Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on Literature No.3 October, 2015 Pp. 72-85
Demythologizing the Sacred: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby as a Misnomer
Sayed Mohammed Youssef
Department of English Language and Literature,
College of Languages and Translation,
Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Abstract:
The first moment the reader catches sight of the cover of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the thing that most immediately strikes him is the ‘greatness’ of the eponymous character which is taken for granted as early as the very title given to it. Nevertheless, as the book unfolds, the reader comes to realize the irony that lies behind this title, thereby conjuring up the old saying “all that glitters is not gold “. Surprisingly enough, the title turns out to be no more than a mere misnomer ironically referring to a racketeer whose ill-gotten money makes of him a prominent person. The present article attempts to demythologize the ideals, if it is in anyway meaningful to call them so, of Gatsby who is considered to be great and venerable. In demythologizing Gatsby, the article challenges such values as romanticism, the American Dream and the new American elite, if not modern Western society values, held by him. This is done through dismantling the mythical and mysterious elements from Gatsby’s character, thereby dealing with him as an ordinary, if not ‘ungreat’, man.
Key Words: Demythologization, loose morality, misnomer, quixoticness, the American Dream