Code Of Conduct In The Great Gatsby

To be or not to be. Indeed, that is the ultimate question. After just witnessing the fall of the Great Gatsby, this question has, once again, haunted me. It has kept me awake at nights and, to be honest, I have been desperate in my efforts to search for an answer. We get told all the time to just ‘be ourselves,’ yet it is not as simple as it sounds. There are certain social structures and rules that one must conform to. There exists, in the depths of our psyche, a universal manual for basic human conduct that everyone must adhere to. But past the morals, ethics and values that constitute the foundation of society, there are various situations in which we cannot simply be ourselves. There are certain scenarios wherein we have to conduct ourselves in a certain manner. From weddings, funerals, formal settings, and job
It is very much like acting wherein one puts on a costume and plays a role and then, later on, steps out of the role when the play is over. The problem with James is that once he got into this costume, he never stepped out. Once he took on the persona of Jay Gatsby, the play - for him - never ended. And, becoming accustomed to this fantasy of his, it became his reality. This endowed him with a distinct swagger and confidence which allowed him to fulfill his dreams. But, the longer he had this costume on, the more it started to weigh upon himself. It consumed more and more of his true self to the point where he was cautious about revealing his past. He began to distance himself from the crowd so as to preserve their perception of him as the Great Gatsby. Looking back at it now, it all makes sense - the pictures of him at Oxford, and his medal from the war which he just so happens to carry in his car, and the stories he tells me, which uncannily resemble pre-recorded messages one finds on those wire