440 Fitzgerald, F. scott
financial success, he is still considered “new money”
and, therefore, not quite up-to-par by the estab-
lished families in the area.
Another setting that calls the American dream
into question is the Valley of Ashes. This is a deso-
late and abandoned strip of land that people travel
through on their way to New York City. It functions
to remind readers of the disparity between not only
those with old and new money, but also those who
enjoy a comfortable living in America and those
who struggle to attain one. The Valley of Ashes jux-
taposes the magnificence of Gatsby’s lavish parties
and the comfort of the Buchanans’ lifestyle.
The Great Gatsby gives readers an opportunity
to reconsider the American dream and whether it
serves, or indeed could ever fulfill, its supposed pur-
pose. Also, the novel investigates themes of social
class and social justice through the prism of a single
man who longs for the happiness of his youth.
Carla Verderame
identity in The Great Gatsby
At the end of The Great Gatsby the novel’s narra-
tor, Nick Carraway, suggests that the story of Jay
Gatsby is a story of the West and that those who
figure prominently in the book—Tom and Daisy
Buchanan, Jordan Baker, Jay Gatsby, and Nick him-
self—are all westerners. The theme of identity looms
large in Fitzgerald’s text and the characters’ birth
places are not insignificant to their sense of self or to
their role in the story. That is, one of the themes of
the novel is that identity, for Fitzgerald’s characters,
is very closely linked with native region and that
while New York City and its environs are central to
the action of the novel, the characters’ identities are
drawn from and sustained by the area of their birth,
although they are not literally “westerners.”
At the beginning of the story, readers learn the
social distinction between Tom Buchanan, a man
of considerable means from Chicago, Illinois, his
wife Daisy (Fay) Buchanan from Louisville, Ken-
tucky, also of considerable means, and Jay Gatsby,
a self-made man who hails from a small town in
Minnesota. Newcomers to New York City and its
surroundings, Tom and Daisy settle in fashionable
East Egg, while Jay Gatsby, a millionaire in his
own right but whose money has been earned under
suspicious circumstances, owns a mansion in the
less fashionable West Egg, where Nick Carraway
rents a small cottage for the summer. Nick, Daisy’s
second cousin and an acquaintance of Tom’s in
college, observes and relates the goings-on of the
Buchanans and Jay Gatsby during the summer and
early fall of 1922. He retells their story in the form
of a flashback.
Jay Gatsby’s determination to establish a new
identity for himself sets him apart from the other
characters in the text. Gatsby’s focus on acquiring
wealth is unnecessary for the rest of the ensemble
who come from comfortable economic backgrounds.
Gatsby’s belief that wealth is an important aspect of
his new identity and an equally important attribute
to obtain Daisy’s love turns out to be wrong-headed
in the end. In fact, Gatsby’s wealth gains him only
superficial acquaintances who take advantage of his
lavish parties and notable generosity.
The love story between Daisy Fay and James
Gatz reinforces the great lengths to which the title
character will go in order to change his identity.
James Gatz renames himself Jay Gatsby and works
hard to build, through questionable activities, a life-
style to which Daisy is accustomed. Thinking that
he can return to the past when he and Daisy dated,
and marry her now despite her current marriage to
Tom, Gatsby arranges a meeting with Daisy through
Nick. The reunion is an emotional one; it demon-
strates the “rags to riches” story of the protagonist
who is temporarily attractive to the well-to-do Mrs.
Buchanan. The two reminisce about their early life
together when Daisy was a popular debutante and
Gatsby a soldier in World War I. Gatsby and Daisy
have a short affair while Tom Buchanan carries on
an extramarital affair of his own with Myrtle Wilson.
The story ends badly for Gatsby. Mr. Wilson
shoots Gatsby because he mistakenly believes that
Gatsby was responsible for the car accident that
killed his wife, Myrtle. Mr. Wilson was suspicious
of his wife’s recent behavior but he was unaware of
the true identity of his wife’s lover—Tom Buchanan.
The case of mistaken identity turns out to be signifi-
cant at the end of the novel.
While the role of Jordan Baker is a small one
in the story compared to that of her friend, Daisy
Buchanan, Jordan’s character also focuses on the