If the average reader were to pick a book that best characterized its time period, the choice would most likely be F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” Fitzgerald, writing of the 1920s in the 1920s, proves to be an accurate judge of American character. His characters develop along lines of self indulgence, ignorance, and disregard for those outside of their realm (with the exception of Nick Carroway, who is the lone voice of disconcern). The story winds through flashbacks of moments never to be relived, inane conversation, and bouts of frustration with the culture of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald’s book proves to be an astute observation of the time, capturing the angst and sadness lurking beneath the roar.
Fitzgerald’s characters were a reflection of the very vices he engaged in his personal life. The author was a renowned drinker, dancer, and carouser, marrying Zelda Sayre, a woman of similar temperament. Fitzgerald would leave the United States for Paris to live in an expatriate community of writers. His writing was not seen as soaring past his competitors until his first publishing success, “This Side of Paradise.” “The Great Gatsby” was born out of over 200 drafts and several short stories. Reviewers felt the book was a dud, citing its lack of substance as a reason for its failure to meet expectations. Fitzgerald’s life was difficult following this, with many articles to write in order to make money, Zelda passing on, and his less than stellar attempts to make it in Hollywood. Much like his characters, Fitzgerald proved to ensure his own demise.
The story traces Nick Carroway’s summer in West Egg, an “inferior” residency in comparison to its lavish companion, East Egg. Carroway is taken through the doldrums of conversations about houses, literature, and dancing until his meeting with Gatsby. Gatsby proves to be different than characters like Daisy or Tom Buchanan because of his modest attempts to remain anonymous. The East Egg residents appear to be the people most afflicted by advertisements and dubious science (Tom mentions casually the possible fall of the white race as science fact). Gatsby and Nick, however, seem fed up with such nonsense and are more curious about time past and sentiments of love and longing.
Gatsby wants to use Nick as a medium to get to Daisy, a former love from before the First World War. However, once Gatsby and Daisy do encounter one another, there is not the rekindling of old flames to fuel a love story. Rather, a confusing web of romance is made more confusing by another affair and two crossed connections. Daisy only seeks to attain higher social status (thus her marriage to the powerful Tom) while fulfilling sexual needs with others who do not have the same means as her husband. An angry confrontation between Tom and Gatsby bore this out, showing Daisy’s ambivalence toward committing to either love or status. This certainly represents the evolution of women’s sexual roles in the 1920s as well as the conflict between Victorian ideals on marriage and the liberated choices of women.
The story ends tragically, with auto mechanic Wilson’s wife killed by a reckless Daisy. This scene, and the following scene, show the disregard of the wealthy with the commoner. Instead of facing the music, Daisy and Gatsby continue to drive and escape from the law. When Tom and Nick stop, Tom makes a comment about how Wilson would actually get some business out of this tragedy. Tom’s callous remarks and Daisy allowing Gatsby to shoulder the balance the blame show a sense of entitlement to privilege for the wealthy in the 1920s.
The last tragedy in “The Great Gatsby” is the murder of Gatsby by Wilson, over alleged indiscretions. The following scenes, where Nick tries to trace Gatsby’s past and get people to show to his funeral, are telling moments. Daisy, Tom, and Jordan refused to go for fear of reprisal and to avoid the feelings such a ceremony would entail. Meyer Wolfsheim, a business associate, realized that his business with Gatsby was completed and did not believe it necessary to go to the funeral. The scene where Gatsby’s father and Nick are the only two to attend Gatsby’s funeral was telling of the lack of importance of Gatsby and his values to the upper crust of society.
Fitzgerald’s style was versatile, ranging from rapid fire dialogue to important flashbacks to tell elements of the story that were necessary. Fitzgerald portrays these lavish surroundings with some contrast to the rest of the world, with his descriptions of ash heaps surrounding the road from East Egg. The author was deliberate in his descriptions of the world of East and West Egg, probably as an attempt to show superficiality in the culture of the Twenties. Fitzgerald’s use of language is appropriate to the lessons he wanted to convey and the style in this book is vital to its conclusions.
