Theme Of Reality In The Great Gatsby

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In The Great Gatsby by Scott F. Fitzgerald, one of the main themes is “illusion versus reality.” Fitzgerald dramatizes this conflict through the actions, motivations, and personalities of his characters, one of them being the book’s namesake: Jay Gatsby. Gatsby portrays himself as a young, wealthy, and educated man, but that portrayal hides who he truly is. Daisy Buchanan is another character who hides behind illusions because they have the privilege of wealth. However, Nick Carraway, the novel’s narrator, is the “reality” to Gatsby and Daisy’s “illusion.”
Along with dramatizing the conflict of illusion versus reality through the actions, motivations, and personalities of his characters, Fitzgerald dramatizes the conflict through “the middle class versus the rich.” He is trying to argue that the less grandeur one has to hide behind, the more “real” life is for them. Most of the characters in The Great Gatsby are changed by their illusions of wealth and the parties and drunkenness that came with the 1920’s self-made rich life, but those like Nick Carraway didn’t have wealth, and the illusion that comes along with it. Jay Gatsby, born James Gatz, was born in the Midwest to a poor family and never had a proper college education. But, he later became very wealthy through bootlegging and illegal bonds so he …show more content…
She uses fortune as an illusion and an escape from reality; this is why she marries the wealthy aristocrat Tom Buchanan and becomes infatuated by Gatsby with his big parties, cars, and mansion. She says about her daughter, “… I’ll hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in the world, a beautiful little fool.” Her only motivations are to be rich, and when she gets in trouble after hitting Myrtle Wilson with a car, she and Tom run and hind behind their money. She and Tom Buchanan represent the amoral, hollow rich, who care for nothing, not even their own daughter, but
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