Peter Nguyen
Mrs. Griffin
English 3 CP
Period 2
31 March 2011
The Great Gatsby: Where is God?
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of Jay Gatsby, who tries to win back the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. The story takes place during the Roaring 20’s, at the fictitious West and East Egg Village and Valley of Ashes. By the Valley of Ashes, there stands an abandoned billboard advertising the eyes and glasses of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg have been mentioned several times throughout the story, and on one occasion are compared to the eyes of God. Within the story, the characters have been shown to use God’s name in vain, commit adultery, and receive misaimed karma. Fitzgerald may be suggesting that God is dead.
God’s name is used in vain in the story. This is apparent when it is discovered that Daisy claims to be catholic and cannot get a divorce. Upon hearing this, Nick thinks to himself,
“Daisy was not a catholic and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie.” This shows the extents that Daisy would go to not lose her marriage with Tom. It also shows how easily a person can use God’s name in vain. Another instant of this case is when George Wilson says to his wife Myrtle,
“God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me but you can’t fool God.” George tells Myrtle that God knows that she has been cheating on him and that she have him fooled, however, it is obvious that George knows about her cheating.
George here has no necessity in telling Myrtle that God knows, since he himself knows and does not belong to the Christian religion. He is using God’s name as an alternative instead of telling Myrtle flat out that he is aware. The fact that God’s name can be used so casually in vain shows that God is dying.
In the story, characters have been shown to commit adultery, breaking the faithful marriage rule established by God. The first scene of this shows itself when Tom says to Nick, “I want you to meet my girl.” It is known that Tom is married to Nick’s cousin, Daisy, yet Tom feels no shame in telling Nick to meet his mistress. Daisy herself knows that Tom has been cheating on her and their marriage. Later in the story, Daisy cheats on Tom by kissing Gatsby in front of her friend Jordan and Nick, as he describes, “As he left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby, and pulled his face down kissing him on the mouth.” Daisy does not seem to mind committing adultery in front of company. This displays that the word of God, “You shall not commit adultery,” is forsaken, thus dead.
It can be seen in the story that the main characters receive misaimed karma. Gatsby is a generous man who allows party crashers to stay at his parties rather than calling the police to arrest them. He is, however, later killed after being blamed for murdering Myrtle. At his funeral, only three people came to pay their respects, of which one of them states,
“Why, my God! They used to go there by the hundreds.” Gatsby is a man of greatness, who here received the wrong end of karmic retribution. Daisy and Tom however, are not as unfortunate. Daisy is the person responsible for Myrtle’s death and Tom directs George’s anger towards Gatsby, and implies that Gatsby is the murderer.
Despite their wickedness, they are able to escape the situation scot-free. This is evident when Nick tries calling them,
“But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon and taken baggage with them.” Daisy and Tom should be the ones who receive a tragic ending, not the hero Gatsby. God is clearly dead if justice cannot be delivered to the characters.
Fitzgerald seems to propose that God is dead. The characters in his story all perform an action that suggests that God is dead. There are no longer any principles to hold these characters down. Faith has passed on and away.