The theme of Appearance and Reality explored by Mr Fitzgerald himself

F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the dominant theme of 'Appearance Vs Reality' wihtin his marvellous creation, The Great Gatsby.

Fitzgerald smartly, in my opinion, egages his reader by manipulating this idea of what is real and what is an illusion on the surface. There are many characters Fitzgerald uses to develop this idea of having to look deeper into an individual to move away the mist and fog of their outer persona and realise what their actual realistic personaility is like.

Tom Buchanan for example is a man who presents himself as being powerful and an overall great man but we learn as the novel goes on that he is unfaithful, violent and quite racist, and also holds strong views against certain people or things.

Then theres the character of Gatsby himself. In the beginning of the novel we know hardly anything of who Gatsby is or what he does, and this technqiue used by Fitzgerald creates a mystery on the surface as to what Gatsby does and who he really is. All we do know is that he has a big house and holds many parties which could give the first impression to the reader that Gatsby is a sociable happy man who shares his large house and nice food with others. However as the novel goes on we learn that infact Gatsby invites these guests to party in his house however he's never there on the dancefloor breaking down some moves, he's on the side watching. Small changes such as this then change our opinion on Gatsby and what he has in life as we start to learn abit more about this mysterious character. Fitzgerald uses other characters or guests within the novel to raise suspicions in our mind as to who Gatsby really is and how he became as wealthy and well off as he is now for example when Catherine says "well they say he's an nephew or cousin of Kaiser Wilhelms, thats where all his money comes from." Remarks such as this make the reader question whteher their initial thoughts on Gatsby are true and other quite extreme opinions on who Gatsby is such as him killing a man once, makes the reader want to know more about this "great" character.

When we learn however that the concealed Mr Gatsby was once in the war with Nick, the idea of him being a normal man begins to kick in although there are still high levels of suspicion as to what he actually does and who he exactly is.

In my own personal opinion, the main way in which Fitzgerald presents this parallel between Illusions or appearance vs reality is by using the society in which the novel is set. The less important characters such as guests at Gatsbys party for example, that we encounter along the way are key to the idea of what is reality? The community of individuals that surround Nick and Gatsby are extremely good examples of this idea of appearance and reality where Nick freely describes Characters as fake or distorted in terms of on the surface appearance which is obvious that they are not like this normally, and that its all just a front. "With the influence of her dress, her personality had also undergone a change." The fact that characters within the novel are fake gives the idea that the whole society is under an impressionable time where they feel that they have to change and act in a certain way in order to fit in.

Personally I think that Fitzgerald is a talented and intelligent author as he is able to mainupulate something that can still be related today such as distortions in reality in order to fit in. He also uses the fact that Nick is writing in first person to decide when he wants to give information out to the audience and when he wants to keep them in the dark about certain characters such as Gatsby so that the reaeder reads on to find out more about this illusive character.

Despibale Lea 2k13

Contrasting themes within Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby'

Despite having only read the first 4 chapters I have already picked up that 'The Great Gatsby' is a novel based around a lot of contradictions,the narrator itself being a prime example. Nick says that he himself feels "within and without". However, the central story in the novel is the relationship between Daisy Buchanan (a married woman) and Jay Gatsby. So I feel the most relevant pair of themes to comment on is the contrast that Fitzgerald presents between love and marriage.

Clearly, the Buchanan marriage is a very unhappy one. We are made aware that the only reason Daisy chose to marry Tom Buchanan was because he was able to provide her with the fashionable, wealthy lifestyle she craved despite her being in "love" with Gatsby. This shows to us that Daisy is sucked into the superficial nature of the society of the time. However, later in the novel Nick is informed by Jordan Baker that she had "never seen a girl so mad about her husband." If I didn't know about Daisy's 'breakdown' before her wedding day and not marrying Jay because he was too poor I would have been more inclined to believe Jordan when she said this about Daisy. Although alongside the intended humor of the statement "That's what I get for marrying a brute of a man," Fitzgerald is laying the foundations for Daisy's future affair with Gatsby. I feel this opinion that Daisy holds is closer to the truth. Especially as when Jordan initially mentions Gatsby Daisy almost immediately replies "Gatsby? What Gatsby?" This shows she isn't even afraid to hide her feelings towards another from her husband.

Neither Tom nor Daisy ever really truly care for the others feelings as they both have quite serious affairs without even questioning what it would do to the other person. I feel that this is a comment on the society that Fitzgerald is attempting to make about the carefree nature of the society in the 20s; the women in the 20s were more worried about what expensive gifts their husbands could buy them (Daisy's pearls) as opposed to whether they actually love them. For example, his wife Zelda broke off their engagement when she thought he wouldn't be able to provide for her, but as soon as one of his novels got published she agreed to marry him. This seems a bit strange as surely marriage should be between two people who can't think of spending their life with anyone else than the person they intend to marry. It seems obvious to me that Fitzgerald does not have a positive view on marriage at all. I came to this conclusion as the two marriages presented in the novel are both ruined by affairs. Maybe this is because of his unsuccessful marriage to Zelda.  

Regardless of the extremely negative view of marriage Fitzgerald has presented he does show us how powerful the emotion of love can be. Ever since the moment Gatsby laid eyes on Daisy he knew she was the ONE!! Now this is an extremely cliche phrase but I feel in Gatsby case this was true, Daisy was the one and only woman for him. Since the moment he had to let her go he has tried every effort to make himself seem like the kind of man Daisy craves, the rich kind. Jordan describes that Gatsby looked at her "in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at sometime." However, I feel Daisy was never full of the same kind of emotion. She was in love with the idea of Gatsby rather than the actual man himself. Again this brings up the idea of the superficial society that Fitzgerald was writing in. 

Em

Love vs. Marriage explored in ‘The Great Gatsby’

In ‘The Great Gatsby’, Fitzgerald challenges the differences and similarities between love and marriage. The reader is presented with a series of relationships, based on marriage and affairs, and due to the affairs, I question whether or not the married couples, Tom and Daisy, and Wilson and Myrtle, married out of love or if there were any motives involved.

Looking at Tom and Daisy, Fitzgerald tells the reader about the problems within their marriage, which are presented straight away when the reader first meets them both at the Buchanan’s house. Miss Baker, who is a friend of Daisy, has a ‘fling’ with Nick, implying the lack of seriousness focused on relationships by almost everyone in the novel. Miss Baker is the one to break the news to the reader as she says “Tom’s got some woman in New York”. Fitzgerald could be implying everyday problems that are experienced in relationships, involving lies and cheating. Daisy does not, however, divorce Tom, she merely tries to live on with her life, and deny what’s happening. This could be a sign of Daisy’s true love for Tom, if it hadn't been for Gatsby. It isn't only Tom, who is not happy in this relationship, but Daisy is also not happy and we know that from her startled reaction at the mention of Gatsby. She says “Gatsby?”...”What Gatsby?”, and from this point onwards, the reader starts to suspect Daisy. Later on, we discover that Daisy’s only motive to marry Tom was because of his money, as at the time, Gatsby was quite poor. For her to allow her feelings to go back to Gatsby, just shows the lack of commitment and passion in her marriage with Tom.

Even though Daisy may be seen as an evil character that cheats on her husband with an old lover, Tom is just as much to blame for the breakdown in their marriage. Fitzgerald presents to the reader another marriage between Wilson and Myrtle, where Myrtle is having an affair with Tom. It’s very well hidden from Wilson, yet out in the open for everyone else around them. The fact he takes Nick, Daisy’s cousin, with him to meet Myrtle just shows how much he loves Myrtle, because he’s not afraid of what might get back to Daisy. His passion for Myrtle is much stronger than that for Daisy, as he cheats on Daisy without so much of a second thought for her. Tom is quite a complex character because as much as he isn't happy in his relationship, he still feels as if he has a certain type of ownership over Daisy, and still presents some form of love for her, which is shown later on, once the character of Gatsby is introduced to Tom and Daisy.

Fitzgerald presents us with very complicated situations, as both married couples do love each other, but it seems that their real passion and intention to love is elsewhere, which creates confusion and anger. Marriage isn't taken very seriously, as we see both marriages breakdown and taken advantage of. There’s never an intimate or romantic scene presented by Fitzgerald in the marriages, it is always between the couples who are having an affair, perhaps implying that the characters go after what their hearts want. The consequences that come about it show the reader to be careful about what we do, and how we do it, to prevent as many complications as possible.

(Click here to listen to a song created for 'The Great Gatsby' by Lana Del Rey - Young and Beautiful. I feel like it really relates to Gatsby and Daisy because of the time they've spent apart and how much they've changed in their personalities and looks).

A little diagram explaining the story

A.P ~

Themes explored in The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents readers with an enthusiastic outlook into the life of the populace during the 1920’s, mirroring the Jazz age years and the American Dream.

Attractive appearances serve to cover distasteful reality, in the world of East Egg. Tom and Daisy’s marriage is seemingly threatened by extreme anxiety beneath its pleasant exterior. Tom, unlike Nick, is smug and untruthful, carrying on a relatively public love affair with Myrtle. Jordan Baker “who seemed to have mastered a certain hardy skepticism”, contrasts pessimism and dullness with her wealth and beauty, and as with the Buchanan’s’ marriage, her glamorized facade covers an inner meaninglessness.

Tom becomes known in the party scene of chapter 2 as ill-mannered and intimidating, who uses his societal position and physical force to control those around him, as shown in “breaking her nose with his open hand”.  Tom cunningly mocks Wilson, while indulging in an affair with his wife. In comparison, Fitzgerald portrays the character of Wilson as an attractive, honest man but who instead happens to lack in wealth, freedom, and vivacity.

The mystifying division between that of what is the truth, and what is a lie, heavily essences the novel. Tom must ensure his affair with Myrtle is kept somewhat low-key, although in New York they can appear in public, without the worry of causing shame. At the party, readers acknowledge Tom’s hypocrisy and lies, as Fitzgerald depicts him as feeling no remorse for his corrupt ways by betraying Daisy, yet feels obliged to maintain power over Myrtle.

Moreover, Fitzgerald persists in constructing a sense of secrecy around Gatsby throughout the party scene of chapter 3, of which has not yet made a full appearance in the novel. He surfaces as a focus of rumour amongst everyone, of whom is also incredibly notorious; nevertheless nobody seems to hold any confirmable information on him. How Catherine results in spreading a supposed ludicrous rumour about him, suggests the degree of public interest concerning him which gives a picture of him as more intriguing to both readers, and other characters of the novel.

The parity of admiration and friendship is illustrated further into the novel. Despite the fact that Nick highly admires Gatsby, Gatsby is representative of everything Nick disapproves of about New York. It is obvious that Gatsby is a test to Nicks’ usual views regarding the world. Gatsby’s puzzling history concerns chapter 4 principally, which proves to Nick an overwhelming mystery. Gatsby creates a seemingly unbelievable account of his background, resulting in Nick finding it difficult to “restrain his incredulous laughter”, but when he sees proof of the photograph and medal, Nick appears to believe at least some of Gatsby’s account.

Nick notices Jordan, after the lunch in New York, who happens to finally inform him of the subject of the talk with Gatsby, at the party. Jordan exposes Gatsby as a humble, young officer longing to keep hold of Daisy’s heart, who of which instead eventually married the tremendously affluent, Tom Buchanan of Chicago, “with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before”.  Nick succumbs to feelings of conflicting admiration and disgust for Gatsby which becomes apparent in the chapter, highlighting the strange inner clash that enables these feelings.

Whereas Gatsby, infatuated by his love for daisy, is an attractive figure, significant of optimism and genuineness, Gatsby the dishonest entrepreneur, significant of greed and moral corruption, isn’t.

M Chacko

‘Within and without’: Appearance and reality in The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents to the reader an exuberant world that is bursting with life: from Gatsby’s glittering and sparkling parties to the ‘racy, adventurous feel’ of New York. However, it is under this shimmering surface that the real action of the novel happens.

While the characters in the novel attempt to give the impression of existing on a carousel of pleasure, it is almost immediately apparent that beneath the gaudily painted horses and smiling faces (to extend the metaphor), lies a world of pain and regret, of deception and unhappiness. Beneath a wafer thin veneer of lies, make-up and ‘artificial’ laughter lies the truth: that life for Fitzgerald’s characters is a continual disappointment, a continual falling short of expectations, of ideals. We do not know it at the time but beneath Daisy’s response to hearing Gatsby’s name (‘Gatsby?’…’What Gatsby?’), beneath the ‘excitement in her voice’ lies a world of pain, of thwarted love, despair and unhappy marriage.

Fitzgerald, then, seems to be suggesting that the society he is depicting is an overwhelmingly superficial one; it is a society of surfaces, a society where there is an unbridgeable gulf between appearances and reality. In Fitzgerald’s New York even the moon is contrived, is reduced to the status of an adornment when it is described as being ‘produced like the supper…out of a caterer’s basket’. Later it is described as a ‘wafer of a moon’; something insubstantial, decorative, an embellishment – beautiful but ultimately unnecessary. Nature is further subjugated in Fitzgerald’s description of Myrtle’s sister, Catherine. Despite the fact that Catherine has plucked her eyebrows and drawn them ‘on again at a more rakish angle’, the ‘efforts of nature toward the restoration of the old alignment gave a blurred air to her face.’ Beneath the surface appearance (the ‘drawn on’ eyebrows), nature, or reality, is determined to reassert itself. This continual conflict between appearance and reality creates a ‘blurred air’ which permeates the whole novel. Truth and reality are hard, if not impossible, to discern as they exist beneath a surface of artifice.  Is Gatsby the hero that Nick seems to think he is? Despite his assertion that he is one of the 'few honest people' he has ever known, can Nick himself be trusted? Is Tom really a complete bastard? Does Daisy really love Gatsby? Tom? Anyone?

This disparity between appearance and reality is further illustrated in one of the stranger episodes of the novel when Nick and Jordan stumble into Gatsby’s library during Nick’s first party at his neighbour’s ornate house. Inside is a drunk, middle-aged man who announces excitedly that the books contained on Gatsby’s shelves are ‘absolutely real – have pages and everything.’ While the reader might find this rather odd (after all, why wouldn’t the books be real? Most books are real, aren’t they?) the inebriated man takes ‘scepticism for granted’ and proceeds to prove to Nick and Jordan that the books are real by selecting one and showing them the pages. Here the fact that appearance and reality seem to correspond is taken by the stout man as a marvel, as something that others would find hard to believe without solid proof. The ‘owl-eyed’ man then compares Gatsby to David Belasco, a Broadway theatre producer, known as ‘the Bishop of Broadway’ who was famed for the ‘realism of his sets’. Even in his drunken but lucid state, he is clearly able to see Gatsby’s world for what it is: an elaborate and fanciful construction.

Can we believe anything we are told about Gatsby? Fitzgerald deliberately wraps an aura of mystery around his eponymous ‘hero’. Before he appears in the novel we are told that he is ‘a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s’ and a ‘German spy’. The German connection makes the stories seem almost plausible, but like the man in the library we can take scepticism for granted by this stage. Gatsby is the ultimate mirage, the ultimate illusion. At this point, it is impossible for us as readers or for the characters in the novel to pin him down, to separate myth from history, truth from lies, appearance from reality; we are reduced to relying on gossip and hearsay, like the partygoer who declares that ‘Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once’ (my italics). It’s hard to imagine how Fitzgerald could have made this statement any vaguer, any more qualified, and it perfectly illustrates the slippery and elusive nature of truth in the novel.

It is perhaps the insincerity of the world that Fitzgerald creates that makes it difficult for our narrator, Nick Carraway, to fully engage with the scenes he is passing through; perhaps that is the reason why he describes himself as ‘within and without’. And perhaps that is why our apparently ‘honest’ narrator is ‘simultaneously enchanted and repelled’ by a society that appears to be glamorous, exciting and desirable, but is also superficial, insincere and deceptive.

Mr R.

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