Deception In The Great Gatsby Essay

The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes place during the 1920s, where a man, Gatsby, desires a woman, Daisy, and does whatever it takes to have her. Love can stop none, not even Gatsby, as he chases Daisy through obstacles. Fitzgerald uses the past and future, dreams and reality, and poverty and wealth to impact Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses deception represent past and future. Early on, while in the present, Gatsby smiled at Nick, and “to believe in yourself,” which reveals Gatsby’s deceiving smile (pg. 48). The smile projects what Gatsby’s future, a place where everything is beautiful. His parties reveals his wealth, because he does not want people to think of his past. He does not want anybody to discover his past, as it may …show more content…
Gatsby will do anything for Daisy. Jordan states, “Gatsby bought that house so Daisy would be just across the bay” revealing Gatsby’s love for Daisy (pg. 78). He is willing to do anything Daisy, even if it means to use all of his money to buy a house just to see her. However, it does not mean that being nearby her is enough, as “he half expected her to wander into one of his parties,” demonstrating his eagerness to let her see him. He does not mind using all this money and having all these parties for free, for he only wants Daisy. For him, it is alright to use every resource he has to attract Daisy. This is reinforced, stating, “of course you can [repeat the past]!” revealing Gatsby’s illusions about the situation (pg. 110). He believes that Daisy will fall in love with him, and leave Tom for him. He reminisces about the past, “when he kissed the girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions,” portraying an image of him making his dream, having Daisy, into a reality (pg. 110). It means that there would be no more secrets between them, as he “wed his unutterable visions” to Daisy, suggesting that they would be in a marriage. However, he later gets into an argument with Tom, saying “She only married you because I was poor”, demonstrating that he had an idea of the reality he was in (pg. 130). This realization of his reality is actually a foreshadowing of the reality that will crush him. However, he still …show more content…
Gatsby meets Cody, and Cody decides to buy him “a blue coat, ...” which suggests Cody that he wants Gatsby as his apprentice (pg. 100). It also indicates Cody was going to teach Gatsby how to act like a gentleman, and to at least look rich. However, this also reveals that Gatsby is actually not rich. But, because he is able to give an impression of a gentleman, he manages to climb up the ladder, mainly under Wolfsheim’s help. Near the end, he becomes a sacrifice for the rich, in this case, for Tom. After Myrtle was killed by a “yellow car”, Tom says, “The yellow car I was driving this afternoon wasn’t mine.” (pg. 140). By stating that it “wasn’t mine,” Gatsby, instead of Tom, would be sacrificed instead. Tom would be safe from Wilson’s fury, as later on, Wilson kills Gatsby. “A thin red circle in the water,” represents Gatsby’s death, as he is sacrificed because they believed he killed Myrtle (pg. 162). This is very lucky for Tom, as he does not have to deal with Daisy wanting Gatsby. Interestingly, it also represents where Gatsby gains his wealth, and lost it. Gatsby first gained that little bit of wealth when meeting Cody, on water, and here he is losing all his wealth in water as well. In fact, this becomes so dirty for the rich that “Wilson’s body was a little way off,” revealing that Wilson had killed himself. This is exactly what Tom wants, and how the poor is sacrificed for the rich. Since Wilson