How Does Fitzgerald Create Identity In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald contains many subtle, yet obvious, hints at the reality of the jazz age. Fitzgerald creates complex characters that not only intrigue the reader, but also represent a specific theme or group of people who existed in the 1920s. To get the story to mirror the 1920s, Fitzgerald specifically targets the topic of identity and develops metaphors within that topic, he describes the character’s social classes in a specific way, and makes historical references to the desire to achieve the ‘American Dream’.
First, to understand what Fitzgerald was trying to accomplish with such a diverse set of characters, you must understand what the word ‘identity’ means. Identity means, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, …show more content…
If there were no poor, there would be no rich, and if there were no rich, there wouldn’t be any poor. Fitzgerald uses specific word choice (diction) to portray the rich in two main groups: those that come from ‘old money’ who were born into wealth like the Buchanans and Jordan Baker, and those that have ‘new money’ and have just acquired wealth like Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses those who come from lower classes to get a message across. Nick, who comes from an semi-wealthy family but doesn't compare to what the other wealthy characters have, proves himself to be honorable and kind. Myrtle is a bit different. She comes from the middle class and she, like others, is trapped in a ‘valley of ashes’ and struggles to get out. That is why it is so easy for her to be able to cheat on her husband. She gets to live the lifestyle she wants, even if it's for a small while: “‘I told that boy about the ice.’ Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. ‘These people! You have to keep after them all the time.’ She looked at me and laughed pointlessly” (Fitzgerald 69-70). By saying that she laughed “pointlessly”, Fitzgerald is trying to explain how desperately Myrtle is trying to fit in and how Tom and his friends will never see her as an equal or include her in their group, because they see her as inferior. Tom seems to like the fact that she is inferior and wishes to be in his class, …show more content…
Gatsby, in particular, represents the American Dream, because he rose from nothing to success. The 1920s were filled with hard work and the glamour of the roaring 20s. The Great Gatsby could be seen as a story on the corruption of the American Dream. The upper elite are often immoral and superficial, and Gatsby starts to fit into that description. The materialistic elite that is Gatsby ends up a criminal, and even though his bank account grows, his morality doesn’t. We see in Jordan, Tom, and Daisy that they should be satisfied and content with their lives, but they actually all cheat in some form. Fitzgerald describes Tom’s speaking voice as “a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked—and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts.” (20). By describing him in this way, Fitzgerald is trying to get the reader to question why Tom has the right to speak to people in a mean manner when he has done nothing to earn his name. Fitzgerald is trying to get the point across that money doesn’t actually make people better, but really corrupts them. This means that the American Dream is centered around materialistic ideals and nothing else, leaning away from the commonly thought goal of a better