In The Great Gatsby Scott Fitzgerald presents a study of wealth and ambition through the prism of pathetic characters for which one can find almost no socially redeeming values.
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What the novel portrays is the sordid story of small band of feeble characters engaged in cheating, adultery, deception, and debauchery. The lavish parties --Jazz-age style-- that Jay Gatsby throws to recover Daisy Buchanan (his lost illusions and perfidious lover) are all but wild bacchanalians.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Essay 1 — Introduction to the Great Gatsby
Essay 2 — Nick Carraway, Narrator: Is He
Gay? Or, Is he Bisexual?
Essay 3 — Daisy Buchanan: No Golden Girl but
a Master of Echolalia and Deceit
Essay 4 — Purple Prose and Objective
Correlatives in the Great Gatsby
Essay 5 — F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Style: Carpentry,
Pulleys, and Scaffolding
Essay 1 — Introduction to the Great Gatsby
While volumes of
criticism and book reviews have been written on The Great Gatsby, nowhere have I read any allusions to the fact
that the all the main players in the story are morally degraded and of low
intelligence—or to be charitable: mediocre.
In fact, it is
possible that the heroine —Daisy Buchanan— may well be ‘slow,’ as shown by her
own actions, assertions, and in dialogue. This may be construed as harsh
criticism, but in my view it is justifiable criticism which is supported by the
text.
This study contains
two parts. First, we will argue that NYC did not corrupt the characters
presented in the novel. Second, we’ll show the writing techniques that F. Scott
Fitzgerald employed to depict his characters and their environment.
Contrary to what
many might believe, New York City despite all its sins and flawed institutions
doesn’t corrupt people, but the characters in the novel (Southerners and
Midwesterners) reached the Big Apple as adults with their values already formed,
stained, and doomed.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
presents a study of ill-gained wealth and ambition through the prism of pathetic
characters for which one cannot find any socially redeeming values. What The Great Gatsby portrays is the sordid story
of small band of feeble characters engaged in cheating, adultery, deception,
and debauchery. The lavish parties —Jazz-age style— that Jay Gatsby throws to
recover his lost illusions and perfidious lover Daisy Buchanan, are all but
wild bacchanalians.
When one thinks
about of the rest of the nation, we can breathe a sigh of relief to see that the
rest of Americans are engaged in productive enterprise, in rebuilding the
nation after the waste of resources that was the First World War. The
sordidness of the story applies, almost in its entirety, to that small band of
marginal, misguided, and unsavory characters.
The Great Gatsby isn’t a book about the
spiritual dismemberment of America (as many have interpreted the book to be) caused
by the ‘roaring 20s’ and the Great Depression. No such dismemberment ever
occurred; on the contrary, America went to become the leading industrial super
power in the world.
The second part of
the study unveils the writing techniques that Scott Fitzgerald employs to
capture not only the spiritual nuances of his characters, but also the setting
—Manhattan and Long Island— where the action transpires.
Yet, the Great
Gatsby will endure simply because F. Scott Fitzgerald created a literary
archetype: Jay Gatsby. While many great writers achieve temporary fame, only
writers who invent archetypes will endure eternal fame, and in this respect Jay
Gatsby will join the pantheon of heroes where we find: Heathcliff, Tarzan,
Holly Golightly, Lolita, Mr. Darcy, Gregor Samsa, and Holden Caulfield—among
others.
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