Illusions In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

A novel written by F.Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby is primarily about post-world war American society where reality was often confused with illusions. Illusions are any misconceptions of the real world. This essay argues that the Great Gatsby presented us a period in which illusions eclipsed reality, where materialism overshadowed and influenced other aspects of life such as love, and other moral values. It will focus on the indistinction between love and materialism, the influence of money on moral values, the misconception of money and the deluded illusion of time portrayed amongst the characters in the novel.

In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald depicts the obscurity between true love and materialism that makes the love between Gatsby

and Daisy seems so unrealistic and hypocritical. Fitzgerald also showed how deluded Gatsby was to overvalue something that is undeserving and unworthy, Daisy. The author created a huge unexpected contrast from the beginning of the novel, where Gatsby was a person who was driven by wealth and would do anything for money, turnt into a loyal person who sacrificed for the sake of love. At the end, After everything Gatsby had done for her, whether she was pressurized by her husband or there were just no love left, Daisy proved herself unfaithful by fleeing away carelessly. Moreover, Gatsby appeared to be blinded, despite he himself admitted that Daisy married Tom only because Gatsby “was poor and she was tired of waiting” (p.193). Indeed, Fitzgerald intended to show how shallow and superficial Gatsby was, that he was unable to capture the reality that Daisy did not actually love him, but she was more concerned about the materials he had. However, Gatsby also desired the status and class within Daisy. Gatsby expressed to Nick how “extraordinary” Daisy was and he “felt married to her” when she vanished into her “rich house” and “rich, full life” (p.219). This is evident that Gatsby also was attracted to the wealth and the exterior value of Daisy. The word “extraordinary” again shows the irony and emphasize how Daisy, a simple rich woman, was overrated that she did not even fit to the title, as opposed to her own claim that she was just a “beautiful little fool” (p.29). Furthermore, it was stated that Gatsby was “overwhelmingly aware...of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud over the hot struggling of the poor” (p.220). As “Silver” is a precious metal everyone desires, it can be again a connotation of wealth and luxury. In addition, the name “Daisy” represents a flower with a flamboyant yellow color which can be a connotation of gold, another valuable thing. This gives us a realization of Gatsby’s materialistic vision. However, since “silver” and “gold” are after all just metals, they also symbolize lifelessness. Hence, Fitzgerald might implied that their love was actually unreal and insincere, but Gatsby saw Daisy as a stepping stone or opportunity to his financial success and to get rid of the struggles in his poverty. In fact, the illusion is shattered in chapter 7, when Daisy withdraw her love after Gatsby admitted of bootlegging. Therefore, it is visible that their love was just a facade for fulfilling each others’ selfish needs.

Fitzgerald also illustrates an image of hollow materialistic society where money corrupts people nobility and sincerity, especially in love and decision-making.

It is seen in Daisy’s decision in her relationship with Tom. In chapter 4, Daisy was at first melancholic and reluctant to marry Tom due to her previous affair with the poor Gatsby, however, soon after finding out that Tom was extravagantly accompanied by hundreds of people, in four private cars while hiring the entire floor of the hotel for the wedding and even gifted her a string of pearls with a massive value of around “three hundred and fifty thousand dollars”, she made up her mind and married Tom “without so much as a shiver” (p.144). With so much money, class and reputation, Daisy was immediately convinced and was able to change her mind so quickly and got married to him. Due to this one time hallucination, their relationship was hollow and artificial as it was not born out of love, but from different selfish motives. Indeed, Fitzgerald shows how money can make people blind, neglect other feelings just like how Daisy could stop loving Gatsby for the sake of money. As a result, Tom was also unfaithful after all, possibly because his love with Daisy was not true so he cheated on her by secretly having a mistress. Moreover, Myrtle, Tom’s mistress also cheated on her husband who is poor, for Tom as he was rich and was able to fulfil her desires. Although they might eventually fell in love, that the love between the characters in the story apparently began as an illusion, influenced by money, just to conceal their personal selfish desires. Thus, Fitzgerald presents to us the consequences when money controls people’s decisions and outshines noble

values.

Another significant illusion depicted in the Great Gatsby is the belief that money alone is the solution to everything. In fact, people would do anything to achieve it even if they had to perform undignified and immoral activities. For instance, Gatsby attempted to get Daisy back from Tom by displaying his wealth, throwing large parties, living in extravagant luxurious mansions. Although, it is known that Daisy married Tom because of his wealth, but at least Tom was more respected as he did not commit or involve in any illegal crime or illegal business. Gatsby, on the other hand, did everything from alcohol and drug business to murder and used money to shut the witnesses up. This shows how narrow-minded he was, to think that money was all Daisy needed. Consequently, things were unexpected for Gatsby, as Daisy distanced herself after learning that Gatsby had no dignity. Moreover, Gatsby was inflexible with different circumstances, where he was mostly stuck to the idea of money. Gatsby mistaken service for the favor Nick had done setting up a meeting for him and Daisy. Instead of just a friendly simple thank, he brought up the topic of money again and tried to offer Nick money (p.78). Furthermore, Gatsby believed that money could give him the dignity, reputation, status he aimed for and could compensate for his unpleasant actions, but the reality was quite the opposite. Money might have brought him some fame and status, but all were fake. Fitzgerald implied this by creating a major contrast in the novel, where hundreds of people joined and took advantage of Gatsby’s parties, while no one attended Gatsby’s funeral. Even Wolfsheim who always worked for Gatsby, did not dare to involve with Gatsby anymore. Therefore, it depicted a culture where people were only respected for their money, leaving nothing to regret for after death .

Another misconception of the reality presented in the Great Gatsby is seen in Gatsby himself, who thought time, is at his disposal and believed in his ability to manipulate it. He thought he could recreate the past, basically reviving his love with Daisy. Gatsby wanted Daisy to tell Tom that she had never loved Tom, but obviously she could not do that, because she had been married to Tom for 5 years and even had a daughter together. Furthermore, when Nick told Gatsby “you can’t repeat the past”, Gatsby cried out “ why of course you can!” (p. 162). He even claimed that he was “going to fix everything just the way it was before”. This is evident that Gatsby has firm faith that he has the power to turn back time and that the love between him and Daisy is endless. In fact. When meeting Daisy, Gatsby almost broke an "old clock"(p.82). "Clock" is a symbol of time and a symbol of on-going life as its hands always moves forwards, while "old" somehow represents the past. This could be a sign that Gatsby could not control time, especially when he could not even handle a clock. Nick, on the other hand, was conscious that such thing was impossible. He stated that Gatsby looked around wildly, “as if the past is lurking around here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand ” (p.162). In the end, Nick stated “so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”(p. 265). The phrase “boats against the current” is a metaphor of human activities that are against the norm. Therefore, it represents Gatsby’s delusive attempt to manipulate time in order to get Daisy back. However, “borne ceaselessly into the past” implied that no matter how much one tries to recreate, they would be forever automatically held back from success, the past is always the past. In addition, Fitzgerald has also shown the consequence of Gatsby’s attempt. Instead of moving on, Gatsby decided to get involved with the past and even sacrifice himself for Daisy, who later proved unworthy at all. Fitzgerald shows exactly how Gatsby fell under the illusion of time just for something unworthy and consequences ones have to encounter.