The primary theme of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is the hypocrisy and superficiality that are behind the façade of appearances in society. Appearances are maintained in the novel in order to provide an illusion based on what individuals believe should be their reality, whether it is their reality or not. Perhaps Jay Gatsby best exemplifies this, for the values and ideals that will result in Gatsby's death are romantic and more those of an adolescent boy's idea of a man than those of a fully mature adult.
On the surface, Jay Gatsby represents the perfect embodiment of the American Dream, a self-made millionaire who appears God-like in all aspects of his being. As we are t
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