The Great Gatsby is a story that took the times up on their offer for the sake of love. Upon realizing who James really was and what he came from, comparing his own actual life with the life he foresaw himself living, he was able to make a fortune learning the attributes of the world, being sharp witty and well versed. F. Scott Fitzgerald sets an imagery tone for his audience to unfold the scrambled love story of a boy who found a way to live an unauthentic life all for the sake of love and what he thought would bring him ultimate happiness. Years of wealth, parties, and fake smiles still did not hand him the love of his life Daisy, which in fact was the origin of his disillusionment. Once James Gatz realized living his actual life would never satisfy criteria needed to wed Daisy, was the moment disappointment went out the window and James Gatsby came in. In fact, the illusion Gatsby created for himself because of his disillusionment had done just the opposite. As read here in the story from the friend of Gatsby Nick Carraway, “he talked about the past a lot, […] he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself, perhaps that had gone into loving Daisy” (Fitzgerald, chapter 6) seems as though he may have need a dose of reality to carry on with his illusion. This passage says to me that Gatsby had lost himself, being caught up in all the lights and glamour of the times, he lost he way with …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald shows how illusion and disillusion affect the characters’ perceptions of the American dream, specifically through a flashback allowing his audience to obtain an omnipotent view of Gatsby’s fantasy lifestyle through the eyes of Nick Carraway. To demonstrate the narration of Nick and his indirect connection to disillusionment Grey acknowledges that, in Carraways’ narrative he explains, “Jay Gatsby […] sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (Grey, 2013). Greys’ view of the novel based off the narrative of the character Nick Carraway effectively displayed illusion within the novel. The fact that Carraway, a character arguably the closest to Gatsby could draw the conclusion that Gatsby puts on this façade avoiding who he truly is, and further goes on to create an entirely new persona, embodies illusion through direct characterization. The magnificent illusion of Jay Gatsby’s’ life was in perfect harmony with the American dream during the “Roaring