English 1
26 April 2014
Truth Behind Reality
Have you ever had that feeling where you think you know someone but when you come
to find out you don’t? It’s a mutual feeling many get and are stunned by what they find out. In
theJ book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Fitzgerald mentions a quote in CH.6 which
reads, “ The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his own Platonic
conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just
that—and he must be about His Father’s Business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious
beauty” (98). With saying this, he’s comparing Gatsby and Jesus Christ to define Gatsby’s
creation of his own identity. Gatsby transforms himself into someone he envisioned himself to
be; despite the obstacles that society throws at him. Gatsby is a mysterious character, one who
could surprise the reader at any given moment. He is like a needle in a hay stack. One can never
know when they’ll truly find it.
Many fall in love but very few create a whole new persona for that special someone.
Gatsby however, is one of those few. He is a man who went from a poor childhood in North
Dakota to becoming significantly wealthy. But it is not from hard work, which is what one might
think at first. His riches came from organized crimes, which included distributing illegal alcohol
and trading stolen securities.
Ever since Gatsby was a young boy, he longed for wealth and despised poverty. Although Gatsby
had always wanted to be rich, his main goal was to become rich not for him; but for a woman
named Daisy Buchanan who owned his heart. When Gatsby met Daisy he was a young military
officer in 1917. He immediately fell in love with her, her charm, and her luminous radiation of
luxury. To convince her that he was good enough for her he lied about his own background. With
that being said Daisy promised to wait for Gatsby until his return from war. But she...