While finishing reading, The Great Gatsby, and thinking back on the novel as a whole the first things that come to mind are lies, deceit, and cheating. It seemed as though nothing good came from this novel, whatsoever. I also noticed that it typically depicts Americans and the lifestyles they choose. If you think about each character separately you will come to realize that these characters are real. Sometime in every one of your lifetimes, there will be people that enter it that portray the exact same characteristics of the characters in “The Great Gatsby.” So as disgusted as some of us might be with what these characters did in this novel, its real life in a way. Its you, me, friends, family, strangers, doctors, famous people etc. It’s the way of American life, and this novel just brings it out in words.In the novel, Each character has some sort of secret or lie that they kept to themselves that eventually caught up to them in one way or another. Gatsby lives one big lie for almost the entire novel. He tells everyone things about his life that aren’t true just to make himself look good and keep up with the upper class society of West Egg. He states, “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West-all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years, it’s a family tradition.”
The reader later finds out that this statement is nothing but a lie. Why Gatsby feels he has to lie about his wealth and past just to win Daisy back into his heart is unknown, but I see it as being somewhat pathetic. Gatsby continues to use the people around him, kind of like pawns in a game, just to get Daisy in his arms again. He does go about this in a very sneaky/creepy way. But when I think about it, that’s what most people in the American culture do. They don’t care about how selfish they are or who they may be hurting in the process, as long as they get what they want in the end, its fine and acceptable. Also, while reading this novel the phrase “What comes around, goes around” passed through my head a couple times. In the end it seems that everyone got what they deserved for all the lies and horrible things they did.. But it’s not fair to say that they fully deserved it, because personally I don’t think that Myrtle or Gatsby deserved to die for what they did. However, Tom and Daisy will continue to spend their lives miserable together, which I think is fit punishment for them two. The only victim of the novel, is poor Wilson, who Tom unfortunately lied to, just to save himself.
