Sometimes in life when reality gets difficult an illusion is a way to escape. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald suggests many ideas about illusion and reality. All of the characters in this novel have an illusion surrounding their persona especially Jay Gatsby. He lives his entire life lost in illusion. Money is the underlying cause of the illusionary world that the majority of the characters are trapped in. Although some of the characters can tell the difference between illusion and reality, like Daisy Buchannan and Nick Caraway, this knowledge still makes life and choices difficult for them.
These ill either corrupted people or forced them to conform to society’s idea Of the illusion; but either way no one could escape this nightmare. Jay Gatsby lives in his extravagant world of make believe. When Gatsby says, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can! “(110), he confirms that he is living his life in complete illusion. His main attempt was to get back everything that he had in the past including Daisy, but he forgot that is impossible. Gatsby places Daisy on a high pedestal of everything he wants her to be, which creates an illusion.
Gatsby is actually in love with his idea of her and the illusion he has created Of her, not the real Daisy. He is so wrapped up in his desires and expectations that he never Stops to realize that Daisy might not be in love with Gatsby. Though Daisy may have loved him once, there was no real way for Gatsby to ever get Daisy back again. Gatsby also has a very platonic view of himself. Thinking he is not like everyone else, this ideal of him made reality only a possibility. He also lived in the gossip that people spread bout him.
For example, being the nephew of a German leader, a spy, and a murderer. The only thing Gatsby ever murdered was his grasp on reality. This all started when Gatsby created his own version of his life. He was so absorbed in the lies and the money that consumed his life that he never really got a true view Of reality. Because Of this, Jay Gatsby ended up dead; caught up in all his lies. Daisy Buchannan was also absorbed in ideas and beliefs that were not in relation to reality. The truth is Daisy is not really in love with Tom or Gatsby.
She is obsessed with money, becoming the only thing that is important to her. Daisy was raised in an upper-class family who spoiled her all of her life. She was born into money and had many men who would continue to spoil her. Because of this, she has learned to think only of herself without regard for the people that she may hurt. At the same time, she does pretend to believe in all the illusions in her life. Daisy pretends that her marriage in not falling apart and that she does not know that Tom is cheating on her.
Daisy knows these hinges are not true, but it is easier for her to believe so in the world Of illusions she lives in. When Daisy talks about her daughter to Nick she says, ” I hope she’ll be a fool” (Page 17). It is because Daisy is onto fool, she saw the world for what it truly was, which is something Gatsby could never do. This quote reveals the truth about Daisy character. Daisy is not a fool but a product of a social environment that does not value the intelligence of a woman but the illusions that have always been a part of her life.
Daisy implied hat a girl could have more fun if her life is portrayed by beauty and illusion, which is why Daisy tries to act the part. Daisy decides to stay with Tom because she knows Gatsby whole life is an illusion and Tom’s money is a more dependTABLE and realistic choice. Nick Caraway is one of the few people in the novel who lives life in reality and not an illusion. A noTABLE example of this is when Nick says, “Thieve a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together”(Page 154). This reveals how he understands the major role money plays in corrupting an individual.
Unlike the whole West Egg crowd, Nick does not let materialistic items, dishonesty, and money dominate his life. Instead, Nick portrays an honest man who resides in an average house and knows the real worth of those meaningless items. In the end, even the greatest characters in The Great Gatsby conform because of illusions; whether it roots from society, or the fact that they lived in an era of carelessness and mischief. As Gatsby turned illusions into his reality, it created a life of misery. Illusion puts on a mask of reality and in some way tears apart the lives of those who rely on it.
Gatsby life was ruined and eventually ended because of the lies he chose to believe. Meanwhile, Daisy who understood the difference between reality and illusion chose to conform and pretend. Daisy chose to do nothing about the lies in which she and the people she loved lived in. Nick was the only one who did not fall into the lies and did not choose to conform. But in the end, no one really did anything to stop all the dishonesty and illusions. The illusions in Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby were endless nightmares no one could truly escape.
