Classics, Culture, Christianity

The Great Gatsby is often thought of as a staple of high school English classes.  Most of us have memories of reading it sometime in the early fall, as a sort of segue into wordier, more difficult literature.  We were told that this is a novel about the corrupting power of money, the futility of the American Dream, and perhaps even about Feminism or The Evils of Capitalism or some other relevant sociopolitical matter.  As with all literature, this book can be interpreted in many ways.  However, upon a closer inspection, there may be a more timeless meaning to this story than may meet the eye: a meaning that goes beyond politics or current social matters.

This novel is, simply put, the story of a man trying to repeat the past.   Jay Gatsby, a poor soldier, was once in a relationship with the society belle Daisy Fay but was rejected for the wealthy yet wicked Tom Buchanan.  Several years later, Gatsby refuses to accept this fact, begs his former flame to leave Tom for him, and pays with his life when Daisy lets him take the blame for manslaughter that she committed, leading to his demise at the hands of the victim’s deranged avenger. 

This ending becomes increasingly sobering upon pondering what Gatsby dies for.  He believes he dies for love, but this is a delusion.  Gatsby is not in love with Daisy- he is enamored with a shadow, an idea he has created of her in his mind.  The real Daisy is shallow and capricious, marrying for money: Gatsby believes that she is a loyal, loving woman trapped against her own will in a loveless marriage to a womanizing scoundrel.  He completely idolizes her, but she falls short of his expectations by betraying him and blaming him for her crimes.

So, we must ask, why does Gatsby delude himself like this?  Because in a world that feels devoid of meaning, he is desperate for something to believe in.  Every character in the novel other than Gatsby and Nick is portrayed as quite cynical and nihilistic.  At the end of the story, as he begins to slip into a similar cynicism, Nick Carraway, the story’s narrator, mentions the green light on Daisy’s dock, visible across the bay from Gatsby’s pier.  This light symbolizes the title character’s hopes throughout the story.  Nick compares Gatsby’s situation to the constant human struggle for meaning: “Gatsby believed in the green light… tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… and one fine morning-” This paragraph ends abruptly and Fitzgerald finishes his narration with a much less optimistic statement- “So we beat on against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past (p. 180).”  

Even the story’s antagonist, the cruel Tom Buchanan, is not immune from this wistful “beating on.”  He is described as cynical and ruthless, yes, but the narrator also gives us clues that show that, at some earlier point, Tom may have been just as idealistic as Gatsby.  Nick tells us that he reached “such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savors of anti-climax(p. 6)” and that he is “forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game(p. 6).”  While by no means a sympathetic character in this novel, Tom is not inhuman.  He is, in a way, a dreamer just like Gatsby: deluding himself, wanting to repeat a past in which he temporarily felt fulfilled.  He found his identity in this “acute limited excellence” and, having lost it, is now looking for meaning in concupiscence and hedonism.  This actually, in a way, mirrors what Fitzgerald became.  While the character of Gatsby is often thought to be modeled after F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan may be closer to what Fitzgerald became later in his life, after his marriage to his wife, Zelda, failed.  It is reported that he fell into a hedonistic lifestyle, living only for pleasure.  Perhaps the figure of Tom is what Gatsby becomes when his idols fail him?

I believe that the only true cynic in this novel- the only person who has wholeheartedly given up the search for meaning- may be Daisy Buchanan herself.  She all but outright states that she doesn’t believe in anything and doesn’t even appear to care that her husband is blatantly cheating on her, that she is secretly cheating on him, or that she has committed vehicular manslaughter.  She repents only of being caught in all scenarios.  Even her interactions with her little daughter- whom we only see her speak to once in the entire novel- feel stilted and fraudulent.  Instead of discussing her true feelings when Tom cheated on her while she was giving birth to her child, she hides behind a cryptic statement that has puzzled critics for years: “I hope she’ll be a fool.  That’s the best thing a girl in this world can be- a beautiful little fool(p. 17).”  Is this ironic?  Is it a nod to how Daisy feels that, if she knew less, she would be happier?  Does Daisy genuinely think girls should try to be fools?  Daisy seems to be unable to express genuine thoughts or sentiments, and it is hinted that her perfect image, like Gatsby’s persona, is a mask worn to conceal a deep sadness.  Just as Gatsby is nearly a caricature of the “new-money” party lifestyle, Daisy is nearly a caricature of the “old-money” trophy wife lifestyle.  When she is caught in infidelity, and this image falls apart, Daisy totally crumbles and cannot defend herself.  This image was her life, and the real person underneath is a mere husk with no meaning.

In this way, Daisy represents the logical conclusion of a life lived for temporal purposes: the stage in which, with hopes disappointed, a person comes to resent belief itself.  She now worships nothing and believes in nothing: or at least, this is what she tells herself.  At times, however, it seems that she is looking for someone or something to bring her back to life, to give her something to believe in, which may be why she entertains Gatsby’s interest even though she has no goal of staying with him.  Or maybe her “idol” is gaining attention from rich men and feeding her ego.  I’ll be honest: Daisy is one of the hardest characters to understand in this novel.  Trying to tackle the many valid interpretations of Daisy Buchanan- both in my mind and in the minds of readers before me- would warrant its own post (I might do that someday… if I have the time).  For now, though, I am going to consider her a cynical woman who looked for meaning in the wrong places, like Gatsby, and came out empty on the other side.

The book’s theme is especially apt considering it is a product of “The Lost Generation”-  the generation that came of age around World War One and grew up in an age of disillusionment, materialism, radical individualism, and, ultimately, moral apathy.  Most people “did what was right in their own eyes.”  For you see, what was there to live for but pleasure?  The Lost Generation was, under their glamorous façade, a generation devoid of purpose, desperately searching for meaning.  Does this sound familiar?  Gatsby’s obsession with a false dream clearly represents the idols that the Lost Generation relentlessly chased, looking for meaning in the things of the world.

In my humble opinion, most generations alive today, especially Generation Z and Millenials, are eerily reminiscent of this.  We also grew up in a time of extreme moral uncertainty, when we are told that pleasure is the answer to life’s problems and that the meaning of life lies within ourselves.  However, this lie has left us empty inside and searching for meaning in all manner of places.  We look for identity in our pronouns, our achievements, or even in the fictional or celebrity fandoms we are a part of.  Some of us go so far as to believe wholeheartedly in things that to older generations may seem completely absurd- such as crystals and zodiac signs.  This is not a sign of stupidity, but a sign of a very natural human longing to have something outside of ourselves to believe in, even something that we know deep down is foolish and hollow.  I have realized that we, too, are a generation of Gatsbys.  But what can we do?  This would be a very bleak observation were it not for the Word of God. 

Honestly, every time I read this novel, I am reminded of the book of Ecclesiastes.  This book of the Bible ultimately answers the question that The Great Gatsby asks.  The narrator struggles with the “vanity” of life: “’Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.  What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 2-3).”  He has tried everything the world has to offer- riches, intellectual pursuits, pleasures.  Every single one has left him empty- in the same way that the pursuit of Daisy has left Gatsby.  Unlike Gatsby and Daisy, however, the author of Ecclesiastes has hope in the Lord.  He urges his readers to seek out Wisdom, which comes from fearing the Lord.  Even if it is not rewarded with wealth or earthly happiness, the author of Ecclesiastes argues that a life lived virtuously for the Lord is better than one lived pursuing mere shadows that can never fulfill us.