Jay Gatsby and George Wilson fail to see the reality of the world around them, which inevitably leads to their tragic deaths. Gatsby’s illusion is that of romance and ambition. He spent all his post-war time creating a new persona and acquiring wealth solely to fit into Daisy’s sophisticated world of money and to gain back her love. All of his actions are strongly focused on attaining what he had in the past that he cannot face the reality that he cannot have Daisy. Even when Daisy admits that he loves Tom too, Gatsby is in denial, “I don’t think that she ever loved him...Of course she might have loved him for a minute when they were first married- and loved me even more then, do you see?” (Fitzgerald 159). He refuses to accept any reality
