Lies In The Great Gatsby

Lies and Deceit “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively” (Marley). In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is said to be a great man, but he is not as great as the title says. The novel is about Gatsby, a conniving business man, who lies in order to fit in with the wealthy. Gatsby starts out as a poor young man from the mid-west. Everyone knew him by James Gatz before he met Dan Cody. When he leaves home, he meets Dan Cody who he ends up working for as an apprentice. When he meets him he introduces himself as a new man, Jay Gatsby. This is when Gatsby’s train of lies begins. Dan Cody teaches him manners and helps him get an idea
Gatsby’s name is not officially his name and he goes by Jay Gatsby now instead of James Gatz. Nick explains, “James Gatz- that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career- “(98). When he sees the opportunity to be a new man he takes it, he is meeting someone new and can pretend to be someone else. Gatsby uses his war uniform as a mask to hide who he truly is. Nick says, “However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment in the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders” (144). Gatsby enjoys pretending to be someone else and strives to be anyone other than himself. If someone were to be great they would embrace their true self and not hide behind a
Gatsby lives a life full of lies. Nick tells, “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people- his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was the Jay Gatsby of West Egg; Long Island sprang from his platonic conception of himself “(104). The Gatsby that is introduced at the beginning is different than the one known now. Throughout the book so many things about Gatsby that were covered up by his lies are discovered. Nick says, “He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses…he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter a fact he had no such facilities—” (149). Daisy fell for Gatsby because she thought he could take care of her but he is not able to do so. If he is truthful he will not hurt so many