Is living a life a fake life of fame and fortune worth all of the pain of the lies? This is a question that many characters face throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby. They have to make tough decisions deciding if all of it is worth the suffering, or should they continue living a normal life? Throughout the book there are many characters who lie and cheat. Even though each character cheats in his or her own different way they all do it for the same reason, which is to be wealthy and have high social class. The theme for this novel is sometimes it is worse to live a life full of lies and riches than to live a life of normality.
Jay Gatsby is in love with Daisy and wants to spend the rest ...view middle of the document...
But is getting Daisy worth all of the lies? Gatsby could have had a normal life. He wouldn’t have to worry about what people were thinking of him, the false accusations, or getting caught getting his riches illegally. If Gatsby lived a simple life without all of the lies and the fame, he could have still been alive.
Myrtle also does a lot of lying to cover up her affair with Tom. But the most frequent lying she does is to herself. She thinks she was born in the wrong class. On page 34 she talks about how she married a man in a class below her and thinks she deserves better. Myrtle says “..but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.” She tells herself that she deserves to have fancy dresses, Tom, and all of his fortune. Myrtle doesn’t want her old, boring life. She wants a life like Daisy’s. But while she is living her “dream life” there are many complications that arise. Myrtle still has to deal with her real husband, George Wilson, and her jealously of Daisy, because Daisy has everything Myrtle wants. On page 125 Fitzgerald shows how jealous Myrtle is of rich women. “..her eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife.” Myrtle wanted the American Dream. She wanted the handsome husband, to be outrageously rich, have high social status, and to live in a big, fancy house. This proves that lies and riches are worse than a normal life. Her “dream life” had jealously, lies, and was fake. But even though her real life didn’t have tons of money, it still had a husband who loved her very much and she might not have had such a awful and gruesome death.
In the novel it talks about Gatsby’s mansion frequently. In a lot of ways Gatsby and his mansion are very similar. On the outside you see a gigantic house that could host a...
