The Deception of the World in Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"

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The world as we know it today is as full of lies as a high school swimming pool has water. Lies permeate the fabric of society like never before. The greatest challenge for the people of the world today is to select and believe what they think the truth can and should be. The world is not the same for any two people. In the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the secrecy and deceit of the characters prompt the question of how truthful the world is that we live in today.

Deceit in the world causes the both the collapse and the structure of society today. Most perceive lies as an incorrect thing to do, and yet, they themselves are prejudiced because they do it themselves. Gatsby withholds the truth of his past, and most of his party-goers think fantastical things about Gatsby and his past. Two of the girls at Gatsby’s party said that Gatsby had either “killed a man once” or “was a German spy during the war” (Fitzgerald 48). These were fictitious accusations that undermined the true reasons of the parties at the mansion of Gatsby every weekend. The only reason that Gatsby decides to...

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