 48). Gatsby fans these flames of deceit when he neither confirms nor denies any of the rumors about his past. He later reveals he let these rumours spread because he was to busy trying to distort his origins that he turned to omitting the truth instead. All in an attempt to attain his fictitious image of the American Dream, which to him is Daisy Buchanan. He would rather people forever presume he was a spy and killed a man than have Daisy know he comes from a family of two poor and unsuccessful farmers. Unfortunately, for Gatsby, his omission of the truth about his past makes

It was not until the final chapters of The Great Gatsby where the reader was made privy to who “Jay Gatsby” really was. The entirety of the novel up to these chapters had told the tale of a person who never existed. The sole mission of Mr. James Gatz (Gatsby's legal birth name as given in the novel) was to achieve his version of the American Dream by making Daisy his wife. Regrettably, during this time mixing of social classes was not something people did. Especially for those of higher social classes who are often both careless and superficial with everyone including people of their own social class. James aware of this knew that as he was, he had zero chance at a relationship with Daisy. Despite this fact, he was determined to realize his dream no matter the consequence or sacrifice necessary, Thus the facade Jay Gatsby was born. James spends the next five years of his life materializing the identity of Jay Gatsby and what he needed to be to support the lifestyle Daisy lives. First James convinced himself even after Daisy got married and had children that she only loved him. He then got involved in some fraudulent business and accumulated a vast amount of wealth to which he manipulated people into thinking he inherited from his deceased and high-class family. Mr.Gatz spread half-truths about being an Oxford man and receiving a full education there. He even went as far