The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, by the American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published in 1925. The story takes place in New York City and Long Island in the 1920s. It has often been described as the epitome of the "Jazz Age" in American literature.

Literary elements

Structure

• Nonlinear representation of time
• 1st person limited point of view

Themes

The main theme of the novel is:

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• The rise and fall of the American Dream. It is debatable whether Buchanan represents the American Dream, by which people obtain their wealth openly and legally, whatever their status in society, in contrast to Gatsby, for whom the acquisition of wealth has its origins in the underworld. Tom Buchanan is unfaithful; Daisy Buchanan is artificial; Gatsby himself is an enigmatic and shadowy figure. This is highlighted by the passage regarding the Dutch settlers near the end of the book. Just as the settlers envisioned a limitless world of possibility as they caught a glimpse so did Gatsby also catch a glimpse of an entirely new world of the aristocracy. The fall of the dream is the reality that results from the initial world of limitless possibility.

Minor themes:

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• The novel discusses questions of racism through the character of Tom Buchanan who, on top of his loose morals, is also a white supremacist. This theme, however minor in its focus, adds to the Buchanans' corruption in contrast to Gatsby.
• The contrast between East and West. Fitzgerald contrasts the Eastern and Western portions of the United States in many of his works (Diamond as Big as the Ritz is a prime example) but in Gatsby, the West Egg (where Nick lives) is visually the more garish of the two and of a distinctly lower class, while the East Egg is where the "old money" lives, and of a higher class. This even more obvious contrast gives the reader a clear idea of the author's opinion on social classes in America during his time.

Symbols

• The green light on the end of Daisy's dock is introduced at the end of Chapter 1, when Gatsby reaches, "trembling", out toward it across the Sound. It clearly represents Gatsby's dreams (hope), but has other, more subtle, associations such as money. This also seems to symbolize the possibility of Gatsby winning back Daisy, far away in the distance and out of reach. It can also act as a veil that hides the true Daisy from Gatsby's eyes.
• The disembodied eyes of a giant advertisement in the slum where Myrtle lives, referred to as the eyes of "Dr. T.J Eckleburg", symbolize a brooding presence in the slum, as if God is constantly watching those who live there, a symbol which the characters themselves are aware of, George Wilson's assertion that "God sees everything" in chapter 8 being made while he is staring at Eckleburg's eyes.
• The colors white and yellow have special significance in the novel. White is a symbol of purity and goodness, while yellow is the color of corruption and greed. This illuminates the character of Daisy, who is named after a flower that is white on the outside and yellow in the center.
• Fitzgerald was among the American expatriates who lived in Paris in the 1920s. The name Gatsby is a close homophone of the word gaspille from the verb gaspiller ("to waste"). It also is an obvious pun on "gat," the slang term for pistol.
• It is noticable that many of the female characters have names of flowers (e.g. Myrtle, Daisy)
• Fitzgerald along with Ernest Hemingway, and other expatriates constantly ressurrected the theme of a "waste land" established by T.S. Eliot in his poem of the same name. In the poem, Eliot speaks constantly of loneliness and despair while conjuring dark and depressing imagery such as bones and ruined cities in order to reflect his theme. It is no coincidence that in "The Great Gatsby" the road from West Egg to New York City contains a veritable waste land known as "the ash heap." The ash heap, which George Wilson lives among symbolizes the constant plight of the poor, all the while enduring the constant oppression of the wealthy. The social decay brought on by this cyclical way of life in America is represented by the ash heap. The eyes of T.J. Eckleberg which overlook the ash heap serve as a reminder that even though the wealthy may live well on earth and the poor, as George Wilson, have to bear a waste land, it shall not be so in the afterlife.