The Deception of the World in Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby

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†¦show more content†¦The truth is the main opposite of lies. Nick states that he is â€Å"one of the few honest people that I have ever known† (64). Nick believes that he is telling the truth in this statement, but others make take this the wrong way. In using himself as a testament to his statement, he is setting up the falsehood of himself always being correct. Instead, the story is told through his point of view, where his views are twisted by both love and deceit. The love is expressed through Jordan Baker, while deceit could essentially be expressed through the character of Gatsby. Gatsby lied to Nick about his past, and Nick only found out about Gatsbys past after Gatsbys father came to the funeral and told Nick about how Gatsbys name was really â€Å"Jimmy Gatz†, and how Gatsby had â€Å"always liked it better down East† (176). This was probably due to Gatsby knowing where Daisy, his long-lost lover, was. For instance, Gatsby knows exactly where Tom and Daisy live because of the green light at the end of the dock. How Gatsby found out, no one knows. Gatsby seems to thrive behind the lies people have created of him. He has no intention of even correcting these lies about himself. Even among a group of pe ople, it would be difficult to pick him out because even in the book, Gatsby â€Å"looked at me and smiled† from among a group of people (51). Gatsby blends with everyone and he just feels that no one shouldShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1433 Words   |  6 Pagesilluminated the theme of self-deception. Most people in these times were not rich, powerful, or had high status so to deceive others and themselves they lied about who they were. Take his novel The Great Gatsby, the absence of anything real beneath masks of pretense and self-deception define the novel. Three of the main characters, Nick Carraway, Tom Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby, all demonstrate self-deception in one way or another. 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