Denial has many positive connotations as well as many negative ones, that can potentially influence judgement on one's character based off of the context in which it is used. Denial is a lying device that covers up mishaps to preserve and protect the feelings of loved ones, in some cases. But denial is also highlighted in times that solely shows the lack of integrity in one's character. However, by acknowledging all contexts consisting social Denial, a general thesis can be formed based off of the fictional novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Denial is a tool that manifests itself in our world as a coping device for individuals, to portray an acceptable and ideal exterior through efforts to pull away from the reality of incompatibilities …show more content…
in social relationships. In summary, denial is used to socially benefit the user of it, while limiting incompatibilities. Through the innate nature of the social tool of Denial, we see it can be used to obtain a state of compatibility with surrounding individuals, primarily those in relationships.
In the novel, the Great Gatsby, it can be clearly seen how Nick avoids telling the truth with intentions to moderate the many relationships on the verge of disaster. A noted scenario follows Tom’s suspicious assumption that perceived Gatsby as a “bootlegger”(Fitzgerald, 115, PDF). Despite the dense and newly acquaintance relationship Nick has with Gatsby at this point, along with the many rumors and stigmas placed on him at the party, Nick responds swiftly by saying: “‘not Gatsby’” (115). Denying the accusation put on Gatsby as a bootlegger had intentions to sustain a level of respect and trust between the two characters, therefore revealing what impelled Nick to deny. Other examples are seen with Myrtle towards Tom as she attempts to optimize a level of coherence with her lover through denial. Myrtle evidently wants to spend time with Tom over her husband George Wilson. In order for her to feel chemistry with Tom, and for her to feel concord within the relationship, she must outcast any awkward obstacles that lie in the way. She does this by denying the fact that she had ever loved George. After her sister Catherine asked about how crazy she used to be about him, she vigorously responds by saying, “‘Crazy about him!... the only CRAZY I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake’”(38). Once again denial is used to benefit the concord between individuals, as Myrtle tries to empower a connection with Tom by stymieing the idea that she’d ever loved another man, thus strengthening the central idea of social compatibility. A similar instance is clear in the dramatic scene between Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy, of which consisted of powerful emotional exposure as Daisy revealed her interpretations on the matter of love. After Gatsby spoke out for Daisy and whom she loved, she
denied such perceptions. Daisy says that “‘Even [ if ] alone I can’t say I never loved Tom, … It wouldn’t be true’” (142). Here Daisy is denying any assumptions that had formed in the minds of Tom and Gatsby. She is trying to reach a conclusion for herself and for those mentioned by stymieing assumptions made between her relationships. In synthesizing the ideas and scenarios, it can be concluded that denial can be used to help a network of relationships coexist, be compatible, and also sustain them via lies. In the novel, a network of lies formulate through dialog in order to optimize individual identities; these lies are made up of direct and indirect denials brought about between characters to heighten their own self-image. These listed examples can find a place in the real world, as denying someone of the truth is often used to limit judgment and feel a sense of security while holding an exterior of pretences. Before revealing the numerous scenarios where denial finds its place in the novel, background is helpful to comprehend the driving forces behind the social tool. In an adult health article by the staff of the Mayo Clinic, they wrote about their educated understanding of denial through their writing of “Denial: When it helps, when it hurts”. They listed the reasons that impel an individual to socially deny, by saying that “When you're in denial, you: [1] Refuse to acknowledge a stressful problem or situation, [2] Avoid facing the facts of the situation, [and 3] Minimize the consequences of the situation.” (cite). All of these factors will show up in the novel through, primarily, Gatsby. Gatsby lives a life of set goals. He is motivated by what he loves and what he believes to be his ideal future. In order to protect his social status, he must reserve his progresses and backgrounds underlying his achievements. So he lives a life of denial in attempt to fit into the upper class society where he wishes to belong, for personal reasons. Gatsby perfectly demonstrates how denial can stem from one who avoids the facts of the situation. In the midst of his eye-opening conversation with Nick, Gatsby incredulously cries out “can’t repeat the past?” (118). Gatsby tries to relieve himself of the facts of the situation by enlarging optimistic possibilities. Gatsby, in succession, denies the truth numerous times to try and minimize the consequences of his situation. This is the discussion that talks about his indirect denials in order to heighten his own self-image. Gatsby’s background, as a boy on North Dakota farm, renders no merit to his acceptance into the upper class. He must devise a system of lies to portray himself as a man of wealth in order to impress his Daisy. He does this through denial. Nick points out that Gatsby had taken Daisy “under false pretenses”. How he “deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her… [however] he had no comfortable family standing behind him...”(159).
Deceit and its use to achieve one’s goals is a common theme in The Great Gatsby. However, as has been shown, many who use immoral means to obtain the things they want may find themselves in undesirable situations.
“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said this and this quote has greatly influenced the theme statement for this paper. The theme statement for this paper on the Great Gatsby is some people are willing to put up a false façade in order to become something they think is better and they lose their true selves in the long run. This paper will go through three examples of putting up a false façade. First the paper will go through Jay Gatsby, then Nick Carraway and finally the paper will wrap up with the parties that Gatsby throws.
The society that we live in today is built around lies. Banks lying to customers in order to feed the capitalist mindset, politicians lying to citizens in order to gain power, and charities taking donations with open arms however are stingy when giving back to the cause. The common reason why these organizations lie is to hide what they truly are. People also deceive others in order to hide who they truly are. From a young age lying becomes engraved into one’s mind, we are taught to walk, talk, and lie. As explained in “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, we lie because it benefits us for personal gain. Everyone lies for different reasons, whether to protect yourself or others. The world of “The Great Gatsby” is driven by lies from people who wish to keep their true selves unknown.
In a nation, two communities can often differ from each other. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his writing to contrast the morality described by Nick Carraway in the Midwest, to the corruption and inhumanity that is quite starkly present in the East.
Uma Kocherlakota Mrs. Cristen Cassler AP English Literature and Composition 16 September 2015 The Imperfection of Being Human There is only one thing which every philosopher who speculates about the human condition can agree on, and that is the idea that humans are complex, imperfect beings who may not always understand themselves. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his novel The Great Gatsby, attempts to reveal this idea about human character by fashioning the narrator, Nick Carraway, into a complex character. He does this by highlighting Nick’s contrasting opinions of and interactions with life amongst the rich, and showing that Nick’s character is not as infallible as he himself would like to believe. Through his contrasting judgements and actions, along with honesty and dishonesty, Fitzgerald paints Nick as the quintessential third party and shows that one’s appraisal of one’s own traits can often be incorrect. It is clear, throughout the novel, that Nick thinks highly of his own tolerance and conduct, his “sense of fundamental decencies,” believing that his are superior to those around him (Fitzgerald 2).
Lying has deadly effects on both the individual who lies and those around them. This concept is demonstrated in The Great Gatsby. Although Gatsby, Tom and Myrtle have different motives for being deceitful, they all lie in order to fulfill their desires and personal needs. Myrtle’s desire to be wealthy is illustrated when she first meets Tom, dressed in his expensive clothing, as her attitude changes when she puts on the luxurious dress and when she encourages Tom to buy her a dog. Tom’s deception is clear when he hides his affair with Myrtle by placing Myrtle in a different train, withholding the truth from Mr. Wilson of the affair and convincing Myrtle and Catherine that he will one day marry Myrtle. Gatsby tries to convince himself and others that he is the son of wealthy people, he creates an appearance that he is a successful, educated man through the books in his library and assures himself that Daisy loves him. Tom’s dishonesty reveals that he is selfish, while Gatsby’s distortions expose his insecurities, and Myrtle’s misrepresentations show that her sole focus in life is to achieve materialistic success. Gatsby and Myrtle both lie in order to obtain the “American dream.” However, Tom, who appears to already have achieved the “American dream”, deceives others out of boredom and because he takes his wealthy lifestyle for granted. F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates the human flaw of dishonesty for personal gain and how lies have inevitably tragic consequences in his characterization of Gatsby, Myrtle and Tom.
The novel The Great Gatsby displays deceitfulness in many of its characters. The deceit brings many of the characters to their downfall. Gatsby had the greatest downfall of them all due to the fact it took his life. In The Great Gatsby , “ Gatsby goes to spectacular lengths to try to achieve what Nick calls ‘his incorruptible dream’ to recapture the past by getting Daisy Buchannan love” (Sutton). Gatsby always had an infatuation with Daisy, Jordan Baker said,”Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 83). Gatsby and Daisy did have a past together. While Jordan was golfing, “The Officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at sometime[…]His name was Jay Gatsby and I didn’t lay eyes on him for over four years-even after I’d met him in long island I didn’t realize it was the same man” (Fitzgerald 80). Daisy is now in an abusive relationship with Tom Buchannan, “Nick Carraway attends a small publicly blames Tom for the bruise on her knuckle” (Sutton). When they meet again Gatsby showers Daisy with love and affection, wanting her to leave her husband Tom, but she does not want to in their society. Tom and Gatsby get into an argument and tom tells Daisy about Gatsby’s bootlegging that brought him to his riches. Tom yelled, “He a...
As depicted by Scott F. Fitzgerald, the 1920s is an era of a great downfall both socially and morally. As the rich get richer, the poor remain to fend for themselves, with no help of any kind coming their way. Throughout Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the two “breeds” of wealthier folk consistently butt heads in an ongoing battle of varying lifestyles. The West Eggers, best represented by Jay Gatsby, are the newly rich, with little to no sense of class or taste. Their polar opposites, the East Eggers, are signified by Tom and Daisy Buchanan; these people have inherited their riches from the country’s wealthiest old families and treat their money with dignity and social grace. Money, a mere object in the hands of the newly wealthy, is unconscientiously squandered by Gatsby in an effort to bring his only source of happiness, Daisy, into his life once again. Over the course of his countless wild parties, he dissipates thousands upon thousands of dollars in unsuccessful attempts to attract Daisy’s attention. For Gatsby, the only way he could capture this happiness is to achieve his personal “American Dream” and end up with Daisy in his arms. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is somewhat detrimental to himself and the ones around him; his actions destroy relationships and ultimately get two people killed.
Even though he had some thought that the meeting would provoke harmful tensions between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, he went along with it anyways, further demonstrating his own innate lack of reservation. Ultimately, Nick is an unreliable narrator who overlooks Gatsby’s lies because of his biased judgment of him. Nick portrays Gatsby as a generous and charismatic figure while in reality, he is a duplicative and obsessed man entangled in illegal business who is determined on an unattainable goal. It is highly ironic that Nick judges others for their lack of morality and honesty; his own character is plagued by lies as he abets Gatsby in many of his schemes.
Lies are a treacherous thing, yet everyone tells a few lies during their lifetime. Deceit surrounds us all the time even when one reads classic literature. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald makes dishonesty a major theme in his novel The Great Gatsby. The falsehoods told by the characters in this novel lead to inevitable tragedy when the truth is revealed. Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in the novel, fails to realize that when one tells a lie, it comes back to bite you.
Despite lacking recognition when it was first published, The Great Gatsby--by F. Scott Fitzgerald--is now regarded as both a literary classic and a great American novel. While well known for its use of symbolism, The Great Gatsby uses other literary techniques to an effective degree. One of the several techniques Fitzgerald used was one of creating mirrors between scenes. A good example of this is how chapter eight is a dark mirror to chapter two; several events that occur in chapter two appear again in chapter eight; however, when they appear again they do with a dark twist to signal the different tone the story has taken. By comparing how Gatsby, the advertisement of Doctor T.J. Eckleberg, and the theme-- the uninhibited pursuit of wealth
What distinguishes a dream from reality? Many combine the two, often creating confusing and disappointing results. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes the impact that reality has on an individual by examining the life of Jay Gatsby. This twentieth-century piece of literature holistically portrays the Jazz Age and accurately captures life in the 1920s. This decade was a time in which many individuals strove towards fulfilling the American Dream. The extravagant and lavish lifestyle which many people lived depicted their romantic desire for wealth. This constant greed and artificial attitude consequentially produced fantastic misconceptions of reality. Jay Gatsby’s life parallels the lives of those who lived during the 1920s because similarly to Gatsby, they too had no astonishing beginnings and created deceptions that were the only route to the American dream. The significance of understanding the difference between what is fantasy and what is reality is crucial, as Gatsby is the epitome of the result of dreams dictating a person’s actions. Fitzgerald suggests that fantasy never matches reality and successfully proves this by comparing the fantasy that Gatsby creates to reality.
Many authors use irony as a way of questioning the reader or emphasizing a central idea. A literary device, such as irony, can only be made simple with the help of examples. Irony can help a reader to better understand certain parts of a novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald helps the reader to recognize and understand his use of irony by giving key examples throughout The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s lush parties, Myrtle’s death, Gatsby’s death, and the title of the novel to demonstrate how irony plays a key role in the development of the plot.
Parties, alcohol, and the desire to change from “rags to riches”. These things are not only represented in the movie The Great Gatsby, but also represent the time of the Roaring Twenties. The Great Gatsby depicts an accurate depiction of the time when America ended World War I in 1918, and entered in a period of wealth and materialism. Although The Great Gatsby exemplifies United States with accurate representations, there are few inaccurate details regarding the American Dream, flapper girls, and Prohibition.
Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book, The Great Gatsby, structures the characters Tom and Gatsby to demonstrate the difference between old and new money, and the class conflict within the upper class.His purpose is to emphasize the differences between the old and new money through the characters Tom and Gatsby. He adopts a wary tone when describing Tom and a fanatical tone to describe Gatsby through connotative words, advanced punctuation and sentence structure, and other details.