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Becca Levy
2/15/2015
Pre-IB English 10
Oakes Pd. 3
Weighing the Lies
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott. Fitzgerald is full of lies and deceit. Daisy, Tom,
Nick, Myrtle, Jordan, and Gatsby all lie, cheat, or otherwise manipulate people. The lies of
each of these characters create problems that harm their romantic relationships. Yet, these
problems only linger when the people in the relationship are not equally honest with each
other. In this novel, two people with an incredibly deceptive relationship can remain
together if both partners have been equally dishonest. Likewise, couple with an imbalance of
lies never remains compatible. This imbalance of lies means one person has been more
dishonest than the other, disrupting the equality of the relationship and destroying the
people's compatibility. Fitzgerald uses romantic relationships in The Great Gatsby to show
how lasting couples must have equal amounts of dishonesty from both partners.
When Nick first comes to the Buchanans house, Daisy mentions how its very
romantic outdoors, but Tom basically ignores her, by offering to take Nick out to the
stables. Toms affair upsets Daisy, because she has a very bad time when she spends time
with her husband (17). When Gatsby mentions the green light that burns all night at the end
of [Daisys] dock, effectively admitting that he thinks about Daisy constantly, he exposes
himself to possible ridicule (92). But Gatsbys admitted vulnerability charms Daisy, because
it contrasts with Toms emotional unavailability, leading to Daisy put[ing] her arm through
[Gatsbys] abruptly (93). By physically linking herself to Gatsby, Daisy shows that her

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loyalties have shifted from Tom to Gatsby, simply because Gatsby told her the truth. Daisy
had been unhappy with Tom because his cheating meant Daisy held little power in their
relationship. But for the moment when Daisy and Gatsby were completely honest with each,
they were immensely happy.
The importance of having a balance of lies is illustrated in Chapter VII when Tom and
Wilson discover their wives have been cheating on them. Wilson, becomes physically
sick, whereas Tom only becomes grumpy (124). The mens responses to their wives
cheating correlate with the balance of lies in each marriage. Tom is also cheating, so Daisys
affair with Gatsby is actually equalized their marriage, putting husband and wife in similar
situations. Tom somewhat understands Daisys cheating, however unhappy it makes him.
However, no such benefits exist between Myrtle and Wilson, because Wilsons faithfulness
makes him the only victim, literally making him sick with shock and grief. Wilson tries to
fix this inequality by forcing Myrtle to go West...whether she wants to or not (126). But
his plan backfires by Myrtle so unhappy that she becomes reckless enough to run in front of
a moving car. In comparison, Tom was calm enough to manipulate Wilson into killing
Gatsby, ending the entire situation.
Because Nick and Jordan never actually break-up, it is impossible to know the exact
reason Nick never contacts her after the night Gatsby is killed. Nicks only recurring
criticism of Jordan is that she is incurably dishonest (58) and Nick says goodbye to Jordan
by telling her he is too old to lie to [him]self (177). Therefore, Nick is seemingly aware
that Jordan lied to him during the time they dated, and that their relationship led Nick to lie
to himself. Because Nick said I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known
while speaking about Jordan, Nicks occasional deceptive actions probably did not extend to

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her (59). This means that Nick saw himself as the recipient of most lies in their relationship,
creating inequality that ultimately made the couple incompatible.
Jordan believes they are incompatible because Nick is not the honest,
straightforward person she thought him to be, but these thoughts ultimately do not
influence how the relationship ends. Nick does admit to Jordan that he is not an honest
person, but his previous narration says I am one of the few honest people that I have ever
known (59). The Great Gatsby is mostly narrated in the past tense, so Nicks brief switch to
the present tense implies that even after leaving Jordan, he still thinks he is an honest
person. Nick was responsible for loosing contact with Jordan, so his belief that she was
more dishonest than him was conceivably a contributor to the end of their relationship.
The characters in The Great Gatsby lie, cheat, and manipulate each other to
accomplish their goals. However, people can successfully use each other in a romantic
relationships, when both parties are benefitting from this usage. Daisy and Tom do not like
each other very much, but they are aware of the others dishonest actions. Within these
relationship rules Fitzgerald sets, Daisy and Gatsby could never be together. Gatsby lied
about his entire life story, so Daisys lies could never equal Gatsbys. Relationships with
continuous honesty may not exist in the world of The Great Gatsby, but equivalent lies seem
to be the second best thing.