Essay On Illusion And Reality In The Great Gatsby

Superior Essays
In the Novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the main themes is how illusion is mistaken for reality. The author develops this theme by creating Jay Gatsby a character, who presents a façade of himself that is the complete opposite of who he is and the only time he is truly himself is when he’s with Daisy. Gatsby creates an image of himself that he thinks will make him wealthier and more accepted by society. He creates this image by changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. He does this because he realizes that he can’t be successful with the name James Gatz.
The changing of his name is just the beginning of him reinventing himself. When he meets Daisy he realizes that jay Gatsby could be more than just a name and so he goes on a quest for wealth so as to be able to marry her. Everything Gatsby does to change is all for the pursuit of a perfect life and Daisy is part of that life. He realizes that he can’t have Daisy if he isn’t wealthy because their marriage would be looked down upon and she would never be happy. He makes a brand of himself and he sells it perfectly to people through his parties in hopes that Daisy will show up to one of them. This illusion that he creates of Jay Gatsby is not who he truly is because deep down he’s sad and depressed because he lost all that he ever wanted and that’s Daisy. Gatsby’s
…show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald has a theme of illusion where the reality of things is marred and nothing is really what it seems. Gatsby one of the main characters is truly an illusion in his entirety because the person he presents himself as is not who he really is and the only time he is true to himself is when he is with Daisy Buchanan. It 's evident in his change of name, the change of his persona and the accumulation of his wealth all this is fabricated to make him greater than he is but the one person who reverts him back to poor old James Gatz is Daisy because she exposes his

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Jay Gatsby Gatsby is the wealthy protagonist in the story who hosts the extravagant parties and also, the star-crossed lover of Daisy Buchanan, who he hopes to be reunited with someday after being parted from each other. It is revealed in the later part of the story that Jay Gatsby did not start as Jay Gatsby – he had different name, came from the Midwest, and born in poverty. In pursuit of the American dream, he became a nouveau riche, lived in the Eastwest and changed his name. He acquired his wealth through his “dirty” business and connections with various criminals alike and gangsters such as Meyer Wolfsheim.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby portrays a façade, “These can be destructive because they are used to seduce others into an illusion.” (Ericsson, 161) Jay Gatsby is a fraud. It can be inferred that his past…

    • 1390 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gatsby has people all around him, going to his parties, yet no one truly knows him. Born a poor man and son of a farmer, James Gatz desires living the "American dream". Because of this dream, he creates a false identity, Jay Gatsby, "he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end"(104). He wastes his life trying to impress others with material success, corrupting his true goal, Daisy. Gatsby is the type of person to do anything to get happiness even if it is the false kind.…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    James Gatz created Jay Gatsby in order to hide his shameful past of his poor family. He also could have done it in order to have Daisy like him and make it appear that they come from the same social class. Gatsby’s education is also an illusion to be more socially accepted by the wealthy. In chapter 7, Gatsby reveals to Tom that he is really…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One day, Nick carraway informed the readers that, “It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants, but it was already Jay Gatsby who borrowed a rowboat” (Fitzgerald 98). This shows that during this time, Gatsby had figured out what he wanted and needed to do for his self-creation. The real reason why Gatsby changed his name was to start his new identity. You can't start a new life if you have parts of your old life in it. Also, it is important to remember that not only does Gatsby change his name and start planning his new life, he also comes from a penniless family.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Blinded: Why Gatsby could not envision the consequences Jay Gatsby is not a real person. Instead, he is a persona created by James Gatz, with the simple dream of recreating himself and becoming successful. Eventually, he becomes extremely wealthy, and although he has reached his goal, Gatsby remains focused on one person: Daisy Buchanan. Some critics argue that Jay Gatsby's devotion to Daisy Buchanan in Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is obsessive and dysfunctional; I believe that some of his actions, although ultimately tragic, prove Gatsby to simply be a man blinded by love who wanted to be with the person he loved. Fitzgerald introduces Gatsby after Nick Carraway spots Gatsby at the dock of his lavish mansion, describing him as powerful…

    • 2056 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the decade of prohibition, bootlegging, instant gratification, and imagination F. Scott Fitzgerald was able to create a timeless tale about illusion and disillusionment using characters that epitomized the American dream. The Great Gatsby told a story of a man so absorbed in fantasy, wealth, and love that the idea of reality had escaped him altogether. James Gatz better known as Jay Gatsby leaped from the nonphysical origins of his authentic life, leaving behind his impoverished family and life as just a memory by forming a fictitious life for love of a woman at the age of 17. Falling in love with a girl named Daisy changed his perception of life forever, forcing him to drastically reinvent himself to live and chase a life of fantasy and…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mr. Jay Gatsby is not even Mr. Jay Gatsby, his real name is James Gatz. In chapter seven agony begins to pour after Mrs. Wilson was struck by Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby is seen waiting by the fence of the Buchanan’s house and as Nick goes to pull out he stops and asks Gatsby what he is doing and with a simple rely Gatsby says, “ I’m just going to wait here and see if he tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon. ”(pg.145.) This is a very ironic situation.…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that shows how wealth can manipulate the decisions that people make. Also, how love can make you blind from the real things in life. The main character Jay Gatsby has trouble accepting the reality in the world and forgetting the past and moving on from it. Gatsby’s perplexed image of Daisy, all of the wealth he had made for her , and that his wealth will never be equal to hers is why he was an innocent victim who was destroyed by his inability to accept…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of Nick Carraway, who moves next door to a man by the name of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby, in love with the woman he was once with, Daisy, climbed the social ladder to fame and riches in an attempt to win her back. The novel follows Gatsby’s progress to a relationship with Daisy, then his downfall when she rejects him. The Great Gatsby explores fallen dreams and the emptiness of wealth, through the display of violent actions of humans and the cruel irony of life. Fitzgerald utilizes these devices, supported by symbolic imagery, to convey messages more profound than the themes one may see on the surface.…

    • 1510 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gatsby had been dedicated to fulfilling his goal to win over Daisy and he wasn’t going to stop until he had accomplished it. He had motivated himself to become the man he was today. As the reader learns later on from Nick, “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people... So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to his conception, he was faithful to the end” (98). From the age of seventeen, Jay Gatsby was motivated to become wealthy, educated, and powerful.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Everyday society puts pressure on individuals to live up to its highest standards and norms. This pressure forces people of lesser class to attempt to conform and change, just to feel like they belong. Just like people in everyday society many characters in The Great Gatsby struggle to adapt and change to feel like they belong. Though there are many characters that try to create false realities in order to conform to their idealistic selves, Jay Gatsby is a character who is most successful in doing so. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Gatsbys and characters lies to show how people tend to spend their lives trying to convince others they are something that they are not, to the point where they get so absorbed into their fantasies that they lose sight…

    • 1415 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They named him James Gatz, after his father. Gatsby’s desire to get revenge on his parents for not providing him with a better life led him to exile himself from his family and change his name to Jay Gatsby. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, also acknowledges that Jay Gatsby changed his name to get revenge on his parents in an abstract nature when he states, “James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career” (Fitzgerald 82). Jay Gatsby also gets revenge on his parents by associating with known criminal Meyer Wolfshiem to try and obtain the lifestyle that his parents failed to provide him with.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the beginning of Gatsby’s life, Gatsby envisioned himself of being the son of God and of deserving more than what was given to him. Gatsby struggled to capture the American Dream and tried to blend in with society. As Gatsby grew, so did his name around New York City. He becomes very well known for his extravagant parties, his new money, and his marvellous mansion. All of this was done to capture Daisy’s attention and to win her love and to become a part of the higher class.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays