False Front In The Great Gatsby

Skylar Placek
Ms. Anderson
English III Honors
8 March 2023
The Great Gatsby Essay Throughout the novel, “The Great Gatsby”, the character Jay Gatsby puts on a false front on many occasions. He continuously tries to deceive many of the characters in the book and lies about numerous things. These fabrications of his brought about many negative repercussions and even resulted in his own death. This all makes the life of Gatsby appear to be an entire facade. One way in which Jay Gatsby puts on a false front is when he is talking about his money and how he has come to gain all of his wealth. He tells Nick that he inherited all of his money from his family in the Midwest. In the novel, Gatsby says, “My family all died and I came into a great deal of money.” (Fitzgerald 70) The reader learns later on in the book that this is not true and it is implied that he earns his money from bootlegging alcohol. Gatsby lies about his income source not only because it is illegal, but also because he wants Daisy to think that he has a stable and steady income. This eventually backfires when

When Myrtle is hit by the car and killed, the reader knows that the operator of the car is Daisy and not Gatsby. Yet, when Gatsby is talking to Nick outside of the Buchanan’s house, he says that he is going to lie and take the blame for Myrtle’s death. In the novel Gatsby and Nick say, “‘Was Daisy driving?’ ‘Yes,’ he said after a moment, ‘but of course I’ll say I was’” (Fitzgerald 151) He does this because he has lived his entire life and accomplished many things for Daisy, and Daisy only. He loves her so much that he is willing to go down for a murder he didn’t even commit, just so she is free and happy. Due to this lie, Myrtle’s husband, George Wilson, is led to believe that Gatsby did in fact kill her. Wilson then goes on to shoot and kill Jay Gatsby. This is Gatsby’s one last lie that ultimately resulted in his