Theme Of Ignorance In The Great Gatsby
Adding to ignorance’s power lies its ability to inspire us to progress, and project us further. Filled with so many uncertainties, modern life can seem daunting, and people try everything they can to understand its secrets. Their lives become dedicated to philosophy of the unknowable, and they create their own ideas on what’s true. They strive, they struggle, and they dream for the truth; yet in the end, they end up fully believing the false conclusions they arrived at. They have created their own facade over life, shielding themselves from the same truth they lunged for; sadly, they are now completely ignorant that the truth remains there at all. The time has come to wade into rather risky waters. There are over forty-two-hundred religions
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The truth tears people apart, and more often than not it’s better that people don’t hear the full story. The novel, The Great Gatsby, outlines this point extraordinarily well. The first, and most powerful example from this novel, involves Wilson, the broken owner of a run-down auto shop. Wilson's life came to a crashing halt when he discovered Myrtle, his wife, is having an affair. He immediately decides to skip town with Myrtle to escape the corruption of the east. He went from being a decently happy man, to a man who had his ego crushed, and his confidence ruined. Interestingly, nothing changed at all regarding the reality of Wilson’s life. Myrtle was always having the affair, and Wilson was always ridiculed by her. In fact, only Wilson's view of reality has changed; his ignorance toward Myrtle's secret life no longer tricked him. Wilson’s ignorance protected him, and showed him the world he would have rather lived in. If he would have remained ignorant, not only would he have remained happy, but Myrtle would never have ran into the street at all. Simple knowledge destroyed Wilson’s life, and ultimately ended it. This goes to show that people can not always handle reality in its purest form. There will always be something someone would rather have not known. So, just like Wilson, we live our lives partially ignorant to, and partially ignoring, the fact that reality, in its truest form, will tarnish even the boldest of
The truth tears people apart, and more often than not it’s better that people don’t hear the full story. The novel, The Great Gatsby, outlines this point extraordinarily well. The first, and most powerful example from this novel, involves Wilson, the broken owner of a run-down auto shop. Wilson's life came to a crashing halt when he discovered Myrtle, his wife, is having an affair. He immediately decides to skip town with Myrtle to escape the corruption of the east. He went from being a decently happy man, to a man who had his ego crushed, and his confidence ruined. Interestingly, nothing changed at all regarding the reality of Wilson’s life. Myrtle was always having the affair, and Wilson was always ridiculed by her. In fact, only Wilson's view of reality has changed; his ignorance toward Myrtle's secret life no longer tricked him. Wilson’s ignorance protected him, and showed him the world he would have rather lived in. If he would have remained ignorant, not only would he have remained happy, but Myrtle would never have ran into the street at all. Simple knowledge destroyed Wilson’s life, and ultimately ended it. This goes to show that people can not always handle reality in its purest form. There will always be something someone would rather have not known. So, just like Wilson, we live our lives partially ignorant to, and partially ignoring, the fact that reality, in its truest form, will tarnish even the boldest of