Examples Of Obsession In The Great Gatsby

A manipulative person is someone who uses others in order to get where one wants to be. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott. Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is a character who has a tendency of lying in his pursuit to reach “The green light”. Gatsby throughout the text has a variety of situations in which he lies about various topics in his distinguished life. Gatsby lies about his wealth and how his income came to be. He lies about the big parties that he hosts and the reasons as to why he hosts them. He also lies about the love that both Daisy and Gatbys share. Gatsby’s frequent obsessions with lying is what displays a character trait of being manipulative throughout the entirety of the text.

Gatsby displays these tendencies when he talks about his money and how he acquired it. In the text, he explains to himself and the others that his wealth came from inheriting money from his parents that had passed away. When in reality he grew up poor and had to work very hard to obtain such monstrosities such as his house, even if that meant he had to be involved in illegal activities. Although later on in the text at Gatbsy’s funeral,  his father is in attendance and turns out to be one of the few people who chose to attend. Gatsby's father tells stories about Gatbsy’s youth to Nick, and it is made clear that his father never passed away to inherit that large sum of money and that’s when Nick knew something was up. Gatsby’s later goes on to lie about his wealth by never truly explaining the illegal activities that he was caught up in with 

Mr. Wolfsheim. The reader later finds out that Gatsby and Mr. Wolfshiem were running an illegal bootlegging company. Gatsby fails to communicate this to his friends because he wanted to fit in with the old money crowd so badly. He knew that if he told them he was caught up in a legal business they would not accept him for who he was and as a result has to resort to lying in order to fit in. Gatsby's tendencies of lying create a false image of the man he truly is and of how his money came to be.

Begin well prepared and having a plan is how Gatsby was able to lie about the purpose and the reasoning behind his extravagant parties that seem to have occurred every weekend. His parties were never meant for entertainment purposes, rather Gatbsy used these parties to show off his wealth and to try and fit in with the old money crowd. However, this clash between old money and new money would prove to be Gatsby's downfall. At these parties, Gatsby would try his very best to win over his true love Daisy in which he had met when he was serving in war. Gatsby even conversates his objectives with Nick, and how these parties' were meant to try and grab Daisy’s attention. The reason as to why he purchased this monstrous home across the lake from Daisy’s was to get her attention and have the “green light” shooting across the water. His actions show his tendency to lie and eventually he reveals that he never truly cared to host the party for others, the parties were in place to win over his long-lost love Daisy. 

Finally, in an attempt to rejuvenate Daisy's love for Gatbsy, Gatbsy creates a false sense of the reality of what true love looked like to him. Gatsby believed that 

time would heal Daisy's wounds and bring them together at once. That the “green light” was a symbol that would bring the two together and also more importantly signify the American Dream, although sadly this was never the case for Gatsby. The American Dream is the idea that someone from a lower-class background like Gatsby can work hard and move up the social ladder. On the dry surface, Gatsby appears to have achieved the American Dream, because he has managed to move from a lower-class background into a jaw-dropping mansion, however, he fails to accomplish his goal of winning over Daisy. Due to Gatsby's upbringing along with having to work for his wealth and the thought of the American dream he believed that it would be enough, however, it proved to be the opposite. This showed that Gatsby was relying on the passing of time to bring them back together. However, it did the opposite as Daisy ended up going on vacation opposed to attending Gatsby's funeral. Gatsby’s continued chase for the green light shows how close but yet how far he was from obtaining Daisy's love.

In conclusion throughout the course of the text, Gatsby’s frequent obsessions with lying is what displays a characteristic of being manipulative so to speak. These lies that 

Gatbsy talks about demonstrating his pursuit of this “green light'' and reveals to the reader Gatsby's true image. In the text, this occurs with his lies about how he obtained the money, the purpose behind his parties, and the apparent love Daisy and Gatbsy shared. Lying is never a good character trait that does good for any person and this is made crystal clear with the pursuit of the “green light”. He lies in his attempt to fit in when in reality that was never going to happen, these lies were always going to catch up with him and eventually lead’s to his death.