The Great Gatsby As Simulacra

ASSIGNMENT
Department Of English
Subject: Post Modern Literature
Submitted to: Mr. Amir
Name: Uzma Fakhar
Jean Baudrillard regenerated and expanded Plato’s concept of imitation.
Baudrillard claims that the modern society has replaced its reality and meaning
with symbols and signs, and that human experience is a simulation of reality.
Whether or not, people live in simulacra as they rely on maps and models so that
they have lost connection with the real world as well as lost the ability to
distinguish between natural and artificial. For him the effect of being part of
simulation is having distorted sense of reality called, Hyperreality. There is no
reality just images are everywhere. Image represents another image and the cycle
goes on.
If one analyses the movie The Great Gatsby, in Baudrillard’s view of Simulacra, so
many aspects can be found. An American journalist, author and a critic Kathryn
Schulz states that “This is the received Gatsby: a linguistically elegant,
intellectually bold, morally acute parable of our nation. I am in thoroughgoing
disagreement with all of this. I find Gatsby aesthetically overrated, psychologically
vacant, and morally complacent; I think we kid ourselves about the lessons it
contains. None of this would matter much to me if Gatsby were not also
sacrosanct.
The Great Gatsby opens up with the life story of Nick Caraway, he tells about his
psychological traumas and relationships to the socialites. Nick talks about Wall
Street and goes after the hype of it. The high raised building of Wall Street is a
simulacrum of American Prestige and economic rise. People like Nick run after the
image of wealth created by U.S financial giants. Another character Tom Buchanan
presents the image of a wealthy landlord. His gardens, well decorated house,
hundreds of servants around and his elicit relationship to a woman all are signs of
being wealthy since forefathers.
Above all, the trophies, medals and awards which he won in golf are simulacra of
being rich because golf is associated to rich people since decades. Nick talks about
West Egg. The place is associated to corporate or business men. Story revolves
around Jay Gatsby which is the living example of simulacra. He himself even does
not know his real personality. He has delusion of being renowned businessman and
famous person in town. His childhood complex helps him to create his own world
where his fate helped him to be a rich man accidentally. His self-created hyperreal
world is full of questions. His name, source of income, family background, his
outlook all are made up things.
While transforming himself from James Gats to Jay Gatsby, he improves his
personality to look like a gentleman. He changes his walking, talking even
smoking style and cleverly improves his postures according to the image of a
person who belongs to higher society. The image takes place of the fact then there
is only thing left is image. In Gatsby’s case no one can judge his past. His image as
gentleman took place of poor boy and society accepts him as rich, wise and
intelligent man with no personality flaw.
Even the people who haven’t met him yet, have good views about him due to his
prevailing concept of being a good person. Gatsby occasionally arranges grand
parties and invites almost the same kind of superficial people from different fields
who are fond of running after fame and wealth. Most of them belong to showbiz
industry and others are from different mafias and business. This is also a
simulacrum as he pleases himself while having rich and famous people around. It
helps him to construct his chosen reality and to present the image of a person of a
high prestige. Even his house gives the impact of a castle which strengthens his
thoughts of being a king who enjoys a luxurious life.
His garden, cars, dresses, his home appliances above all his royal personality, all
are made up and simulated. Gatsby himself feigns to possess the things which in
reality he doesn’t have. Love is also simulacrum with no linkage of reality. There
are just images of love in form of old pictures letters and memories. Gatsby loves
Daisy not for the sake of love but for the sake of having name in upper class
society. Marriage would be a best possible and legal way to move in higher society
and for real to be a part of it. He fantasizes the past and wants to go back to his
previous days. Daisy also takes love as made up thing. She wants to go to party
loves luxurious life full of fancy dinners and gossip.
She claims to love to Gatsby because he presented himself as well behaved and
well-mannered person with wealth and a lifestyle on the contrary she is married to
Tom not for love but for in his family background, and a big house. Daisy runs
after delusional images of wealth, show off and love. Although love has been
considered as true feeling but here it is shown as another simulacrum. Daisy’s visit
to his house shows her material concerns. Her inspiration from his fancy lifestyle
his expensive furniture, setting of his house and his library all shows the reality of
their love as she is impressed by the things not by Gatsby’s personality.
At arrival of Daisy, Gatsby decorates Nick’s cottage with white flowers. Now the
cottage gives different look and hides the messy cottage. Gatsby is having his
pictures of wartime and medals of Oxford which he shows to others to make them
belief that he had participated in war and efficiently gained education from Oxford.
All of these things have no connection to reality as he has been on war for very
little time even forcefully and went to the university just for a few months. He
describes himself as patriot and hardworking. These fabricated truths are strongly
created by him, are not being taken as images they are now become reality of his
life.
Baudrillard further explains erasure of boundaries while quoting Ecclesiastes. It is
not simulacrum which hides the truth but the truth hides the fact that there is
nothing. Ultimately the simulacrum is true. Then he adds up that this is what I have
misquoted while giving the reference of Ecclesiastes. So people started believing it
even Ecclesiastes never said anything like that. This is considered to be best
example of hyperreal. What people think or pretend to believe as real later on
becomes real so the boundaries between fake and real get blurred and later get
vanished. Same goes for the movie The Great Gatsby.
All characters of the movie represent people of society who are bound to their
roles. They have to disguise themselves with roles given by circumstances and
society. Gatsby and Buchanan are rich men who have to wear suits with fancy
glasses and walk accordingly. Nick is writer so while wearing eyeglasses and
rolled up sleeves he has to act like that. Daisy is bound to wear fancy gowns and to
talk with manners as she has to give an impact of an aristocrat. People create
images ultimately those projected images considered to be real and people get
linked up to images.
REFERENCES
 https://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/postmodernism/modules/baudrill
ardsimulation.html
 https://www.academia.edu/35163200/The_Great_Gatsby_and_Projected_Re
ality
 https://bagnbaggage.org/the-great-gatsby-or-rich-people-are-bad-scotts-
notes-on-our-approach/

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How does Jean Baudrillard's concept of simulacra relate to the characters in The Great Gatsby?

What are some examples of how characters in The Great Gatsby present fabricated versions of themselves?

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