Gatsby: "Peculiarly American"

In chapter four of "The Great Gatsby", Gatsby is depicted as "peculiarly American", being impatient, hyper, eager to bring Nick along with him in his luxurious car.  This shows that the American dream changed from values of freedom and security to a value of pride in material possession and adopting a monetary caste system in society.  Gatsby expresses these concepts through his eagerness to drive Nick around and showing off his expensive vehicle .  Through Nick's perspective, this action justifies his reasoning of describing him as "peculiarly American".

The Rumors of Gatsby

In the third chapter, Gatsby is introduced, along with some rumors about him following shortly after.  Some people believe that he is the nephew of the Kaiser Willhelm, some people think that he killed someone, that he studied at Oxford, etc.  Fitzgerald most likely introduced the rumors rather than the truth first as a tool to emphasize the mystique of Gatsby due to his bleak past.  If a candid history of Gatsby were to be revealed first, then his entire character would be exposed, leaving nothing to be desired to be known about him.  The first time that Nick, the main character and narrator of the story, he was surprised that Gatsby was in the same age range as him, as well as having served in the army.  Being utterly charmed by his smile, Nick devotes an entire monologue describing his gleaming grin, never mind him being intrigued by Gatsby's wealth and mystery. 

Nick and Fitzgerald's opinion on the upper class/high society

Nick's comment suggests that Tom and Daisy are upper class folk.  When he describes Daisy smirking, it shows their arrogance, which, according to Nick, asserts their position in society.  Nick also uses the word distinguished, meaning that Tom and Daisy are of a social circle that stands out, indicating that they are of high society.   His opinion of is a mixed bag of befuddlement and feeling repulsed by them. Nick comes from the Midwest, where he is used to being polite, but now that he is in New York, he is bombarded by the new social behavior and culture which Is different from Minnesota, which in the book is first introduced via Tom and Daisy.  Nick's comment correlates to Fitzgerald's quote through the similarities of their situations. Fitzgerald was always around the upper class social circles even though he didn't have the kind of money that they had, and Nick has the same financial and social situation. Quoting Fitzgerald, "I will never forgive the rich for being rich", like Nick, he is not used to the culture of the wealthy, even though he is actually surrounded by said culture.

Myrtle Wilson

In Chapter two, Myrtle Wilson is introduced at the garage of her husband.  She appears to be demanding, however very quiet and calm.  This can be seen when she asks her husband to get chairs for Tom and Nick who are visiting him.  During her outing with Tom Buchanan and Nick Carraway, she buys a copy of Town Tattle, a moving-picture magazine, then she stops at a drug store to pick up cold cream and a flask of perfume, and finally she spends ten dollars on a dog to bring home.  Later at her apartment, she is no longer as docile, but rather brash and outgoing as she brings guest after guest into her living space.  She displays her more intense attitude by changing her dress, which everyone is complimenting her on.  However she insists that she only wears it when she doesn't care what she looks like.

Fitzgerald's views on the Jazz Age: Prohibition and the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s

As a man who lived in the 1920s, Patrick Fitzgerald depicted the "Jazz age" in his book The Great Gatsby in accurate detail to how I presumed that era to be.  "...Prohibitions enabled All 'Scarface' Capone to expand his Chicago crime syndicate to include 'bootlegging,' the illegal trafficking of alcohol."  In the novel The Great Gatsby, the character Gatsby hosts massive parties at his mansion, the contents of which include large quantities of alcohol.  Some speculations of the book lead certain individuals to believe that Gatsby has some rather dubious relations in order to acquire the large sums of wealth and liquor.  Another element of the 1920s that Fitzgerald brings into his book was the uncertainty and confusion concerning the Harlem Renaissance.  "While the characters in The Great Gatsby moved to New York from the Midwest, thousands of African Americans simultaneously migrated north.  According to the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, in the decade between 1910 and 1920, New York's black population increased by 66 percent..."  In the first chapter of The Great Gatsby, the character Tom Buchanan mentions a book that states that if the white race does is not careful, the minor races would overtake society.  His insistence that everyone "ought to read it" gives way to the large amounts of racism during the time.

Nick Carraway in the first chapter of the Great Gatsby

        Nick Carraway is the main character, whom the story follows.  Although the title is The Great Gatsby, which is named after the character Gatsby, Carraway is the narrator of the story.  A viable reason to appoint him as the narrator would be to exploit the superficial state of his environment in New York, and most importantly, to exploit the superficiality of Gatsby.  As for the character himself, he appears to be confused and disgusted at the end of the first chapter due to the probing behaviors of Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy.