Reality In The Great Gatsby

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One can define deception as the action of deceiving someone by concealing or misinterpreting the truth. Deception is present in the novel, The Great Gatsby, in the plot, characters, and setting. Though some argue that the themes in the novel are not still appropriate, this idea of perception versus reality is relevant in today’s society as well. Relevant in the 1920s as well as present day, the theme of perception versus reality exposes itself through corrupt lies, the American dream of wealth, and fake appearances. First, corrupt perceptions shade the truth and can produce drastic outcomes. Lies hide the truth and corrupt people use lies in order to shade peoples’ views. Dunbar, the author of “We Wear Make”, illustrates, “We wear the mask …show more content…
From The Great Gatsby, wealth, whether inherited or earned, has a major impact on the perception of someone. In order to achieve the American Dream, Jay Gatsby had to change his name from James Gatz to encourage himself. Daisy, the girl he had been trying to impress his entire life, also motivated him because he wanted to be wealthy so that he could support her. It is shown that how wealth is attained and why can influence someone's perception because Gatsby changed his name and became a different person in order to achieve the myth of the American Dream. James Gatz needed to change something minor in order to change and become something major; he thought that it was important in recreating a new image for himself. In today’s society, it is visible that the freedom of life and the importance of the wealth is still prevalent. Kamp, an author known for questioning national ideals, describes, “America was truly a new world, a place where one could live one’s life and pursue one’s goals unburdened by older societies prescribed ideas of class, caste, and social hierarchy” (Source E). Burdens of social ranking and wealth are still and issues today. People strive to have wealth in order to be successful and so other people’s perceptions of them is respectable. Furthermore, the idea of wealth has been important for many years, is important today, and will be important in the future because it is the American way of

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