Superficiality In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

People are masters of disguise, masking who they really are and concealing the parts they hate about themselves to appeal to the world. Superficiality is all too common, using false truths like wealth to attract the kind of attention they desire. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby focuses on Jay Gatsby, a man who's superficial greatness is being an amoral showman of wealth; however, his true greatness is his capacity to love hopelessly and trust.

To begin, the West Egg icon Jay Gatsby meets newfound friend and narrator Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate from Minnesota, and tells him the story of how he became the man he is. While driving together to West Egg Village for lunch, Gatsby tells Nick who he “truly” is, "'I'll tell you God's

Fitzgerald tries to alert the reader that the book will be about doing whatever it takes for love. Gatsby figures that if he can wear “the gold hat” Daisy will want to be his once again. Although Gatsby spins webs of lies about who he is, his true greatness is his capacity to hopelessly love and trust another person. Critic David Parker says, “Gatsby is preposterous, but there is something admirable in his chivalrous idealism as well. Fitzgerald manages to generate for Gatsby a kind of wondering respect" (Parker). Even though Gatsby is a liar, narrator Nick Carraway respects his idealistic ways. While discussing Gatsby’s plans for furthering his pursuit of Daisy, Nick states, "'I wouldn't ask too much of her...You can't repeat the past'”. Not accepting what Nick has to say, Gatsby cries incredulously, “'Can't repeat the past?...Why of course you can!” Worrying about how he will fix his relationship with Daisy, “He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand. 'I'm going, to fix everything just the way it was before', he said, nodding determinedly. 'She'll see'" (Fitzgerald 110). Everything Gatsby is doing is for Daisy, he is determined to repeat how the connection they had before he left for war. Literary Themes for Students states, "To everyone in the novel, Gatsby was someone different: ambitious boy, former lover, wealthy businessman, con man, success story, murderer” ("The Great Gatsby." Literary Themes for Students). Because he hides different aspects of his life to each person involved with him, he wears many masks. After all, Jay Gatsby strives to achieve success, “In the end Jay Gatsby lost his life "in the pursuit of success, or at least the appearance of success". For him, "the American dream means being able to exchange his impoverished pasts for the good life. Unfortunately, the good life is a masquerade"” ("The Great Gatsby." Literary Themes