By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

In The Great Gatsby characters are blinded and misled by others through appearances, wealth, and love which

leads to false perceptions and the destruction of all their relationships.

We are able to see how each character goes through different judgments and accusations of one another. Each false thought leads to their own demise. Not only can other characters see that occurring…the readers can as well.

Love in The Great GatsbySome characters in the novel are blinded by

love. When people are blinded by love they cant see past what they want to see in the other person. They see the person having good attributes when in actual fact, they are most likely the complete opposite. In The Great Gatsby, characters including Tom, Daisy, Jay Gatsby, Jordan, Myrtle and Nick are all influenced by love. They can’t see the other person they love for who they really are…only their artificial act.

Love1. Throughout the story, Gatsby believes that Daisy is

sophisticated, gorgeous and absolutely wonderful. Later on he realizes that she is actually fake, artificial, and is a gold digger. She doesn’t even care if there’s a man in her life or not. All she needs is money, even though she has her own. Her character is one that we see in many movies and 1920 era books. She’s a typical woman from that time period. However Gatsby is fooled.“for Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras…” (Gatsby,158).“he knew that Daisy was extraordinary but he didn’t realize just how extraordinary a ‘nice’ girl could be. She vanished into her rich house, into her rich full life, leaving Gatsby –nothing. He felt married to her, that was all” (Gatsby, 156-57).

Love (2)

Nick is blinded by love. In the beginning he believes that Jordan Baker is virtuous and is attracted to her. He is flattered to go places with her, accompanies her to parties, and “[draws] her up… closer… to [his] face” (Fitzgerald 85). Later on he realizes that she is dishonest. She once “left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and then lied about it” (Fitzgerald 62). She also cheated on a golf tournament. Nick realizes that this is why she avoids clever men and instead goes for him. Near the end, Nick has had enough of Jordan and no longer cares for her. He can’t talk to her anymore, even if it meant “never talk[ing] to her again in this world” (Fitzgerald 163).

Myrtle also is very passionate about Tom not realizing how crude and barbaric he is. In fact, she adoringly tells her friends about how she and Tom first met. She talks about how she was so excited when she got into the cab with Tom (Fitzgerald 40). However, later on in the novel Tom is abusive and breaks Myrtle’s nose. Myrtle was clearly affectionate about Tom and shows it although; Tom shows the opposite towards her.

Love (3)

Characters misinterpret others because of their wealth. The best example can be seen with Jay Gatsby and the amount of money he possesses. This leads to his speculation and eventually his demise. This can be seen with other characters as well. Wealth can be just as equally destructive as love because it leads people to believe in accusations rather than truth.

Wealth in The Great Gatsby

Wealth1. People in the story misinterpreted Gatsby because of his wealth…the amount of money he possessed. They couldn’t understand how he had so much, and where he could have gotten it from…so they began to speculate. People made up so many stories of him just to compensate for not actually knowing him at all.When Nick is at the first party he hears a story about a woman named Lucille who ripped her dress at a previous party and Gatsby bought her a new one just to avoid conflict. It was “two hundred and sixty-five dollars” (Gatsby,48). Another girl listening to the conversation says that there’s “something funny about a fellow that’ll do a thing like that” (Gatsby,48). After that remark, a few girls start speculating. None of them truly knew the truth but they never cease to misinterpret.

In the beginning, Nick believes that Daisy Buchanan is civilized, polite and passionate. For example, “Daisy [had] a conscientious expression…[and] a charming little laugh [and] a bright passionate mouth” (Fitzgerald 13-14). In fact, Nick even says that Daisy was as “cool as their white dresses [and] polite” (Fitzgerald 17). When Nick first meets Daisy he mentions how he feels “uncivilized” in Daisy’s presence (Fitzgerald 17).

However, at the end of their first encounter, Nick begins to realize that he had misinterpreted her. When Daisy was talking to Nick , he felt the “basic insincerity of what she had said” and made him feel “uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort” (Fitzgerald 22). Later on in the novel, Nick comes to the conclusion that Daisy and her husband are “careless people” (Fitzgerald 187). Nick had misread Daisy’s personality because of either the Buchanan’s’ wealth or Daisy’s initial false act or appearance.

Wealth (3)- (This also ties into appearance)

Nick misinterprets Klipspringer as being Gatsby’s close friend because he practically lives off of Gatsby’s wealth. He is often seen in Gatsby’s house, using his utilities, “doing liver exercises on the floor… [and] wandering hungrily about the beach” (Fitzgerald 96). In fact, Nick calls him the “boarder.” However, at the time of Gatsby’s death, Klipspringer doesn’t even go to his funeral despite appearing to be his friend. When Nick asks if he will come to the funeral, he starts making up excuses. Along with this, Klipspringer does not call to inquire about Gatsby but wants to know about his pair of shoes he left at the house. He asks “if it’d be too much trouble to have the butler send them on… and [he] [is] sort of helpless without them” (Fitzgerald 177).

Appearances in The Great Gatsby

Appearances are what we are all judged by in our everyday lives. We get judged based on the way we look, what we believe, how we feel about different things, who we love, and our religion. In The Great Gatsby, characters miss see others based on the aura they portray and their personalities. The rich are looked at in a negative way, so are the less fortunate. People put up a false front in the novel to prove to others they are this way when they really are not.

1. Almost every Character is miss-led by appearances. They think a certain person is one way when really its all an act. Jay Gatsby holds many parties and by doing so and never appearing as the Host people become weary of him. They assume that he’s murdered someone or that “he was a German spy during the war” (Gatsby,48). Jordan Baker claims that Gatsby told her himself that “he was an Oxford man…however [she] [doesn’t] believe it” (Gatsby,53). This was one of many assumptions that guests create at Gatsby’s parties make about him.

Appearances

Appearance s(2)Throughout the story, Nick is miss-led by

Gatsby’s appearance. He alters his opinions about Gatsby constantly and goes through phases of trusting and mistrusting him. When Nick first meets Gatsby, he is shocked because he “expect[s] that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and corpulent person in his middle years” (Fitzgerald 53). However, Gatsby is actually a young, elegant man around the age of thirty. Also around this time, Nick doesn’t really trust Gatsby because of the rumours going around about him being a bootlegger and killing a man. Later on, Nick changes his opinion of Gatsby again, thinking of him “simply [as] the proprietor of an elaborate roadhouse next door” rather than “a person of some undefined consequence” (Fitzgerald 69). By the end, he is on Gatsby’s side and trusts him.

Nick also believed that Meyer Wolfshiem would be the opposite of what he really is. Nick has a polite and mannered conversation with Mr. Wolfshiem and then finds out about Mr. Wolfshiem’s past. Nick could never imagine that “one man could start to play with the faith of 50 million people” in fact, he was “staggered” by the idea (Fitzgerald 78).

Appearances (3)

Conclusion

The Great Gatsby is a novel worth reading, and taking the time to understand. Every aspect in each character’s life is shown throughout the novel as a misled assumption. We can now see how people are constantly misinterpreted throughout the story. This sceptic view of people has destroyed them in a way they don’t seem to understand.

Early Gatsby Sketches

By: Amanda Iliadis (Designed PowerPoint Presentation, some Research)

Amina Mahmood (Research)

Ivanka D’mello (Research)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaBVLhcHcc0

The Great Gatsby 2013 Trailer