Lies and Fortune: A Theme Paper over The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Is living a life a fake life of fame and fortune worth all of the pain of the lies? This is a question that many characters face throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby. They have to make tough decisions deciding if all of it is worth the suffering, or should they continue living a normal life? Throughout the book there are many characters who lie and cheat. Even though each character cheats in his or her own different way they all do it for the same reason, which is to be wealthy and have high social class. The theme for this novel is sometimes it is worse to live a life full of lies and riches than to live a life of normality.

Jay Gatsby is in love with Daisy and wants to spend the rest of his life with her but unfortunately, when they first met, he couldn’t. In the novel, Gatsby says that the only reason Daisy didn’t marry him was because he was poor. So in order to win Daisy, Gatsby had to be rich. However, to keep his illegal way of earning his riches a secret Gatsby has to lie. Gatsby even has to lie about his past. On page 65 Nick says “…and I knew why Jordan Baker believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase “educated at Oxford” or swallowed it, or choked on it…” Gatsby has to lie about his family, childhood, and education just to name a few. In fact, Gatsby even lies about his name, which is actually James Gatz, so Daisy wouldn’t find out about his poor past. He had to lie and cheat about everything to get his dream girl. Throughout the book many of the people at the party spread rumors about Gatsby and how he got his money. He doesn’t correct them though because he doesn’t want anyone to find the truth, otherwise he won’t get Daisy. Gatsby lies so much that he has to cover up the old lies with new ones. On page 90, for ...

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...ut it would still be a good, stable house. It wouldn’t have all of the cheating and the lying. It wouldn’t have been deserted because like the actual mansion. It would be the same thing for Gatsby if he didn’t lie about his whole entire life, and just had a normal life.

Gatsby had to build a new life full of lies to get Daisy. Myrtle constantly lied to herself that she deserved better and with that came with jealously and rejection. But in reality, their real lives weren’t that bad. They wouldn’t have to put up with the lying and all of the horrible outcomes that come with it. Even though their lives wouldn’t be super special or extravagant they would be simple and wouldn’t have to fear about getting caught in lies. All of these points prove that it is sometimes worse to live a life full of lies and riches than a life of normality.

Works Cited

The Great Gatsby

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