Theme Of Appearance And Reality In The Great Gatsby

Taylor Roberts

Mr. Radzak

English 3H, Period 1

20 March 2017

What’s the Catch? Charles F. Glassman, an author once shared, “I prefer to surround myself with people who reveal their imperfection, rather than people who fake their perfection.” Ironically, this quote is simply an allegory of the Roaring 20’s. Which is also known as “the tragedy of American civilization” because of how the American Dream interfered with people’s judgements of others and of themselves (Moyer 216). The American Dream was a set of ideals American’s set forth on a quest to pursue in order to find the treasure chest at the end, filled with riches and possessions. Pirate’s booty. A saying that means treasure which is obtained by criminal actions. Similarly, how those

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald centers around the theme of appearance versus reality because of Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, Tom and Daisy

Despite Myrtle living in the Valley of Ashes in a gas station, she lives her life in a fairy tale trying to persuade others she is living the American Dream. Her first appearance in the novel almost makes her seem like a woman of class and wealth, but in reality she is no more than a working class citizen who gets zero respect. Moreover, during the party Myrtle throws on a dress and claims it was not her best dress, but in reality we all know it was probably the nicest dress she owns. Later on Myrtle starts going on making fun of poor people and how they do not have any money for luxuries when in fact she herself is apart of the same class. Tom Buchanan fools the readers into thinking that he is living the American Dream, the definition of perfect and no one else is like him, but in reality that is not true. He is a fraud. Carraway exposes how Tom made his wealth which is a very controversial topic during the 1920’s. Tom was “opposite of the self-made man” which was negatively looked upon during the Roaring Twenties (Alberto 21). Tom’s inheritance produced negative traits that he abides with as shown through his cockiness. Furthermore, Tom is a man of muscularity rather than a man of the mind which was considered a “negative trait” by a number of men who believed “money earned without labour was an invitation to corruption” which later in the novel leads to Tom’s downfall