An illusion is created when people believe something that is not necessarily true, typically the illusions a better version of the thing that it is an illusion of to make it look more appealing. The theme of illusion is used throughout several novels and short stories written by and based on something written by F Scott Fitzgerald. It appears in multiple forms in The great Gatsby, Winter dreams, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and A Diamond as Big as the Ritz. In the great Gatsby it appears in the form of Daisy as the golden girl and the american dream, in winter Dreams Judy Jones is the golden girl and subsequently the illusion, In Benjamin Button the illusion is that age limits us and in A Diamond as Big as the Ritz the illusion is that wealth will make you happy.

In Winter Dreams the illusion is of the golden girl and that if you are one and have everything you will be fully satisfied and happy with life. Someone who is seen as a golden girl is someone who is born rich and beautiful and has always had everything, they are someone who everyone looks up to and wants to be or wants to have. It is imagined by the people who want to be them that their lives are perfect and totally fulfilled because of their wealth and privilege. Typically, this is not what happens as this is just an illusion created by the people who want to be them. In reality their lives are usually quite empty because their wealth let’s them do anything imaginable so they do everything but then there is nothing more to do. Also because of their status everyone who wants them either wants them because of their money and status or their beauty but not actually for their personality or emotions, and everyone who really wants them for that never go after them because they think that they are out of their league. They are always wanted for material value, not anything that matters to them. In winter dream this is exactly what happens to Judy Jones, everyone who wants her wants her for her money or looks and don’t even recognise her personality because she treats them badly and yet they still want her. she “I’m more beautiful than anybody else,” she said brokenly, “why can’t I be happy?” This shows that even she believes in the illusion yet it has not come true even for her.

In the great Gatsby the illusion is Daisy and the american dream. Daisy is a golden girl and, similarly to Judy, she finds life mostly boring and only finds joy in shallow things. She also treats the people who want her (Gatsby) like something meant to be used and than discarded and he stays, she also states that “You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow, she went on . . . Everybody thinks so—the most advanced people. And I know. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything . . . Sophisticated—God, I’m sophisticated!” in this quote she is literally stating that because of her wealth that she has nothing left to do. Gatsby believes in the illusion of the golden girl and believes that she is perfect and happy and will be everything that he ever wants her to be, another illusion Gatsby believes in this the illusion of the american dream, the illusion is that if you work hard and are smart you can become wealthy and successful and have everything and that this will bring you happiness. Despite him believing in this this is not what happens to him or anyone else, Gatsby is made wealthy by Meyer Wolfsheim and illegal alcohol, the other rich people are all born into wealth and the poor never leave poverty without help. He does not end up achieving the american dream and getting everything he wants as he never gets Daisy. The fact that the illusion of the golden girl is used in both this novel and winter dreams shows that it is an important theme to F Scott Fitzgerald.

In the Curious Case of Benjamin Button Benjamin is born as an old man and ages backwards. The illusion in this story is that age defines us “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it.” By stating this Benjamin is saying that age does not define us and you can do whatever you want whenever you want, the illusion of the golden girl also makes an appearance here but is less to do with wealth and more to with just the fact that Benjamin cant have her, just like Daisy in Gatsby the Daisy in this book is unreachable, this time because of her age. The fact that this illusion appears in at least three texts by F Scott Fitzgerald shows that this illusion is very important to him.

In A Diamond as Big as the Ritz the illusion of the golden girl does not appear. The illusion In A Diamond as Big as the Ritz is the idea that if you have wealth it will bring you happiness, this is part of the american dream. As we see throughout the text this does not happen as the washingtons are mostly unhappy as they long for the things that they have sacrificed to gain such wealth. For the Washington family wealth is like a prison, the only way that they can keep all of their wealth is by hiding themselves away from the world in the mountains, never letting anyone who finds out about this place leave. After losing all of this one character even states “We’ll be poor, won’t we? Like people in books. And I’ll be an orphan and utterly free. Free and poor! What fun!” This shows that the belief that money makes you happy is not true. This is similar to the illusion of the golden girl and to what happens in Gatsby and Winter Dreams where Judy and Daisy both have all the money and all the things yet they can still not find real happiness.

Throughout several texts written and based on something written by F Scott Fitzgerald. The theme of illusion is present, in these texts it takes on the form of the golden girl, the form of the american dream and of age. In The Great Gatsby, Winter Dreams and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button it is the golden girl, in A Diamond as Big as the Ritz and The Great Gatsby it is the american dream witch is the illusion and the fact that age limits us is the illusion in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The fact that the theme of illusion is present throughout all of these texts indicates that F Scott Fitzgerald wants us to know about it and is trying to show people how to recognise illusion for what they are.