Reality In The Great Gatsby Essay

In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the themes of dreams, illusion versus reality, poverty versus wealth, having your highlight in your youth, waste, east versus west, creating a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. In this oral presentation the ideas and techniques that show illusion versus reality within the novel will be explored and discussed.

Along with the majority of the characters in the story, Gatsby lived in an illusionary world, although a few can see reality. Jay Gatsby is one of the characters in the story that cannot see reality. Throughout the novel Gatsby tries to relive his past by trying to get Daisy to notice him, as he could not come to terms that he couldn’t have daisy as she

was married to Tom.

Gatsby believed that if he continued to have frequently hold parties and get togethers at his mansion that Daisy would notice him. When Gatsby met Daisy he informed her that he comes from a very wealthy family in a bid to prove that he was worthy of her. Gatsby revolved everything in his life around his dreams such as getting Daisy to fall in love with him, but he does not realise that his dreams are unworthy of him and Daisy would never leave Tom to be with him.

Daisy Buchanan is another character in the novel that lives in an illusionary world. Daisy is obsessed with money and married Tom purely on the mere fact that he is extremely wealthy. Daisy uses her money to escape from reality, hides behind it when she feels threatened and gets her way out of trouble. Without the money that she has she would have to face a lot more problems in life instead of just buying her way out of them all the time.

Daisy frequently wears the colour white and the colours of money are green and gold. Along with the colour white, which she frequently wears, the colours are the same of a daisy of which she is named after. By doing this, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, is able to create imagery and the readers start to envision the characters in their mind.

Nick Carraway is one of the very few characters in the novel that live in and can see reality. Unlike Gatsby and Daisy, Nick can see the destructive forces and corruption that money brings to people who are obsessed with money. Throughout the novel Nick is portrayed as the most honest character and does not lie or cheat. Nick is humble and has a normal house and isn’t in the “in crowd” and he realises that money is not everything.

The difference between the characters that have been talked about is the wealthy people such as Tom, Daisy and Gatsby are overtaken by money and they buy there way out of any situation no matter how big or small, as money is no issue in their families.

The wealthy families are in the “in crowd” and always attend the parties that Gatsby holds. The story is seen and told through the eyes of Nick Carraway so everyone is seen through his eyes. Weather the way he sees things are correct or not the readers will never know.

In the novel F. Scott Fitzgerald used very descriptive writing when talking about the parties that Gatsby held at his mansion in a bid to gain Daisy’s attention and also to create the illusionary world that they live in. By using descriptive language acute attention to detail, the use of creativity and imagination are used to create characters and settings in the readers mind. Along with the use of descriptive writing the use of atmosphere was used. This was used to create tension and leave the readers wanting to know what happens next in the story, as there was a surprise around the

corner.

At the end of the novel, these words were used to conclude the novel, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us.

It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther and then one fine

morning,
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” This sentence that was used to conclude the novel and show the significance of the past to dreams of the future, in this case it was represented by the green light at the end of the dock where Daisy lived.

In conclusion the techniques used to convey the ideas in the story were used effectively and the message about the American Dream was successfully expressed throughout the novel.