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144 The Great Gatsby Essay Topics

Let’s travel to the roaring 1920s with our collection of The Great Gatsby essay prompts! F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel, set amidst the luxury and decadence of the Jazz Age, thrills readers with its exploration of love, wealth, and the elusive pursuit of the American Dream. In the Great Gatsby essay topics below, you will find titles about the complex characters and their entwined destinies.

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• The American Dream in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
• The Great Gatsby: Book Review
• Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan: Character Comparison
• Green Light in The Great Gatsby
• The Great Gatsby Themes
• Examples of Racism in The Great Gatsby
• The Deception of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby
• “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald “The Great Gatsby” is a recognized classic of American literature with the characteristic idea of that era – a dream that transforms into a tragedy eventually.
• Old and New Money in The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the twentieth century, the “Jazz Age” in America. The writer considers many socially and morally significant topics in the novel, such as love, friendship, social division, and money. The last one is trickier than it seems at first….
• Benjamin Franklin vs. Jay Gatsby: Character Comparison The paper aims to consider the character traits of Gatsby through the portrayal of Ben Franklin, discuss their aims and features.
• Ethics in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald In The Great Gatsby, many of the characters have questionable ethics. The story, written by Scott Fitzgerald, reflects a society where moral decadence thrives
• How Money and Wealth Depicted in the Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby” Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby shows how wealth is a major element in the social order by showcasing, how money corrupts individual and classifies social groups.
• “The Great Gatsby” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”: Examination of Material Wealth The paper examines Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” and Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” focusing on the theme of materialistic wealth and its impacts on human life.
• Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age Perception in “The Great Gatsby” The purpose of this paper is to analyze the features used by Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby in terms of its contribution to the reader’s impression and the work’s status.
• “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Beliefs and Values This paper uses “The Great Gatsby” book to describe the major events and experiences that influenced Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s beliefs and values.
• Analysis of The Great Gatsby (2013) This work highlights the possible readings of the film The Great Gatsby according to rhetoric, semiotics, the gaze, and queer theory.
• The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby: Comprare & Contrast ‘The Great Gatsby’ by S.Fitzgerald and ‘The Sun also Rises’ by E.Hemingway touched the themes of human challenges, racism and isolation under the impact of war events.
• The Great Gatsby: Gatsby and the Decline of the American Dream This paper will research the decline of Gatsby’s American dream by summarizing the novel, defining the discussed notion, and providing several supporting examples from the story.
• Love in Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” The main characters of both modern and traditional works, “Pride and Prejudice” and “The Great Gatsby,” openly say that a human cannot hide her feelings.
• The Great Gatsby as a Reflection of American Culture The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, was the forerunner of an entire literary dynasty of rich personalities with a mysterious past.
• Scott Fitzgerald “The Great Gatsby”: Literary Devices In the book Fitzgerald applies literary techniques such as dramatic irony, allegory, exposition, personification, and foreshadowing to accord the story a smart finishing.
• Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway: Character Analysis This paper compares and contrasts two characters from “The Great Gatsby”, which are Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway, who represent the novel’s protagonist and narrator respectively
• Symbolism in The Great Gatsby In The Great Gatsby there are several symbols but the most powerful appears to be the eyes that overlook the valley from a bill board.
• The Great Gatsby: Analysis The main character Jay Gatsby returns after the overpast of World War I. As we see, he is a respectable veteran being newly wealthy. He settles in “West Egg”.
• Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” as a Deconstruction of the American Dream One way in which the movie deconstructs the idea of the American Dream is by showing that prosperity does not necessarily come in hand with virtue.
• The Role of Love and Women in Great Gatsby and the Sun Also Rises Love is inextricably linked to women in both Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby” and Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” so much so that a serious discussion of one cannot be complete without the other.
• Infidelity in Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” The Great Gatsby is the story of materialism, its pursuit, symbolism on those who possess it at different stages of life, and how the majority may decline morally in its lure.
• “The Great Gatsby”: What Makes Daisy So Attractive?
• Nick and His Experiences of Materialism in “The Great Gatsby”
• The Confrontational Relationship Between Tom and Gatsby in F Scott Fitzgerald’s, “The Great Gatsby”
• How Women Are Portrayed in “The Great Gatsby”
• What Techniques Does Fitzgerald Use to Convey the Main Themes in “The Great Gatsby”
• Contrasting Western Morals and Eastern Corruption in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
• “Love Conquers All: Analyzing Romance and Relationships Within “The Great Gatsby”
• “The Great Gatsby”: Morals and American Idealism
• Fitzgerald’s Personal Background Paralleled With the Character in “The Great Gatsby”
• What Makes One Great? “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• How the Lost Generation Is Represented in “The Great Gatsby”
• The Careless Gaiety and Moral Decadence of the Rich in Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
• Jay Gatsby´S American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”
• The American Dream Turned Nightmare in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Greed, Lust and the American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”, a Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Ambition and Its Negative Effects: “The Great Gatsby” and Macbeth
• The Deconstruction Post Modern Criticism of “The Great Gatsby”
• Morals and American Idealism in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Gatsby’s Unrealistic American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”
• American Culture During “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The East Egg and the Corruption of the American Dream in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Superficial Love and Realistic Love in “The Great Gatsby” by F Scott Fitz
• Imagery in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Fitzgerald The principle imagery of the novel lies in its locations. There are three key locations, which signify different social classes of the American society at the time.
• The Great Gatsby: American Dream Concept The movie, The Great Gatsby, satirizes American Dream by showing that it is an illusion that cannot be attained: wealth is not always a product of hard work.
• Gender in The Great Gatsby & The Yellow Wallpaper The complexities of men and women in the texts were examined and evaluated on the basis of sexuality and relationship and the inferences would be supported by the text itself.
• The American Dream: Jay Gatsby’s Illegal Wealth The American Dream is a happy way of living believed in the US that anyone has a chance for success and can also rise to a higher social or economic position by working hard.
• The Great Gatsby: A Book Review and Summary The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is highly evaluated among literary critics and perceived to be one of the most prominent novels ever written.
• Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby The novel Great Gatsby depicts the unique vision of the American dream and its impact on the life of a person during the 1920s.
• Jazz Age in “The Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitzerald The topic of changes in the American society in 1920s, in the book “The Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitzerald, and the change of the concept of the American Dream.
• Masculinity in The Great Gatsby and The Breakfast Club The paper demonstrates how the American culture depicts masculinity as reflected in media (movies) and American literature in the course readings.
• The Great Gatsby: How Money and Class Create and Destroy Relationships Money and class always played a huge role in the life of any society. Since ancient times, people have been marrying for money: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• Society in The Great Gatsby The novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a bitter satire to the American dream, which according to the ideas of the majority implies the heap of the happiness.
• “The Great Gatsby” a Novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald The novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set up in the 1920’s, an era during which new liberties were being discovered in fashion.
• The Film “The Great Gatsby” and the American Dream The film “The Great Gatsby” is just one example, which leaves hope for people that the American Dream in any of its interpretations is attainable for the majority today.
• Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” Book and Movie Comparison “The Great Gatsby” can be called a faithful interpretation, however, it still has some personal analysis of the director.
• “The Great Gatsby” Is the Best Fitzgerald’s Novel “The Great Gatsby” is practically the most successful book of Francis Scott Fitzgerald as it has been translated into many languages.
• Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”: Gatsby’s Impossible Dream In The Great Gatsby, the story concerns a mysterious character named Jay Gatsby. He is exceptionally wealthy, hosting parties at his manor attended by many people.
• Owl Eyes in “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald This paper discusses and examines the significance of the minor character Owl Eyes in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby”.
• Failure of American Dream: “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald Review Despite the seeming glamor and wealth, the character of Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald is deeply and inherently tragic.
• Jay Gatsby by F. S. Fitzgerald and the American Dream The American Dream means the individual’s striving for success, material well-being, and other kinds of achievement, implying an ascent to recognition, wealth, and fame
• The American Dream Discussion Based on the Film “The Great Gatsby” In “The Great Gatsby”, Franklin’s assertion the American Dream is available to all people is incorrect – Gatsby achieved wealth by fraud, but it didn’t fulfill his American dream.
• “The Great Gatsby”: The American Dream Is Not Feasible for All “The Great Gatsby” declares that the American Dream is not feasible for all because neither virtuous character nor hard work leads to prosperity, and hope remains unrewarded.
• “The Great Gatsby” by F.S. Fitzgerald Hero Review Nick Carraway by “The Great Gatsby” by F.S. Fitzgerald is the novel’s narrator and protagonist who undergoes considerable personal change.
• Pursuit of Daisy Buchanan in Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” “The Great Gatsby” is a novel by F. S. Fitzgerald. The purpose of this essay is to examine whether Gatsby should have sought Daisy and the reasons why this pursuit was justified.
• The Great Gatsby: Chapters’ Review Chapter 1: Nick Carraway decides to move from Minnesota to New York. He starts his story by mentioning that his father told him not to judge others.
• American Dream in Fitzgeralds’s “The Great Gatsby” Among the many concepts explored in Fitzgeralds’s The Great Gatsby, American Dream is one of the most notable ones.
• Nick Carraway in “The Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitzgerald In contrast to other characters in The Great Gatsby, Nick goes through a number of changes from the beginning to the end of the novel.
• In the Time of the Butterflies and The Great Gatsby: Compare & Contrast Essay The settings of both stories help us understand the canvasses upon which the authors paint their pictures and contextualizes the actions of stories’ characters.
• Money & Wealth in The Great Gatsby In The Great Gatsby, Jay wants to win back the only girl he ever felt he loved. It’s hard to blame Gatsby for attempting to win Daisy by impressing her with his material wealth.
• Difference Between Illusion and Reality in “The Great Gatsby”
• “The Great Gatsby” Through the Lens of Feminist Criticism
• How Money Widens the Gap of Loneliness in “The Great Gatsby”
• What Part Does Social Class Play in “The Great Gatsby”?
• Broken Dreams and Fallen Themes: The Corruption of the American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”
• Dreams the Main Theme in “The Great Gatsby”
• Connection Between Saint Hedwig of Silesia and “The Great Gatsby”
• Imagination and Its Effects on the World of “The Great Gatsby”
• Love Lust and Obsession in “The Great Gatsby”
• Beauty and Foolishness: The Role of Pammy Buchanan in “The Great Gatsby”
• Discover the Hidden Reality in “The Great Gatsby”
• Equating Money and Prosperity to the Power of Love in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• What Going From West to East Meant for the Characters in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• America and the Decay of Morality: “The Great Gatsby” and “The Sun Also Rises”
• How Does the Author Use Theme, Setting, and Character to Instil in the Reader a Desire to Read on “The Great Gatsby”?
• Why Has “The Great Gatsby” Been Hailed as the Ultimate Testament to the Glamorous Side of the Jazz Era?
• “The Great Gatsby” Displaying the Corruption of the American
• “The Great Gatsby”: Fitzgerald Tying Is Life to the Book
• Pure Happiness and Self-Satisfaction in the Pursuit of the American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”, a Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• “The Great Gatsby”: Evidence of Insecurity and Ambiguity That Question Nick Carraway’s Heterosexuality
• Ambition and the American Dream in “The Great Gatsby”
• Existentialism, Jungian Analysis, and Marxist Criticism in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• “The Great Gatsby”, Their Eyes Were Watching God and Grapes
• Man’s Dreams for Elite Social Class in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
• Similarities Between “The Great Gatsby” and Julius Caesar
• Lying and Its Consequences in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Emotion Over Reason: Frankenstein and “The Great Gatsby”
• Dreaming Can Bring Misery in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitgerald
• The Thin Line Between Dreams and Reality in “The Great Gatsby”
• Beneath the Surface Glitter, ‘“The Great Gatsby”’ Is a Profoundly Pessimistic Novel
• “The Great Gatsby”: Wealth Allows People to Be Careless and Dangerous
• Women’s Intentions Towards Men in “The Great Gatsby” by Francis Scott Fitzgerald
• Breathing Dreams Like Air in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• East and West Egg in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Overview How Fitzgerald Presents Marriage as a Dysfunctional
• Affairs, Wealth, and Murder in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
• American Dream and Materialism in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• How Does Great Gatsby’s Morality Apply to Modern Society?
• Achieving Hopes and Dreams in “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Idealized Love Hope and Mortality in “The Great Gatsby”
• Death and the Relief of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Analysis and Literary Interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”
• Greed for Success and Wealth in “The Great Gatsby”
• How Is the American Dream Corrupted in “The Great Gatsby”?
• What Characters in “The Great Gatsby” Represent the American Dream?
• How Did the Author Elicit Sympathy for the Character of Great Gatsby?
• What Are the Major Themes in “The Great Gatsby”?
• Does Money Buy Happiness in “The Great Gatsby”?
• Who Is the Most Tragic Character in “The Great Gatsby”?
• How Is Illusion Mistaken for Reality in “The Great Gatsby”?
• Is “The Great Gatsby” Movie Accurate to the Book?
• Does Money Cause Problems in “The Great Gatsby”?
• How Is Happiness Portrayed in “The Great Gatsby”?
• What Is the Main Message of “The Great Gatsby”?
• Should “The Great Gatsby” Still Be Read in Schools?
• How Does Money Affect the Characters in “The Great Gatsby”?
• What Makes Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” a Timeless Classic?
• How Is Violence Shown in “The Great Gatsby”?
• Does the Novel “The Great Gatsby” Relate to Modern-Day Society?
• How Has Fitzgerald Presented the Character of Daisy in “The Great Gatsby”?
• What Does Great Gatsby Say About Society?
• How Does “The Great Gatsby” Show That Money Can’t Buy Love?
• Why Does “The Great Gatsby” Criticize Society?
• How Is Social Class Presented in “The Great Gatsby”?
• What’s the Difference Between “The Great Gatsby” Movie and Book?
• How Does Fitzgerald Portray Class at the Start of “The Great Gatsby”?
• What Is Fitzgerald Ultimately Trying to Say About Money and Materialism in “The Great Gatsby”?
• Why Is Gatsby Known as Great?

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These essay examples and topics on The Great Gatsby were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 20, 2024 .

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The Great Gatsby Essays

Foreshadowing destiny olivia verma, the great gatsby.

<blockquote>[G]audy ... primary colors, and hair shorn in strange new ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. ... [T]he air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and...

The Eulogy of a Dream James Boo

The central theme of <I>The Great Gatsby</I> is the decay of the American Dream. Through his incisive analysis and condemnation of 1920s high society, Fitzgerald (in the person of the novels narrator, Nick Carraway) argues that the...

Materialism Portrayed By Cars in The Great Gatsby Joanna Cruz

"But as I walked down the steps I saw that the evening was not quite over. Fifty feet from the door a dozen headlights illuminated a bizarre and tumultuous scene (58)."

After the first of Gatsby's parties that Nick attends, Fitzgerald dedicates two...

Role of Narration in The Great Gatsby Steven Rice

Renowned author F. Scott Fitzgerald became "the most famous chronicler of 1920s America, an era that he dubbed 'the Jazz Age.'" (Phillips 1). His fame grew in part from his widely published short stories, and also from the art of his novel, The...

A Great American Dream Jens Shroyer

The Great Gatsby and "Babylon Revisited," both by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are stories about the emptiness and recklessness of the 1920s. Each story has its distinctions, but Fitzgerald's condemnation of the decade reverberates through both....

Restless in West Egg Anonymous

To many Americans, wealth and happiness are inextricably intertwined. After all, the democratic ideals of our country are predicated on the notion of the âself-madeâ? man. Ironically, it is sometimes the striving for wealth or the striving for...

The Death of a Dream Martha E. Andrietti

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is regarded as a brilliant piece of literature that offers a vivid peek into American life in the 1920's. The central characteristics of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920's society are shown through the decay...

The Fall of the American Dream Josh Weiss

The figurative as well as literal death of Jay Gatsby in the novel The Great Gatsby symbolizes a conclusion to the principal theme of the novel. With the end of the life of Jay Gatsby comes the end of what Fitzgerald views as the ultimate American...

Jay Gatsby's Representation of America Josh Weiss

It was literary critic Lionel Trilling who quite aptly described the collective entity Jay Gatsby when he wrote, "Jay Gatsby [stands] for America itself." Jay Gatsby lives his life entrenched in unfathomable wealth. His true roots are rather...

Decay of American Greatness Michael Jin

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a shining example of the principle that the most powerful messages are not told but rather shown. Although the novel is written in the form of largely impartial narration by Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald's...

Through A Lens, Darkly: The Use of Eye Imagery to Illustrate the Theme of an Extinct God in The Great Gatsby Anonymous

Throughout history, the eye has always been an emblem of the deities. In the Egyptian pantheon, there is Horus, god of light, who is signified by his famous Eye; in the Roman pantheon, there is Juno, associated with the many-eyed peacock; and in...

Obsession Anonymous

In his book The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the psychology of love's fantasies and realities through the character of Jay Gatsby. During their five-year separation, Gatsby pines for his love, Daisy Buchanan, rearranging his entire...

Daisy and Her Men: Analysis of Character in The Great Gatsby Ashley Smith

Throughout literature, there are countless characters whose only positive attributes seem to be the fact that they are utterly detestable - the reader loves to hate them. From Shakespeare's conniving Iago to Dickens' endlessly cruel Estella, these...

The African American Dream B. L. Fox

Social class plays a dominant role in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In fact the title character is living proof that the American dream really exists. Readers recognize the importance Fitzgerald places on social class throughout the...

The Shift From Realism to Modernism Anonymous

During the modernist era, artists gradually moved away from realism towards themes of illusion, consciousness, and imagination. In the visual arts, realism evolved into cubism and expressionism. This movement is paralleled in literature, as...

Gatsby and Henry: Obsession Viewed in Two Different Lenses Ruth Tangonan

Ernest Hemingway's Farewell to Arms and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby revolve around one primary character who serves as a vessel that reveals the major theme of the book. The Great Gatsby chronicles Jay Gatsby's pursuit of love, while...

Money! Money! Money! Christopher R. DeConinck

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, as Jay Gatsby delves into his pursuit of wealth and need for materialism, his hopes and aspirations become shattered in a world of unobtainable and unreachable possibilities. While Jay Gatsby confidently...

The Bildungsroman Form in The Great Gatsby Sagar Shah

Maturation and personal evolution of main characters typify the bildungsroman, a distinct novelistic form. The growth of characters Tom Buchanan, George Wilson, Jay Gatsby make F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and important example of the...

The significance of the end of Chapter 1 of "The Great Gatsby" Anonymous

Luminosity and spiritual longing for something that had vanished a long ago are probably the two main characteristics of the last two paragraphs in Chapter 1 of “The Great Gatsby”. The scene takes place shortly after Nick's return from dinner at...

The Great Gatsby and the Decline of the American Dream Anonymous

F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the decline of the American Dream in one of his most famous novels, The Great Gatsby. Although this book only takes place over a few months, it represents the entire time period of the 1920s, in which society, mainly...

Gatsby's Fall from Greatness Anonymous

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby completes a decline from his carefully crafted image of greatness to his exposed, unsightly, and lonely death. The story of the novel is really the deconstruction of this image, and the...

Modernism and The Great Gatsby Bonnie Christine Smith

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has been hailed as one of the greatest literary works of Modernism. The Great Gatsby set the tone for the movement that defined American literature in the early decades well into the present day. The...

Fitzgerald's Prediction and the Great Depression Anonymous

Famed American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald could not have anticipated what was on the horizon when he penned The Great Gatsby in 1925. Fitzgerald was no prophet, but he seemed to have an innate sensibility that allowed him to step outside of...

House Versus Home in The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman Anonymous

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, both authors use their characters’ living space, the house, as a metaphor for the attainability of the American Dream of security, wealth, and...

The Great Gatsby: Essay Samples

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📝 The Great Gatsby: Essay Samples List

Below you’ll find a large collection of The Great Gatsby essay and research paper samples. Feel free to use any of them to inspire your own writing!

• Gatsby & Nick in The Great Gatsby Essay Genre : Essay Words : 1763 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby
• Gatsby & Jean Valjean: Compare & Contrast Essay Genre : Essay Words : 1259 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan
• The Ethicality of an Action Jay Gatsby Genre : Assessment paper Words : 833 Focused on : The Great Gatsby themes Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson
• The American Dream in The Great Gatsby: Essay Genre : Essay Words : 619 Focused on : The Great Gatsby themes Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson
• Babylon Revisited & The Great Gatsby: Motifs & Themes Genre : Essay Words : 1216 Focused on : The Great Gatsby themes Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan
• Time as a Theme in The Great Gatsby: Essay Genre : Essay Words : 896 Focused on : The Great Gatsby themes Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson
• Daisy Buchanan: Quotes Analysis Essay Genre : Essay Words : 1077 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker
• Female Characters in The Streetcar Named Desire & The Great Gatsby: Comparative Essay Genre : Essay Words : 1639 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan
• Why Is Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby a Satire? Genre : Essay Words : 680 Focused on : The Great Gatsby genre Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Mr. McKee
• Jay Gatsby & Tom Buchanan: Compare & Contrast Genre : Essay Words : 812 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan
• Francis Scott Fitzgerald & His American Dream Genre : Essay Words : 1815 Focused on : F.S. Fitzgerald’s biography Characters mentioned : Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan
• Jay Gatsby & Eponine from Les Miserables: Compare & Contrast Essay Genre : Essay Words : 812 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan
• Jay Gatsby and Valjean in ‘Les Miserables’: Comparative Essay Genre : Essay Words : 769 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway
• Love in The Great Gatsby & The Catcher in The Rye: Comparative Essay Genre : Analytical essay Words : 1059 Focused on : The Great Gatsby themes Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan
• The Great Gatsby: Analysis and Feminist Critique Genre : Essay Words : 1365 Focused on : The Great Gatsby analysis Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson
• Fairy Tale Traits in The Great Gatsby Genre : Essay Words : 1146 Focused on : The Great Gatsby analysis & context Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan
• The Great Gatsby: Book Review Genre : Book review Words : 701 Focused on : The Great Gatsby context Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan
• The Great Gatsby: Book Review & Reflection Genre : Essay Words : 587 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, Jordan Baker
• Fitzgerald’s American Dream in The Great Gatsby & Winter Dreams Genre : Argumentative essay Words : 1119 Focused on : The Great Gatsby themes Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan
• Silver & Gold: Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby Genre : Essay Words : 889 Focused on : The Great Gatsby color symbolism Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker
• Nick as the Narrator in The Great Gatsby Genre : Essay Words : 2473 Focused on : The Great Gatsby characters Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway
• The Dilemmas of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby Genre : Essay Words : 687 Focused on : The Great Gatsby themes Characters mentioned : Jay Gatsby
• Political Satire in American Literature Genre : Essay Words : 788 Focused on : The Great Gatsby genre Characters mentioned : Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby
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• Summary (Chapter 1)
• Summary (Chapter 2)
• Summary (Chapter 3)
• Summary (Chapter 4)
• Summary (Chapter 5)
• Summary (Chapter 6)
• Summary (Chapter 7)
• Summary (Chapter 8)
• Summary (Chapter 9)
• Symbolism & Style
• Quotes Explained
• Essay Topics
• Essay Samples
• Questions & Answers
• F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Biography
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Great Gatsby: Essay Samples." August 13, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/lit/the-great-gatsby-study-guide/essay-samples/.

Essays About The Great Gatsby: Top 5 Examples and Prompts

The Great Gatsby is a classic American tale; if you are writing essays about The Great Gatsby, find interesting essay examples and writing prompts in our guide. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925) revolves around a young man named Nick Carraway and his interactions with his New York neighbors, including the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. Throughout the novel, Gatsby attempts to rekindle his relationship with Daisy Buchanan, a cousin of Carraway’s; along the way, he is revealed not to be who he seems. The novel is regarded as a literary masterwork due to its profound exploration of love, social class, gender, and race, among other themes. As a result, it has developed into one of the most well-known ls of all time. 

If you need to write a good essay about The Great Gatsby , look at our featured essay examples below. 

1. The Great Gatsby – Really Great by Grace Nguyen

2. five reasons ‘gatsby’ is the great american novel by deirdre donahue, 3. “the great gatsby” color analysis by kurt medina, 4.  in defense of plot: an analysis of the tension in the great gatsby by aatif rashid.

• 5. ​​Behind The Great Gatsby by William Peace

Top Writing Prompts on Essays about The Great Gatsby

1. how does the novel manifest the american dream, 2. the story behind the title, 3. compare and contrast, 4. how is new york city portrayed, 5. the great gatsby’s legacy, 6. the theme of race, 7. the theme of social class.

“Gatsby is the prime example of a person disregarding whatever morals he might have had, in order to pursue Daisy, his own personal American Dream. Consequently, his actions were reprehensible, not great. Gatsby also showed himself to be a generally dishonest person. Daisy

was married to a man named Tom. By trying to win her affections Gatsby is, in turn, adamantly trying to get Daisy to cheat on her husband.”

Nguyen writes about the novel’s titular character and how he changed himself so much for one person. This would be admirable if not because he was most enamored with Daisy’s rich life rather than her shallow character. From a working-class background, Gatsby acquired massive amounts of wealth through illegal means to match Daisy’s life, letting go of his morals to achieve his goals. In the end, Nguyen writes that Gatsby dies due to his deception. 

“One reason: It offers complicated characters who can be interpreted in fresh ways for new readers. Is Nick in love with Gatsby, as Greg Olear theorized on Salon? Could Gatsby — the other, the outsider — actually be a black man? Often dismissed as a selfish ditz, is Daisy victimized by a society that offers her no career path except marriage to big bucks?”

Donahue enumerates reasons for which The Great Gatsby is so highly regarded and considered the “great American novel.” These include an “American Dream”-type story, complex and exciting language, and most importantly, the unbelievable love story of Gatsby and Daisy. The millionaire is not motivated by greed but by love; however, he is in love with the idea of Daisy and the past in general rather than Daisy herself. 

“These colors connect the reader to the novel by making him see and feel the actual events and emotions a character has and not only an imaginative image. Gatsby’s example, which is full of lines rich of color imagery, makes the reader feel what he feels; sense what he senses; and try to be what he is. Gatsby’s figure is greatly shaped by this color imagery, validating and supporting the title of the book, colors show how great The Great Gatsby was.”

In his essay, Medina explains how Fitzgerald uses color symbolism to progress the plot and characters, using quotes from the novel as sources. For example, yellow represents Gatsby’s wealth, green symbolizes his greed and jealousy, and white symbolizes the pure, innocent idea he has of Daisy. Medina believes that these colors help readers connect more to the characters, making them feel what they feel and identify with them. 

“The central tension and conflict in the novel is not just whether Daisy will chose Gatsby or Tom but whether Nick will come to sympathize with Gatsby or not. And with this line, it’s clear that Nick does indeed sympathize with Gatsby. He realizes that old money Daisy and Tom are rotten, and that Gatsby is worth more than them. Human sympathy, thus, becomes more expansive than Nick had previously thought.”

Rashid starts off his essay by summarizing The Great Gatsby, then reveals how much of an impact tension has on the novel. Rather than the tension between Gatsby and Daisy, he believes that the tension lies in the extent to which Nick’s sympathy goes. He sympathizes greatly, going so far as to help invite people to Gatsby’s funeral (barely anyone comes, however). Rashid says this is emblematic of the “larger failures of society.”

5. ​​ Behind The Great Gatsby by William Peace

“Drawing on his own personal experience, Fitzgerald specialises in drawing characters who yearn to break into the ranks of the rich and powerful. Through his vivid depiction of the Wilsons, the unhappily married couple who run the gas station in Ash Valley, Fitzgerald captures the sense of life literally passing them by.”

Peace’s essay explores the background of Fitzgerald, the novel’s author, and how it inspired him to write it. He joined the army, fell in love with another wealthy woman named Zelda Sayre, and proposed to her; however, she rejected him, and he fell into despair. However, his later success led Zelda to accept him. Nevertheless, their relationship was rocky, as they struggled to sustain their extravagant lifestyle. Peace writes that the story, particularly the character of Daisy, is based on this period in his life. 

A significant reason for the novel’s status today is its reflection of the“American Dream” many desperately wish to achieve. Explain exactly what the American dream is and how it is represented in The Great Gatsby , particularly in the character of Gatsby. 

The title refers to Gatsby as “great”; the question is, is he truly deserving of this title? Analyze the character of Jay Gatsby, citing quotes from the novel and online sources, and determine whether you believe he is indeed “great” or not. Be sure to justify your response correctly; there is no wrong answer as long as it is well-supported. 

For your essay, compare and contrast any two characters from the novel. How are they similar? How are they different? What is their fate at the end of the story? Answer these questions in your essay and cite text evidence when analyzing a character. 

The Great Gatsby has also gained much notoriety due to its portrayal of New York City. Analyze the setting of the story and the way it is described- what is he trying to say about the city and its way of life? Compare Fitzgerald’s vision of the city to how it is seen today. 

The novel has left a longstanding impression on American literature and the world, having been adapted countless times. Write about why the novel has become a classic and how its legacy can be seen today in film, literature, television, art, and pop culture. What exactly has been its impact on society? Delve into this question in your essay to create an exciting piece of writing.

Being set in the 1920s, when racism was rife in society, The Great Gatsby is littered with racial prejudice. Discuss the presence of racism, particularly against Jewish people and African-Americans. Which characters show it? Who is the racism being subjected to? Answer these questions in your essay and use quotes to support your arguments.

The theme of social class is prevalent in the novel. Write about how Fitzgerald views the social hierarchy of the 1920s based on the novel. Keep in mind the author’s background when writing; the book is primarily based on his own experiences. 

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead. If you’re stuck picking your next essay topic, check out our guide on how to write an essay about diversity .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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20 The Great Gatsby Essay Topics

Hailed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, The Great Gatsby is a story that explores love, betrayal, and the pursuit of the American dream in the 1920s.

If you have been asked to write an essay on this classic novel, you might be a little nervous trying to figure out what you should include. However, don’t worry! This guide will walk you through the process of writing an excellent Gatsby essay and provide 20 The Great Gatsby essay topic ideas.

Essay Writing Essentials

Before you can write an essay on The Great Gatsby, you need to understand the basics of essay writing. This includes developing a clear thesis, supporting your claims with evidence from the book, and crafting a solid conclusion.

Writing a Thesis

A thesis statement details the overall point or argument you intend to make in the essay. Therefore, a thesis statement must be clear, specific, and arguable. A thesis statement will be best placed at the end of your first paragraph or as a way to wrap up your introduction if it is multiple paragraphs.

Some examples of well-written thesis statements for a The Great Gatsby include:

“While The Great Gatsby appears to be a novel about love, in reality, it is a scathing critique of the American dream.”

“Though Jay Gatsby is wealthy and well-liked, he is ultimately a tragic figure because he cannot escape his past.”

“The relationships in The Great Gatsby are all ultimately doomed because the characters are not honest with each other or themselves.”

Developing Supporting Claims for the Body

To support your thesis statement, you will need to include evidence from the novel in the form of quotes and analysis. It is vital that you choose passages that directly relate to your thesis and that you explain how these quotes support your argument.

One way to find quotes that support your thesis is to look for passages that seem particularly significant or interesting to you. Then, once you have a few potential quotes in mind, try to come up with a sentence or two explaining how the quote supports your argument. This will help you determine if the quote is actually relevant to your essay or if you need to keep looking.

It can also be helpful to go back to your list of potential thesis statements and look for quotes that could support each one. This way, you can get a sense of which quotes will be most beneficial for your essay before writing.

Crafting a Strong Conclusion

Your conclusion should briefly summarize the main points of your essay and reiterate your thesis statement. You might also want to leave the reader with something to think about or a call to action if you feel strongly about the issue you have been discussing.

A strong conclusion might look something like this:

“Though Gatsby’s pursuit of the American dream is ultimately fruitless, his efforts are nonetheless admirable. His willingness to fight for what he wants, even in the face of overwhelming odds, is something that we can all learn from.”

Citing and Formatting Essays About Books

In addition to using evidence from the novel to support your claims, you will also need to cite any sources you use in your essay. This includes any quotes or paraphrases from The Great Gatsby and any outside sources you might have used.

Citing Sources

When citing a quote from The Great Gatsby, you will need to include the page number in parentheses after the quote. For example:

“Daisy’s voice was sad ‘I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'” (10).

If you are paraphrasing or summarizing a passage from The Great Gatsby, you will just need to include the page number in parentheses after the paraphrase. For example:

Gatsby’s wealth is often seen as a symbol of his success, but it is also clear that money cannot buy happiness. (21)

If you cite an outside source, you will need to include both the author’s name and the page number (or, for sources that don’t use page numbers, the section or chapter number) in parentheses after the quote. For example:

“The Great Gatsby is widely regarded as a masterpiece of American fiction” (Baldwin 3).

Formatting an Essay About a Book

When formatting your essay, there are a few key things you need to keep in mind. First, all mentions of the book’s title need to be italicized or underlined. Second, your essay should have one-inch margins on all sides.

Your essay should also have a title page that includes the title of your essay, your name, and the name of your class. If you are writing a longer essay (5 or more pages), you may need to also include a header on each page. It’s best to speak with your instructor to clarify any specific formatting requirements for the assignment.

Now that you know how to write an essay on The Great Gatsby, you can start brainstorming potential topics for your paper. If you are having trouble, consider using or adapting one of the following topics.

• How does Gatsby’s wealth (or lack thereof) impact his relationships?
• How does Gatsby’s pursuit of the American dream ultimately fail?
• What role do women play in The Great Gatsby?
• How are the parties that Gatsby throws symbolic of his own emptiness?
• How does Fitzgerald use symbolism to comment on the state of the American dream?
• What role does fate play in The Great Gatsby?
• Is Gatsby a tragic hero? If so, why?
• How is The Great Gatsby an example of the “Lost Generation”?
• What role does the past play in The Great Gatsby?
• How do the relationships between men and women change throughout the novel?
• How is The Great Gatsby a commentary on the class divisions in American society?
• What role does morality play in The Great Gatsby?
• How do the characters in The Great Gatsby represent different aspects of the American dream?
• What role does money play in The Great Gatsby?
• Is Gatsby a sympathetic character? Why or why not?
• How is Nick Carraway’s role as narrator important to the novel?
• How does Fitzgerald use setting to comment on the characters and events in The Great Gatsby?
• What role do secrets play in The Great Gatsby?
• How is The Great Gatsby a commentary on the corruption of the American dream?
• What theme(s) are explored in The Great Gatsby?

These topics should provide any student assigned an essay on The Great Gatsby with plenty to write about. If you need further help, consider using or adapting one of these topics for your own paper.

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It is not easy to create an essay about Gatsby, I confirm this, and I am going to share my experience with my readers. If you are required to make the great Gatsby essay, this guide will be helpful. I am a student, so I understand you well how you feel: you know about the assignment and cannot understand how to start. Yes, I was in your shoes and you should feel free to use my experience, and I hope that you will spend less time on your work than I did. I recommend reading the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald . Yes, you may say that you watched a movie but I assure you that it is different. It is great if you watched a famous movie about Gatsby with a great actor Leonardo DiCaprio but try to read the book! Believe me, it is a big difference between the book and movie as in the book, you can find much more details and descriptions that are skipped in the movie. Make sure you have received all detailed instructions from your teacher. I didn't think it is so important until I started to work on my essay and got some questions so I spent a lot of time trying to understand what to do. Eventually, I lost my hope, and I accidentally opened the requirements given by my teacher and found answers to all the questions I had. Funny, isn't it?  

How to Start the Great Gatsby Essay?

How to start an essay ? I guess this is the most popular question students have after they get this assignment and as I already mentioned before, your first step is to read the book. I suggest taking a pencil and paper and taking some notes during reading. It will help you to structurize everything better, plus you will be able to find some citations to use in your future essay much easier. At the beginning of your work, you have to make a good plan. Yes, like the most of the students, I hate planning, but they say it is the only way to fulfill the assignment within a deadline. So, count how many days you have, and make your own detailed plan of writing. Needless to say, every student may have their individual plan depending on their skills. It is my own plan:  

• Reading a book (with notes) - 2 days
• Choosing a good topic and brainstorming all my ideas - 1 day
• Writing my work (approximately 1000 word essay ) - 3 days
• Proofreading the finished paper - 1 day.

You can count easily - I spent around a week to create my own document. I spent more days because I lost a lot of time trying to find answers to questions that were just in my hands! It means you will need about 8-10 days to create a great work. I know some students practice writing their academic papers on the last night, and this is a very bad idea. All you can get is just a low grade.

Tips on Selecting the Great Gatsby Essay Topics

It is great when your teacher provides you with a list of interesting themes to write your great Gatsby essay. Sometimes, students have to choose their own topics. I appeared in the second situation, and I had to surf the Internet to find the great Gatsby essay topics. I found around 10 topics that turned my attention, and later selected one. Here is the list:

• Was Gatsby in love with Daisy or he was deeply in love only with an idea of her?
• In what ways Jay Gatsby is great. Does he deserve to be called great?
• Symbolism in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel “The Great Gatsby”.
• A movie based on the book The Great Gatsby.
• American dream essay in the novel The Great Gatsby.
• How the writer shows the contrast between poor and rich?
• The idea of the American Dream in Fitzgerald's novel.
• Who can be blamed for the death of Gatsby?
• The concept of happiness and wealth in The Great Gatsby.
• Does love mean something in The Great Gatsby?

Hints on Creating a Successful Paper Without a Headache

From my own experience, it is not so hard to structure your work properly; these are the main steps I took:

• I divided my work into three main paragraphs: the introduction, main part, and conclusion;
• I used essay transition words to tie together paragraphs of my paper;
• I wrote a detailed outline of the future document. At the start, it seemed to me just a waste of time, but it was helpful!
• When I have finished the paper, I proofread it thoroughly to find mistakes. If honestly, I am not strong in grammar, so I used Grammarly software to check and correct errors.

How to Find the Great Gatsby Essay Examples?

When you are going to write a paper, reading successful examples can help you to find your own ideas and thoughts on how to create your paper. I spent some time searching the great Gatsby essay examples on the Internet and I did find some good examples that turned my attention. It is a sample I want to share with my readers. F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel, The Great Gatsby shows us the American dream from different perspectives. We meet Jay Gatsby - a man who follows his dream too hard and is unable to understand his life of riches is false. In the novel, the author shows to us how crazy the desire of power and wealth is, how Jay destroys himself. Jay Gatsby truly believes his money makes him great. The man believes he could get anything he wants with his money. Gatsby even tries to fix his failures from the past with it. Gatsby tries to “buy” the love of Daisy who is obsessed with wealth and power just like him. Gatsby attempts to get anything to satisfy his desires, but he can't find happiness in his money. Gatsby loses the sense of his life. This is true - if a human can't reach happiness, the whole life seems boring and empty. Jay Gatsby's fate eventually was destroyed by money and power he always wished for. This story shows us the Jazz Age period in the United States, and the author portrayed all events and characters with detail and elaboration. Nick Carraway who just moved to New York, becomes neighbors with mysterious and rich Jay Gatsby who grabs readers' attention from the beginning. With Daisy Buchanan character, Fitzgerald shows us people of that time were seeking the American dream. Daisy cheats her husband with rich Gatsby because she loves money and luxury things. This behavior evokes negative emotions in readers and gives a lot of food for thoughts if to try to compare modern Americans and their values with those described in the book. Fitzgerald defines the American dream as a strong desire for imperialism and individualism. Though this dream is distorted, it's like Jay's dream to be with Daisy who betrays her lovely husband just because of her desire for money, luxury, and splendor. With this novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald wanted to create something extraordinary but simple. The book grabs your attention from the beginning and keeps in tension until the end. We don't like Daisy, Gatsby or even Nick but we are deeply involved in the book because the author succeeds to grab readers' attention. He showed us people can be so much empty and lonely that they are unable to find their dream and they even push it away when they finally move to it. Such a short story, but it's full of dreams and desires. I truly hope my experience was helpful. Writing is hard work, and it is worth the result. Feel free to use my advice or delegate this essay to StudyCrumb  to get a high grade!  

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, is gatsby great analyzing the title of the great gatsby.

Book Guides

Most often, your first sense of a book is your reaction to its title. The best titles make novels sound mysterious, exciting, or interesting, attracting readers. Well-chosen titles also give readers a sense of what they can expect to find within the pages of the book.

At the same time, a title is usually an author’s way of declaring what is and isn’t important in the book. A title can reflect a work’s theme or focus, pointing out the right frame of mind for reading.

So how does the title of The Great Gatsby work? What is it showing us about the book that we are about to read - and how does our understanding of the title shift as we make our way through the story? Is Gatsby really great?

In this article, I’ll dissect the different meanings of this title and explain the other titles that Fitzgerald was considering when he was writing the book .

What Can We Learn From The Title of The Great Gatsby ?

In order to really explore the ways that this title reflects the novel, let’s first cut it into its parts, and then consider them back to front.

The Title Features the Name of a Character

Usually, when a novel is titled with the name of one of the characters, that either means that we’re about to read a biography or that the named person is the main character (for instance, Jane Austen’s Emma or J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter ).

So, here, the fact that “Gatsby” is in the title shows us that the focus of the story will be on him . In this case, this focus goes both ways. The novel is biographical, meaning, the novel is the story of Gatsby’s life. But also, Gatsby is, in fact, the protagonist of the story. It’s helpful for the title to show us this, since in this book the first-person narrator turns out not to be the main character.

Great? Great! Great.

Now let’s investigate four possible readings of the second part of the title, which all depend on the meaning of the word “great.”

1. Shallow and Straight-Faced

This version takes “great” as a straightforward compliment , meaning “wonderful.” In this version, Gatsby is great because he is the richest, coolest, handsomest dude, who drives the best car and throws the most banging parties. In this take, the title means total admiration: Gatsby is nothing but greatness. This reading of the title applies best in the beginning of the novel, when Gatsby is all mysterious rumors, swirling success, and unimaginable luxury, and when Nick is in his thrall.

2. Mocking and Ironic

On the other hand, we could be dealing with the “oh, that’s just great.” version of this word . As we - and the novel’s characters - learn more about Gatsby, the initial fascination with him turns into disappointment. In this reading, the “great” turns bitter. In reality, Gatsby’s money comes from crime. His parties, house, and material wealth don’t make him happy. He’s a moral bankrupt who is chasing after a married woman. And he hates his real self and has created a whole new fake persona to live out a teenage fantasy. This reading of the title works when Gatsby seems like a sad, shallow shell of “greatness” – he’s like a celebrity brand with no there there.

3. Deep and Soulful

Another possibility is that “great” here means “intense and grand.” After all, even though Gatsby is a hollow shell of a man who’s propped up by laundered money, Nick firmly believes that he stands head and shoulders above the old money set because everything Gatsby does, he does for the truest of true love. Nick, who starts out being on the fence about Gatsby, comes to think of his love for Daisy as something that elevates Gatsby. For Nick, this love marks Gatsby as the only one who matters of all the people he met during that summer ("They're a rotten crowd....You're worth the whole damn bunch put together" (8.45)).

4. Theatrical

The final possibility is that this “great” sounds like the stage name of a magician (like “The Great Cardini,” master card illusionist). This version of Gatsby is also completely fitting: after all, he literally transforms into a totally different man during the course of his life. And, it wouldn’t be the last time that the novel was interested in the way Gatsby is able to create a spectacle, or the way he seems to be acting on a stage rather than actually living. For example, Nick says Gatsby reminds him of a “turbaned ‘character’ leaking sawdust at every pore” (4.31), while one of Gatsby’s guests compares him to David Belasco, a famous theater producer (3.50).

The Title Is a Timeline

So which of these versions is the correct one? All of them. One of the interesting things about this novel is that the title’s meaning shifts depending on how far we’ve read, or how much time we’ve spent reflecting on what we’ve read, or what we ultimately choose to believe about Gatsby’s motivations  and driving ambition. Which version of the “great” Gatsby appeals to you?

Famous Alternate Titles

Did you know that Fitzgerald actually was not a huge fan of the title The Great Gatsby ? It was pushed on him by Max Perkins, his editor, who was facing a deadline (and probably by his wife Zelda as well). 

Fitzgerald had a list of titles he actually preferred to this one, and each of them reveals something about the novel, or at least about Fitzgerald’s sense of what the novel he wrote was all about.

Unlike the actual title the novel ended up with, the alternate titles vary in how zoomed in they are onto Gatsby. Let’s go through them to see what they reveal about Fitzgerald’s conception of his work.

Trimalchio , or Trimalchio in West Egg

This was Fitzgerald’s favorite title - it’s what he would have named his book if Max Perkins hadn’t interfered to say that no one would get the reference.

Perkins may have been right. Trimalchio is a character in The Satyricon , a book by the Ancient Roman writer Petronius. Only fragments of this work survive, but basically, it’s a satire that mocks Trimalchio for being a nouveau riche social climber who throws wildly elaborate and conspicuously expensive dinner parties (sound familiar?).

Trimalchio is arrogant and vulgar and very into displaying his wealth in tacky ways. In the fragment we have, Petronius describes one party at length. It ends with the guests acting out Trimalchio’s funeral as an ego-boost.

It’s important to note that in The Great Gatsby , Fitzgerald does refer to Gatsby directly as Trimalchio at one point: "...as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over" (7.1). Since T he Satyricon is a satire, this alternate title suggests Fitzgerald originally wanted to present Gatsby as a figure to be mocked rather than to appear more grand/mysterious. This attitude towards the novel’s main seeker of the American Dream  paints Gatsby’s ambition to join elite society in an even darker and less flattering light than the novel does now.

Among The Ash Heaps and Millionaires , or On The Road To West Egg

These titles pan out, away from Gatsby and toward the geographic, social, and economic environment of the book . Both of these titles do this by giving us a sense of being between things, primarily the places with money and those without . Character-wise, these titles seem more Nick-focused, since he is the one who shows us the differences between these two worlds. 

Also, by referring to the physical space that separates Manhattan and the Long Island towns where the wealthy live, both of these titles directly reference the book’s climactic death, which takes place on the road back to West Egg, right at the place where the richly symbolic valley of ashes is.

Gold-Hatted Gatsby , or The High Bouncing Lover

These rejected titles are both references to the epigraph that opens the book :

Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry “Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!”

by THOMAS PARKE D'INVILLIERS.

Thomas Parke D'Invilliers is a secondary character in Fitzgerald’s semi-autobiographical first novel, This Side Of Paradise . In the novel, D’Invilliers is a poet who befriends the main character and whose poetry seems never to reflect the darker realities of life.

The poem gives advice to a lover who is willing to go to desperate lengths to get the woman he is interested in to return the feeling (again, sound familiar?). A title based on this poem would place the novel’s emphasis squarely on Gatsby’s longing for Daisy , reorienting our sense of Gatsby as a striver to his function as a love interest.

Under The Red, White, and Blue

Rather than referencing any part of the book - a character, a place, or even an idea - this title instead broadens the reader’s perspective to a patriotic or nationalistic view of the United States. The effect is that we could easily be looking at a war story, or some political tract - there is simply nothing in this title that gives us any sense of what the underlying novel might be about. 

If Fitzgerald had gone with this title, we would read this novel much more squarely as a more direct indictment of America, or at least the myth of the American Dream . This is certainly one of the enduring themes of the novel, but since Nick ends up contrasting the midwest and the east coast’s totally different ideas about success and the American Dream, this title would actually dilute Fitzgerald’s disapproval by making all of the U.S. complicit.

The Bottom Line: Is Gatsby Great?

• The title is the reader’s first encounter with a book, which means it usually declares the focus or theme of that book.
• The Great Gatsby is a title that can be read
• Straightforwardly, as a declaration of Gatsby as a man who actually achieved the American Dream
• Ironically, since Gatsby’s greatness is a hollow sham and he is an amoral striver
• As a measure of the depth of his inner life
• As a stage name of sorts for Gatsby’s great performance of “upper-class WASP”
• Fitzgerald wasn’t particularly happy with the name and instead was considering
• An allusion to Trimalchio, which would link Gatsby to another famously vulgar new-money guy
• Titles that focused more on the geography of the novel’s climactic scene
• A broad American flag reference that calls into question the American Dream

What’s Next?

Learn  why The Great Gatsby  begins the way it does  - with a poem written by Fitzgerald himself, but disguised as the work of someone else.

Analyze the character traits of Jay Gatsby  to see which meaning of the word “great” really applies.

Investigate the key themes pointed to by the various alternate titles : the American Dream  and unrequited love .

Read our summary of  The Great Gatsby , and find links to our many other  Great Gatsby  analysis articles.

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Topics for the great gatsby argumentative essay, dr. wilson mn.

• August 1, 2022
• Essay Topics and Ideas , Samples

When it comes to writing an argumentative essay , there are a lot of topics to choose from. However, if you’re looking for something on The Great Gatsby you might want to consider writing about one of the following Topics for The Great Gatsby Argumentative Essay

What You'll Learn

Possible Topics for The Great Gatsby Argumentative Essay

Is Nick a reliable or trustworthy narrator? How does his point of view affect the story?

Is the story of The Great Gatsby believable? Why or why not?

Where is the climax of the story? Explain your choice.

Are the characters in The Great Gatsby stereotypes? If so, explain why Fitzgerald used stereotypes in  the novel. If not, explain what makes the characters individuals.

What is the most essential symbol in the novel? What does it represent?

Analyze Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy.

Are Gatsby’s actions believably motivated? Explain why or why not.

What makes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing style unique and/or effective?

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Compare and contrast various characters.

Explain how F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the minor characters–Owl Eyes, Mr. Wolfshiem, Pammy, Michaelis, and George Wilson–in the novel. What does each character add to the story?

Explain how the title, The Great Gatsby, is appropriate.

Why do Daisy and Tom stay together?

What does it mean to be wealthy? Do responsibilities come with money?

Does Gatsby’s money bring him happiness?

Interpret one of the novel’s key symbols (the green light, the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg, the valley of ashes, etc.).

Suppose this novel had been written from Gatsby’s (or another’s) point of view. How would the story have changed?

Read a sample The Great Gatsby 46 Essay

Analyze each of the novel’s locations (West Egg, East Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and New York City), and explain how each corresponds to the social position, lifestyle, and personality of its residents.

What traits does Nick find admirable about Gatsby? What traits does he dislike?

Is The Great Gatsby an outdated novel, or is it relevant today? If it is relevant, what specific elements of current society does the book describe or explain?

What motivates Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan? Is there a common thread?

Surprisingly, Tom Buchanan and George Wilson are actually similar in many ways. Be sure to focus on their attitudes toward women, their approach to violence, and their reactions to being cheated on.

How does Fitzgerald use weather in the novel?

How does the state of the current financial markets resemble the economic problems of the 1920s? How does Fitzgerald highlight and predict those problems?

Which characters are static and which are dynamic? Why did Fitzgerald choose to portray them this way?

In the final chapter, Nick describes Tom and Daisy as “careless people.” Are they? Are they each careless in their own way?

Explore ONE of the following themes: alienation, friendship, identity, the American Dream, materialism, corruption, fate, the past, love, hope, etc.

Additionally, feel free to explore your own topic regarding the novel. If you do so, please discuss the topic with me so I can help you verify that it is practical, as well as help you brainstorm how to proceed.

Read more on 5 Tips for a perfect Discussion Post (How to Write a Discussion Post)

Argumentative Essay Topics For The Great Gatsby

How The Novel “The Great Gatsby”, Examine Complex Ideas about Identity, others and The World

Essay Prompts: The Great Gatsby that was published in the year 1925 has been rated as one of the best fiction stories about American during its time. The Great Gatsby was written by one of the celebrated American Authors called F. Scott Fitzgerald.

A Comparison and Contrast of Tom and Gatsby

Essay prompts: Compare and contrast Gatsby and tom. how are they alike? how are they different? given the extremely negative light in which tom is portrayed throughout the novel, why might daisy choose to remain with him instead of leaving him for Gatsby?

Nick or Gates?

Essay prompts: The question pertains to The Great Gatsby story and actually it is more of Nick because he lists down all the attendees of the party that summer. The list includes all of the powerful and rich people in the nation.

Comparison of The Characters of Hamlet and Jay Gatsby

Essay prompts: Hamlet is the main character in the play “Hamlet,” the son of King Hamlet and Gertrude. He was brought up in the palace and his family was wealthy. Jay Gatsby, who is the main protagonist in the novel “The Great Gatsby” is different from Hamlet because he came from a humble background.

When it comes to writing an argumentative essay, there are a lot of topics to choose from. However, if you’re looking for something on The Great Gatsby you might want to consider writing about one of the following Topics for The Great Gatsby Argumentative Essay

The Great Gatsby and The American Dream

Essay prompts: The American dream is essentially dishonest in the Great Gatsby, where Gatsby rises from humble beginnings to be a wealthy man through dubious means. When compared to the ‘old money’ people like Tom Buchanan, who did not flaunt their wealth Gatsby, wanted recognition.

An Analysis Of Gatsby Based On Color Green

Essay prompts: The following analysis will focus on Gatsby as a character from the novel and the analysis will be based on color green.

You can also check out  150+ Top-Notch Argumentative Essay Topic Ideas

Write an Essay analyzing a character from The Great Gatsby, based on one of The colors associated with that character.

The Imagery of a Passage in Great Gatsby

Essay prompts: Scott Fitzgerald writes the book titled The Great Gatsby. It Is appropriate to conclude that Fitzgerald conveys both good and sinister qualities of Gatsby in the passage.

The Role of Women in The Great Gatsby

Essay prompts: The Great Gatsby is novel composed by Scott Fitzgerald around 1922 in New York. It is a love story, loss and scandal during the social unrest.  

The Impact Of The Social Context In Great Gatsby And Elizabeth Barrett Brownings Sonnets

Comparative Themes of Eiger Dreams and The Great Gatsby

Essay prompts: Eiger Dreams is a non-fiction book written from a collection of articles and essays based on rock climbing and mountaineering. It takes place in two different locations. One is the Swiss Alps, the other location is in Alaska (Krakauer, 2012).

The Great Gatsby: The Corrupt Nature of The American Dream

Essay prompts: The focus of this paper is on the nature of the American dream as depicted by Fitzgerald. Therefore, the withering of the American dream is the central thesis of this paper

The American Dream as portrayed in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald

Essay prompts: Fitzgerald has illustrated American dream by use of several characters to show how elusive the dream has been to some people whilst others are already living it.

How Trauma is Represented in Fitzgerald’s Work “The Great Gatsby”

Essay prompts: Trauma is a motif in The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald published in 1925. The novel narrates the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, who happens to be a millionaire in pursuit of the love of his youth, Daisy, which he lost while serving in the army.

Find out more on  How to Write a Narrative Essay

Best essay topics for the great gatsby

Social Constructs of The American Society on The Narrative “The Great Gatsby”

Essay prompts: The Great Gatsby is a narration about an individual struggling to create an identity for himself that will elevate his status to that of a wealthy man of stature and hence realizing his American dream that takes the form of a woman he so desires to marry.

Analysis of “The Great Gatsby”

Essay prompts: This is just one among many such examples that unravels how a man’s wealth would affect his relationship and social relations as a major theme throughout Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby”.

How would a man’s wealth affect his relationship and social relation?

Franklin’s Almanac: The Way to Wealth vs. The Great Gatsby

Essay prompts: The American dream is the notion that one can be anything they wish to be in the United States. Chance and opportunity are there for the taking, but these are limited to those willing to work hard, and set forth for what they believe.

Similarities between “The Great Gatsby” and The “Generation Wealth”

Essay prompts: We are going to discuss the similarities between “The Great Gatsby” and the film, “Generation Wealth”, while at the same time elucidating on the main theme of money.

Analysis of Fitzgerald use of language and symbolism in Gatsby

Essay prompts: The inability to win Daisy’s love undermines Gatsby’s success. That is why Fitzgerald’s writing language uses irony in explaining how impossible it was for Gatsby to achieve his dream.

Find out more on  Argumentative Essay Topics About Social Media [Updated]

Great Gatsby essay prompts

Masculinity in The Great Gatsby Novel

Essay prompts: Undergraduate Essay: Masculinity in The Great Gatsby Novel…

Gatsby Does Not Truly Love Daisy:

A Misunderstanding Of The American Dream Leads To The Tragedy Of Love

Essay prompts: The American Dream refers to the belief that everybody, disregarding their social class or birthplace, can achieve the success they dream of when living in a society that promotes upward mobility for everyone.

War Trauma in The Great Gatsby

Essay prompts: The casualties of war are not only those who fall on the battlefield but even those that walk away dead from the inside. In the Great Gatsby, the effects of war are felt through Jay Gatsby, who comes back from a different man. His war trauma is worsened by losing his love while he was at war.

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby and The House on Mango Street

Essay prompts: This paper will give invaluable insights concerning how the American Dream as an ideology has been presented in the Great Gatsby and The House on Mango Street.

Great Gatsby Quotes About Money Can’t Buy Happiness

Essay prompts: He quote money can’t buy you happiness is never truer than when viewed through the storylines of The Great Gatsby and Wolf of Wall Street. This conflicts with the notion that living the American dream translates to happiness.

How Manifestation and Materialism are Related to The American Dream

Essay prompts: This article seeks to draw on real-life examples as well as textual evidence to showcase how the American dream is closely associated with manifestation and materialism….

The Great Gatsby vs The Godfather

Love in Th Great Gatsby

Essay prompts: The idealized conception of love is one in which individuals are committed and faithful to each other unconditionally.

The Symbolism of Time in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Essay prompts: Time is of the essence, and it waits for no man. Therefore, humans should concentrate their minds on the present and neither dwell on the past nor dream about the future. In Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores the roaring twenties and their American dream. In this novel, the main character, Jay Gatsby.

Representations And Discourses Of The American Dream In Film

Essay prompts: The “American Dream” means that as long as the person starts working hard and follow their dream, thus it can lead to a better life. Equal opportunity is the soul of the “American Dream.”

Symbolism in The Great Gatsby and its significance in modern society

Essay prompts: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story, “The Great Gatsby,” has used symbolism depicting the city where the story is set. Further, the author has also used symbolism in representing individuals characters and Gatsby’s problems, among others.

The Futility Of Human Dreams: Independence

Essay prompts: The author successfully manages to show how we can dream in vain by demonstrating from the characters. George and Lennie dream of a better life full of freedom and independence.

Representation And Discourses Of The American Dream In Film

Essay prompts: The American Dream can be achieved by individuals who exercise hard work, independence, courage, determination, creativity, and diligence.

“Winter Dreams” and “The Great Gatsby” mirror into S Fitzgerald’s life

Essay prompts: These two novels have been widely read, and The Great Gatsby was even adopted into a movie. Often, people say that the story Winter Dreams was merely a draft for The Great Gatsby. The two are very similar and encompass similar themes.

Comparison Between East Egg and West Egg

Essay prompts: The novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald is narrated by Nick Carraway, one of the main protagonists in the book. Nick lives in West Egg, a new village in New York with upcoming millionaires and billionaires.

Analysis Of Movies That Portray The American Dream

Essay prompts: The paper aims at discussing the American Dream by analyzing films that portray the accomplishment of the dream as well as the factors that make it difficult for individuals to achieve their version of the American Dream.

Representation and Discourses of The American Dream in Film

Essay prompts: This paper aims at conferring the American Dream by analyzing films which portray the accomplishment of the dream as well as the factors that make it difficult for individuals to achieve their version of the American Dream.

Why Economies Succeed or Fail during The Great Depression

Essay prompts: The Great Depression was an austere worldwide financial depression in the 1930s, starting in the United States. One major cause of the Great Depression was the ensuing global crisis. Europe had not settled after the First World War and faced severe consequences.

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Richard Marriott English

English Lecturing and Tutoring

The Great Gatsby Sample Essay

This sample essay demonstrates the full range of A-level skills needed to meet the assessment objectives at the highest level.

“They’re a rotten crowd.” I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” How does Fitzgerald convey a “rotten crowd” in The Great Gatsby and to what effect?

“Rotten” describes a state of putrefaction. It is a word we apply to decomposing fruit, fruit that is over-ripe, decaying and which, close-up, stinks. What a brilliant word to convey the decaying civilisation of post-war Europe and America that surrounds Gatsby – and repulses his friend, Nick – shocking him into moral awareness.

It is primarily through the moral judgements of his narrator, Nick Carraway, – the character that goes East to make money only to retreat revolted by the moral, cultural and social rottenness that he finds among the moneyed classes he wished to join – that Fitzgerald presents his “rotten crowd.” Through Nick, Fitzgerald exercises his narrative art with extraordinary compression: cultural allusion and symbolic names and images are central to his method – underpinning the actions of his characters – so too a poet’s feel for the sound and connotations of words.

Fitzgerald’s allusive method brilliantly conveys the rottenness of Gatsby’s crowd. Names, and names of books allude to a rotten world. Relationships in the East are rotten and infect the outlying members of the great Carraway dynasty: Nick’s second cousin twice removed is married to a philanderer; already unfaithful on honeymoon, we find him in the second chapter introducing Nick to his mistress. Now, the great Gatsby himself has been no monk (he ‘knew women early’ (82) Nick tells us, momentarily picturing a proud and promiscuous young Gatsby), but in pursuing Daisy, he pursues more than sex: he wishes to attain a higher state of being – to ‘romp with the mind of God,’ to ‘gulp down the milk of wonder.’ Romping and gulping suggests a child’s wide-eyed amoral appetite for unbounded satisfaction. Tom’s rottenness, his sexual corruption, then is apparent by contrast with the sublime, high-minded aspirations of the man who would cuckold him. Taking then, Nick, to the apartment where he conducts his affair, Tom leaves Nick while he and Myrtle both disappear – presumably to the bedroom – before reappearing after Nick has had time to ‘read a chapter’ of Simon Called Peter . A chapter-read is an innovative way to measure the length of a human coupling and perhaps degrades (reveals the rottenness of) Tom’s relationship in its brevity (or in its longevity, reveals the rotter luxuriating in his sin) – but more importantly, it is through the title of the book that Fitzgerald reveals the rottenness of this crowd. Robert Keable’s 1922 best-seller records the career of an earnest young clergyman, Peter Graham who volunteers as an army chaplain in the First World War. His faith fails to sustain him on the path of righteousness and he abandons his nice middle class fiancée, Hilda, for the generous charms of a prostitute and a generation of young women whose sexual freedom is more aligned to the Myrtles of Gatsby than the prim propriety of Hilda and the Edwardian England Peter has left behind. However, Peter is not simply a lost cause to the church, he is disillusioned with its teachings and with human nature, the sexual freedoms and easy pleasures of the war generations seem to him more real, more essentially human than the morality he preached from the bible. The novel, condemned in his review as ‘immoral’ by Fitzgerald, is seriously concerned with what war reveals of essential human nature: its immorality, its pessimism lies in its disillusion with love. Fitzgerald’s Gatsby holds on to his aspirations, his faith in the possibility of transcendence through love, despite the hardships of his (quickly overcome!) poverty. It is perhaps only through the contrast with Keable’s response to war that we can appreciate the extraordinary hope implicit in Fitzgerald’s, in his faith in the higher callings and aspirations of the human heart. It would be interesting to know if Fitzgerald had a particular chapter in mind that “didn’t make any sense to [Nick].”

Thus, almost passing reference to a contemporary novel, is fraught with much meaning. The use of a character’s reading material to shape and create meaning is a familiar part of the novelist’s art: think Austen’s Catherine Morland, gently mocked by her author for her indulgence in The Mysteries of Udolfo and the power it has over her imagination. This allusive method is not surprising in Fitzgerald: it is the foundation of Eliot’s “The Waste Land” –a poem Fitzgerald knew by heart, written in the year he sets his Gatsby . In it, the morality, the spiritual condition, of one generation is measured against representative cultural fragments from earlier civilisations.

Fitzgerald is similarly wide-ranging in his frame of reference to convey his “rotten crowd,” alluding to contemporary novels and events as well as ancient texts. Take the casual naming of just one party-goer for example: Ismay. Ismay is collected up as part of a group: “the Ismays and the Christies.” Perhaps Fitzgerald has in mind Bruce Ismay, Managing Director, of the White Star Line and held to blame for the greatest shipping disaster of all time: the loss of the Titanic in 1912; he was J Brute Ismay to the press at the time. He was rumoured to have put pressure on the Chief Engineer to drive the ship faster for a record time for the Atlantic Crossing and was himself a survivor. Newspaper cartoons showed him watching the ship sink from the safety of a lifeboat whilst the true “women and children first” heroes stood facing death on the doomed ship. So, Ismay comes to represent the selfish, self-serving rottenness of Fitzgerald’s contemporary society and the inversion of its moral values.

Ismay is among the first of the East Eggers on Nick’s famous list that helpfully divides the party guests into two according to the Egg whence they arrive: East Egg is the old money (Jesmond) in our local terms; West Egg is new money (we think Darras Hall). The West Eggers are “all connected with the movies in one way or another.”  So one “controlled films Par Excellence” another is a “promoter” (and at the Chapter VI party we meet “the moving-picture director and his Star” (89)). In contemporary – and non-party political terms we find in West Egg the New Labour celebrity culture of film stars, pop stars, and fashion designers as well as the stalwart Old Labour of the Trade Union movement meeting at Blair’s parties: it would be a mistake to believe either group is any more free from corruption than Gatsby’s guests.  Fitzgerald’s crowd fills up the “empty spaces of a timetable” (52) that is now out of date. And their “gray” names assigns them to the ash heaps of The Valley of the Ashes – where the detritus of a dead civilisation is dumped.

The whole list in its conception is a brilliant tribute to writers of the past: “the Prince of something, whom we called Duke, and whose name, if ever I knew it, I have forgotten” concludes the roll with a wonderful contempt for empty title (“of something”) and undeserved respect (“whom we called”). The forgotten name that concludes his portrait echoes Chaucer’s final valediction on his Merchant:

For sothe (truly) he was a worthy man with alle, in every way But, sooth (truth) to seyn, I noot (= ne woot, don’t know )how men hym calle.

“I noot how men hym calle,” he is in other words unworthy of name or remembering. Of all writers, Chaucer is so especially concerned with a man’s worth, (the word is used ironically in the quotation above) his worthiness, the parity between the inner and the outer man. The choice of the Merchant is apt: he represents financial rottenness, self-serving material greed.

The last line of all in Nick’s guest list, “All these people came to Gatsby’s house in the summer,” in its obvious summing up of what we already knows echoes Homer’s method in the famous muster of the armies at the beginning of The Iliad , (e.g. “These were the men whom Amphimachus and Nastes brought.”). The very idea of remembering each with some anecdote of their deeds is again Homeric – but how unedifying their deeds: fighting with bums, drunk on the gravel, arriving with another’s wife, run over by Mrs. Ulysses Swett. The name Ulysses is enough to point us to our Homer. This “rotten crowd” is mocked in comparison to the Greek Heroes of the great ancient civilization of the past: the one at its heroic zenith, the other at its rotten nadir.

Plenty of food then for scholars wishing to track down all these names and associations. Ulysses Swett is in fact a real person (born 1868) and a member of the famous Swett family of Cape Cod who traced themselves back through thirteen generation. However, the names have an immediate, not just a scholarly impact. Swett (homophone for a squalid bodily function) is allied with Belcher (the, what, shamelessly, insolent expulsion of stomach gas through the mouth?– usually avoided because of the bad smell) and Smirke (the silent mocking laugh) – all aspects of our base corporeal rather than spiritual natures.

Worse are the animal names: Blackbuck, Roebuck, connoting both money (buck=dollar) and animal sexuality (a buck is a male deer – like the word ‘tup’ we make the gender distinction usually to refer to sexual behaviour). The name ‘Blackbuck’ perhaps evokes Tom’s fear of the Rise of the Colored Empires , of the sexual potency of black races according to popular myth and also a fear of the black dollar, of black wealth as a part of rising black supremacy. So the names have a resonance that goes beyond the animals and fish they denote (Beluga, Whitebait, Hammer Head – it is easy fit them into a taxonomical classification). It is fun to learn from Wikipedia that the Beluga whale has a ‘high-pitched twitter.’ Such information adds another dimension to our own imagined constructions of Gatsby’s party crowd. But the name itself seems ugly. Is it because it has the consonants of the word ‘ugly’ in it? Or because, as we search to make sense of an unfamiliar word, our brains try out the word ‘bulge’ through the association of sound and thus evoke some ungainly swollen creature, some ulcerous tumescence of money and immorality. Is there something belchy in the sudden release of air in the second vowel sound, Bel u ga? And that is before we think about the associations with caviar and the untouchable luxuries of the war-time rich.

And then there are the Hammerheads: another wonderfully evocative name. What rottenness does this conjure? A family of boneheads. The Hammerhead Shark has evolved an elongated and flattened skull perhaps for the manipulation of prey – nice associations there. It also contains the idea of the tool after which the shark is named, the hammer, blunt bludgeoning instrument. Picture it here in the hands of one of Gatsby’s bootlegging cronies, crushing the skull of some unfortunate prey. Hear in its sounds, the repeated glottal fricatives, (‘ Ha mmer hea d’) the heavy breathing of the hammer-wielder exerting himself in the act of skull-crushing.

There is a poetry in this carefully constructed mock epic that delights in the cultural allusion, in the connotative capacity and the phonological features of words to express the sheer rottenness of this crowd.

Fitzgerald offers a wide, but not comprehensive, survey of the animal kingdom to convey his rotten crowd: in all this verminous, predatory, bestial crowd there is not one airborne, flying creature. There are fish aplenty as well as the semi-aquatic rodent, Ernest Beaver and the tree dwelling Doctor Webster Civet , who despite his airy habitat “drowned last summer.” James B. (“Rot-Gut”) Ferret take his name from the domesticated earth-burrow dwelling carnivorous mammal. All three (beaver, civet, ferret) are noted for scent glands, genital or anal: in the wild, they pollute the air to mark territory; killed, they are used for perfume. The point is of course that Fitzgerald’s elemental imagery portrays Gatsby’s aspirations to transcend mortal bounds as an aspiration to fly. Daisy is associated with air, floating, fluttering, anchored like a balloon. Gatsby aspires to her airiness which lifts her among other things, ‘above the hot struggles of the poor.” (122) He is condemned, through Fitzgerald’s imagery to death by water: he is shot in a swimming pool, to be buried in “soggy ground” (142). The moment is foreshadowed at Nick’s tea-party reunion: Gatsby stands “in a puddle of water glaring tragically” (72). Fitzgerald’s rotten crowd is an earth-bound water-dwelling crowd and they drag Gatsby down to his watery death and earthy resting place. Their very names make the air he breathes stink.

This crowd perhaps constitutes the ‘funny fruits’ (103) of New York of a civilisation that has, in Spenglerian terms, (Oswald Spengler, The Decline of Civilization – the book Fitzgerald never recovered from when writing Gatsby) organically outgrown itself, lost touch with the nature that feeds it to produce the cities, and city folk, this ‘rotten crowd’ that are its fruit. And Fitzgerald’s judgement reveals Nick’s growth to moral understanding – he too will reject the wealth of the East, its money, machines and rottenness to nurture the reputation and aspirations of Jay Gatsby, seeking his flower, his Daisy Fay, who, in his imagination (according to Nick) represents the green breast of an earlier, rural America. For Nick, in Gatsby, found an incarnation of the Faustian legend (there was indeed a Faustina O’Brien –a diminutive and corrupt mini-Faust on that party-list (53)), of man’s desire to transcend the bounds of his mortality and the rottenness of his world.

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Silke Weineck's essay "How Racist Car Dealers KO’d Joe Louis" listed as "Best History Writing of 2023."

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Silke Weineck 's essay " How Racist Car Dealers KO’d Joe Louis " was featured on a list of " Best History Writing of 2023 ."

The list was compiled by Bunk, a public history project run out of the University of Richmond after trawling through "thousands of articles, essays, and blog posts last year."

Read more about it here .

Congratulations, Silke!

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