Theme Of Illusion In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), the upper class and Daisy were portrayed as being “a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild, but [Daisy] came out with a perfect reputation” (77). Despite this attribution, the upper class is characterized as living in an artificial, ignorant world of illusions and a distorted reality, with an appearance that contrasts their hollow interior. Fitzgerald emphasizes through their false appearances and feigned identities the true corruption of New York’s high society. Although those in Nick Carraway’s world were portrayed on the outside as young, rich, wild, and beautiful, on the inside, they were all just “hollow” and empty–always demonstrating the image of a perfect life yet damaged on the inside.

Carraway describes Gatsby’s party as a place where the high society of New York puts on fake personas to hide their cold loneliness on the inside. At Gatsby’s party, Carraway describes how “the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meeting between women who never knew each other's names” (40). Here, Carraway hints at the artificiality of the people at the

party. He emphasizes that every action is just to portray a certain image, but in reality, they are hollow on the inside; no one is genuinely kind or nice, it’s all for the show. Similarly, Gatsby himself is described as lonely despite his crowded party; "A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell" (55). Although Gatsby is rich and wealthy, on the inside, he is isolated and hollow. At his parties, he is rarely seen with his guests, and at one point he claims he hates parties. This demonstrates his willingness to go to extreme measures just to impress others and put on a mask of a perfect life over a hollow inside.

Additionally, Daisy is shown as being ignorant with her superficial values, and is hollow on the inside yet is a master manipulator. “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (17). Although she is talking about her daughter, this could perhaps also be a reflection of her own life–she has always lived with money and is ignorant to the reality of the world but claims this is the best way to live. Although she is living in a distorted reality, she is contented with her hollow state and wearing her masks of feigned happiness instead of being curious about the world around her or making real connections with people. Along with this, Carraway recounts that, "they were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..." (178). This emphasizes Tom and Daisy’s natures as manipulators who deceive those around them by presenting themselves as something that they’re not; happy and not lonely. They possess the power to destroy lives and take what they need from people then leave them behind in their wake. Ultimately, the mess they create, along with Carraway and others, culminate in Gatsby’s, Myrtle’s, and Wilson’s death.

Finally, Carraway reflects on the upper class and Gatsby ending up alone and dead, with his house “empty,” with nothing left of him except a distant memory. He reflects that “perhaps we all possessed some deficiency in common which made us all subtly unadaptable to Eastern life” (176). Carraway emphasizes New York’s detrimental effect on people in turning them into money-craving shallow people. Carraway suggests that this hollow life of superficiality was not for him or his friends, instigating his will to return to the Mid West. Additionally, after Gatsby’s death, Carraway remembers life with Gatsby;

“Gatsby’s house was still empty when I left — the grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine…. I spent my Saturday nights in New York because those gleaming, dazzling parties of his were with me so vividly that I could still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant… One night I did hear a material car there… But I didn’t investigate. Probably it was some final guest who had been away at the ends of the earth and didn’t know that the party was over” (179)

Here, he implies that even during the crowded busy parties, Gatsby had no real friends and shallow relationships. He also emphasizes the corrupt disposition of the East in social-climbing nature of the society, using the parties just to expand their network and show off, with the example of the person who was unaware of Gatsby’s death and that “the party was over.”

Even though those in Nick Carraway’s New York society put on the mask of being young, rich, wild, and beautiful, they were, in reality, “hollow”, lonely, and corrupt.

In his novel, Fitzgerald emphasizes that the upper class is corrupt by the fake personas the people us that are just for show or to social climb with the ultimate goal of gaining wealth in mind. In The Great Gatsby, everything is hollow; the people, their values, their promises, and their dreams. Gatsby fails to make real connections with people because of his feigned personality and his desire to move up in society through money and Daisy’s affections. Through this story, Fitzgerald indicates that this hollow state of artificial facades and manipulation will end in isolation, either physically, emotionally, or

both.