Essay Sample on Illusion’s Power over Reality in The Great Gatsby

“People don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.”- Friedrich Nietzsche. This quote explains how people living in their illusions do not want them to be taken away. The quote reveals how sometimes, the power of illusion can be stronger than the power of reality, and how a person could become lost in their illusion forever. The power of illusion can be shown significantly in the character Gatsby. Gatsby has built up a false perception of Daisy for five years. However, when he finally thinks he is able to abandon his illusion, the truth of reality destroys his life. In F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the symbols of alcohol, eyes, and the green light to reveal the false perception created to hide from the intolerable reality.

Alcohol acts as an important symbol in The Great Gatsby, because it reveals the false fantasy constructed to hide from the harsh reality. Alcohol can make one reveal their secrets or expose their illusion from reality. This can be shown when Nick explains why Daisy, “…doesn't drink. It's a great advantage not to drink among hard drinking people. You can hold your tongue and, moreover, you can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they don't see or care.” (Fitzgerald 76). This quote shows how alcohol can make people non-judgmental about mistakes and how alcohol can make others reveal their secrets. This connects with the theme “smiles without pleasure” because it exposes the illusion that Daisy is actually not genuinely happy with her life. Another example of alcohol feeding into Gatsby’s illusion is when Nick is at Gatsby’s party for the first time. Nick realizes that Gatsby is not drinking at the party. Nick “…wondered if the fact that he was not drinking helped to set him off from his guests, for it seemed to me that he grew more correct as the fraternal hilarity increased.” (Fitzgerald 51). This quote shows that Gatsby does not drink alcohol because he does not want to be perceived as the other people at his party. This functions as a part of Gatsby’s illusion because he does not want to reveal any of his secrets about Daisy or his illusion about her to anyone else. The quote also helps show how Gatsby would give up drinking to help create and live in his fantasy. Gatsby also does not drink alcohol because he has to search for Daisy at his parties, even though he has to face the reality that she would not come to any.

Another symbol used to expose the illusion formed to hide from reality is eyes. The symbol of eyes can be shown through Gatsby and Daisy’s interaction when they are together. For example, when Gatsby and Daisy are with Tom, Nick, and Jordan, Tom notices how, “ their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space.” (Fitzgerald 115). This quote reveals Gatsby’s illusion through the theme of romance without love. This connects with the theme of romance without love because Daisy is secretly cheating on Tom with Gatsby. Tom finally realizes this when he sees Gatsby’s illusion through their eyes. Others can also see how they both feel about each other and the illusion they have created, simply by seeing how they look at each other. However, being with Daisy in secret does not live up to Gatsby’s illusion. Gatsby realizes that in reality, Daisy has to cheat on her husband to be with Gatsby.  Another example of seeing the false reality through one’s eyes can be shown when Gatsby is about to see Daisy again for the first time after five years. Before Gatsby saw Daisy, he was standing in Nick’s doorway, “pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, (he) was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes.” (Fitzgerald 84). This quote shows how terrified Gatsby feels to finally face the reality of meeting Daisy. He feels worried she will not live up to the illusion he created of her over the past five years. This quote also shows the theme of “smiles without pleasure” because Nick can see in Gatsby’s eyes that he feels extremely anxious and scared. However, despite feeling terrified, he acts differently when he sees Daisy again. He acts as if he did not wait eagerly for five years to see her, and tries to hide his anxiety. The last example of using eyes to expose false realities can be shown when Nick, Daisy, and Tom all go to one of Gatsby’s parties together. Nick feels an unpleasant energy this time at the party, but he realizes that he had “…merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy’s eyes. It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of amusement.” (Fitzgerald 101). This quote reveals how when one sees  through someone else's eyes, the reality can be saddening because they spent all their time and money into their illusion. Since Nick is now starting to see life through Daisy’s eyes, he understands the disappointment of reality. This quote shows how seeing something from someone else’s eyes can destroy the illusion they have already created. Eyes can reveal the truth illusions try to hide. 

In conclusion, the last symbol that reveals the false perception created to hide from reality, is  the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. Gatsby uses the green light to keep his fantasy alive. Whenever he wants to feel close to her, he would reach out for the green light and know that they would be together soon. When Gatsby shows Daisy the green light from his house, “…it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. ” (Fitzgerald 90). This quote proves that Gatsby uses the green light to keep his illusion alive. However, now that Gatsby showed her the green light, he realizes that he can no longer use it as an escape from reality. The green light he used to feel close to Daisy and hide from reality, now presents as only a regular green light. Another example of the green light being used to feed into Gatsby’s fantasy, can be shown when Nick and Jordan are talking about Gatsby. Jordan reveals how, “‘Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.’ Then It had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor.” (Fitzgerald 77). This quote reveals how Gatsby bought a house right across from Daisy’s so he could reach out to the green light every night. This reminds Nick of when he first saw Gatsby reaching out for the light. Gatsby reaching for the green light represents him reaching toward his illusion to hide from reality. The last example of this is when Gatsby is giving a tour of his house. Gatsby’s illusion almost came true, but before Daisy leaves, Nick realizes that, “ there must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams-not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything.” (Fitzgerald 93). This quote shows how seeing Daisy again does not fully live up to Gatsby’s illusion that he creates. Gatsby now knows that he can never fully go back to his illusion.

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses the symbols of alcohol, eyes, and the green light to expose the false reality constructed to hide from the unbearable truth. Alcohol reveals the secrets of one’s illusion, alcohol is used to escape from reality. Eyes show the truth about other’s true feelings, the eyes can reveal the illusion one creates to avoid reality. Lastly, the green light serves as the hope that keeps Gatsby’s illusion alive, the green light helps Gatsby feel close to Daisy. These symbols all contribute to the false perceptions formed to keep the truth from coming out. Illusion can be stronger than reality in one’s mind, but in the end, illusions can never turn into something real.

Works Cited

“A Quote by Friedrich Nietzsche.” Goodreads, Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/12799-sometimes-people-don-t-want-to-hear-the-truth-because-they. 

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Belfry Holdings; New York, 2021.