Gatsby tries desperately to fake status, even buying British shirts and claiming to have attended Oxford in an attempt to justify his position in society. Gatsby is aware of the existence of a class structure in America, because a true meritocracy would put him in touch with some of the finest people, but, as things stand, he is held at arm's length. However, the societies of East and West Egg are deeply divided by the difference between the noveau riche and the older moneyed families. It is more common to find references to it in European, especially British novels. ClassĬlass is an unusual theme for an American novel. The choice of handgun as a weapon suggests Gatsby's shady past, but it is symbolic that it is his love affair, not his business life, that kills Gatsby in the end. The end of the novel, of course, consists of violence against Gatsby. The climax of the novel, the accident that kills Myrtle, is foreshadowed by the conversation between Nick and Jordan about how bad driving can cause explosive violence. A new commodity at the time that The Great Gatsby was published, Fitzgerald uses cars to symbolize the dangers of modernity and the dangers of wealth. The other source of violence in the novel besides Tom are cars. When Myrtle taunts him with his wife's name, he strikes her across the face. An ex-football player, he uses his immense physical strength to intimidate those around him. Violence is a key theme in The Great Gatsby, and is most embodied by the character of Tom. Myrtle is the most obviously sensual, but the fact that Jordan and Daisy wear white dresses only highlights their corruption. The women in the novel are an interesting group, because they do not divide into the traditional groups of Mary Magdalene and Madonna figures, instead, none of them are pure. However, in the end, Nick does exert his dominance over her by ending the relationship. Jordan's androgynous name and cool, collected style masculinize her more than any other female character.
The only hint of a role reversal is in the pair of Nick and Jordan. Men are dominant over women, especially in the case of Tom, who asserts his physical strength to subdue them. In his novel, men work to earn money for the maintenance of the women. In some respects, Fitzgerald writes about gender roles in a quite conservative manner. Fitzgerald's implication seems to be that society has already decayed enough and requires no new twist. Fitzgerald portrays the chauvinistic and racist Tom in a very negative light, clearly scoffing at his apocalyptic vision of the races intermarrying. Gatsby lives in West Egg and Daisy in East Egg therefore, Gatsby looks East with yearning, rather than West, the traditional direction of American frontier ambitions. It seems that the American dream has been perverted, reversed. Decay is most evident in the so-called "valley of ashes." With great virtuosity, Fitzgerald describes a barren wasteland which probably has little to do with the New York landscape and instead serves to comment on the downfall of American society. Decayĭecay is a word that constantly comes up in The Great Gatsby, which is appropriate in a novel which centers around the death of the American Dream. Tom finds his wife's infidelity intolerable, however, he does not hesitate to lie to her about his own affair. The standards for honesty and morality seem to be dependent on class and gender in this novel. Her sense of why Gatsby should not behave in an immoral manner is based on what she expects from members of her milieu, rather than what she believes to be intrinsically right. Her indignation at his "dishonesty," however, is less moral than class-based. Ironically, it is the corrupt Daisy who takes pause at Gatsby's sordid past. Nick is able to admire Gatsby despite his knowledge of the man's illegal dealings and bootlegging. T.J.Honesty is does not seem to determine which characters are sympathetic and which are not in this novel in quite the same way that it does in others.
What choice would you have made in Daisy's situation?.Why is Gatsby unable to put the past behind him? Why does he demand that Daisy renounce her former love for her husband?.What are the conflicts in "The Great Gatsby"? What types of conflicts-physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional-figure in this novel? Are they resolved?.Which adaptations of the novel have you seen? What did you think of them?.What is important about the title of "The Great Gatsby?".
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