The Great Gatsby Smile Meaning

“You can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they don’t see or care” describes the given world as one that values appearance, but is easy to deceive by feigning the reality (77). In the novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, the issue of putting up a facade to belong better in the community is addressed. When Nick Carraway describes Gatsby and his smile (48), he notices how the image that Gatsby puts out falters around the edges, and by the end, he can tell that it is fake. Through the details describing Gatsby’s smile, Fitzgerald reveals that Nick’s initial tone towards Gatsby is admiring, but quickly changes to more critical of the way Gatsby seems to be putting up a facade. This change of

While Nick was attending one of Gatsby’s parties, he met the host in his garden and described his smile as one with “a quality of eternal reassurance” (48). The words “eternal reassurance” mean to constantly express confidence in someone and to guarantee some form of safety. By describing Gatsby’s smile as one that constantly gives people support, Nick shows admiration towards the way that Gatsby can make everyone trust him and confide in him with just a smile. Nick also demonstrates his admiration by saying it has the trait of “irresistible prejudice in your favor” (48). The word “prejudice” means to have any preconceived opinion or feeling towards something, which is usually negative, but in this case is positive. This shows how Gatsby makes it look like he always sees the best in someone before he actually gets to know them, which is a quality that few people possess and which Nick admires. The initial image that Gatsby gives off is nearly perfect, which allows him to cover up things he doesn’t want people to know, which shows Fitzgerald’s message that people will create a perfect mask to hide the ugly