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Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And Catcher In The Rye

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Characters in literature recurrently deceive others as a means to cope with their own broken realities.Often these characters also compulsively create illusions for themselves which can be just as destructive. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye characters convince themselves and others that they're completely content with their lies. When gatsby takes nick into the city to eat he tells him the story of his past because he wants NIck to know the supposed truth of where he came from, and how he became so wealthy. He remarks to Nick saying “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 is a family tradition.(p.65)” We later learn that Gatsby is the son …show more content…

“We all turned and looked around for Gatsby. It was a testimony to the romantic speculation inspired that there were whispers about him from those who had found little that it was necessary to whisper about in this world.(44)”. Gatsby's deceives Daisy by reserving the information of how he made his money, he didn’t blatantly lie but he never told her the whole truth and let her believe what she wanted. He knew that Daisy was shallow and wouldn’t accept him if she knew what really happened. Giving Daisy a false impression of himself eventually led to his demise when Tom reveals how corrupt and fake Gatsby really was. Gatsby intentionally has Daisy convinced that he’s the same socioeconomic status as her so he could finally be her which would justify all of his actions if he achieved his end goal. Hes convinced himself that this was all worth it but deep down he knows what he did is not considered right so he copes with his guilt by not telling

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