Theme Of Deception In The Great Gatsby

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Gatsby Analytical Essay
F. Scott Fitzgerald presents many themes in his novel, The Great Gatsby. One of the themes is Lies and Deceit. The theme is developed throughout the book by his use of the motif of cheating. The motif of cheating compares to how people can lie, but don’t always get away with it. This motif represents the relationships throughout the novel, and how some people can cheat their way up to the top.
The first reference that demonstrates how cheating relates to lies and deceit is when “[Nick] met Tom Buchanan’s mistress,” because it shows that Tom had been seeing someone else, while still married to Daisy(Fitzgerald 41). He was cheating in his relationship, and lying about it, since Nick had just met the woman that Tom had …show more content…
Daisy comes over quite often--in the afternoons”(Fitzgerald 115). When Gatsby said this, he reveals that Daisy had been coming over to see him, and had been very exclusive. In other words, Tom was not the only one cheating. Daisy was too, with Gatsby, and she had been lying about it, since Gatsby had to be sure the servants wouldn't tell, which he achieved by firing them all.
Relationships are not the only thing that is being deceived in this novel. When Gatsby mentioned that Meyer Wolfsheim was a “gambler,” and that “he was the man that fixed the World’s Series back in 1919,” Nick questioned why Wolfsheim wasn’t in jail, because what he did was quite illegal(Fitzgerald 73). Although according to Gatsby, “[Wolfsheim] is a smart man,” therefore he obviously had to lie and cheat his way through that issue(Fitzgerald 73).
The characters relationships and the way they acted and reacted to certain situations showed what type of person they are, and their value of morals. Fitzgerald uses the motif of cheating as a way of revealing how they lyed and deceived one another. Cheating was shown through relationships, in having affairs, and lying about them. Not only through affairs, but how people can cheat and lie their way up to the top, that is if they are smart enough to do
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