Opening:

How can story truth present a greater depth of someone’s true intentions than real truth? Does story truth create any kind of illusion for the individual?

Core:

What role did Daisy’s past with Gatsby play that made her so “mad about her husband” Tom Buchanan in the beginning of their marriage?

The contrast between the outcomes of her relationship with Gatsby and Tom shows to have impacted her feelings for her new husband, knowing from experience that even when a relationship that seemed as if it were made to be, could end with the possibility of a different outcome. Knowing how Gatsby felt about her, and how she felt about it, it was hard for Daisy to let him go in the end, and very nearly ended her marriage with Tom Buchanan when she received Gatsby’s letter and asked Jordan Baker to “Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say: Daisy’s change’ her mine!”(76)

Tom, however, managed to marry Daisy, “the next day” “without “so much as a shiver”. He represented a secure future, a sure thing that would not mean any kind of separation between him and Daisy, and her obvious fear of this fact transcended to her marriage when Jordan Baker described theirs as a “touching” arrangement. If Tom were to leave Daisy for a moment “she’d look around uneasily, and say: Where’s Tom gone?” and wear the “most abstracted expression” until he returned to her. (77)

How does having a library with “absolutely real” books contradict with Gatsby's image?

The lavish surface of Gatsby’s life, as well as the distance he maintains that keeps anyone from knowing the kind of person he is, presents a small hint of who he is when one of his guests known as the Owl Eyed Man gawks at the fact Gatsby doesn't hide behind false pretenses in his possessions when he exclaims that the books are "absolutely real-have pages and everything. I thought they'd be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, they're absolutely real." (45) The man continues on by expressing that Gatsby is a "regular Belasco", presenting a figure that was famous for his contribution to the arts, just like Gatsby seems to be in his "thoroughness" for providing what he can afford. The surprise with which the Owl Eyed Man expresses his observation shows how he imagined Gatsby as a different kind of person.

The image that F. Scott Fitzgerald is then trying to provide of Gatsby is his genuine existence, just like the library with real books, that contrast to the image of Gatsby produced by the gossip which swarms throughout his home at his infamous parties.

Closing:

 When Caraway describes that "dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never deeply blame", does the honesty of a woman hold as much value now in present time as much as it did then? Does honesty hold different standards of expectations for men and women in society?