The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

What makes a man a ‘gentleman’ is a social enigma. The word ‘gentleman’ dates back to when the term became commonplace in the 17th century; in its original meaning, the term indicated a man of the lowermost rank of the English gentry, however, by social courtesy the title came to include any well-educated man of good family and merit, akin to the Latin ‘generosus’. Then to an extent, gentleman came to signify a man with an income derived from property, a legacy or some other source, and was thus independently wealthy and did not need to work. In her book ‘The Image of the English Gentleman in Twentieth-Century Literature: Englishness and Nostalgia’ Christine Berberich states ‘The term ‘gentleman’ is a statement of moral value, which can be used across all class boundaries’. It is debateable whether this statement applies to the protagonists in ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’. In ‘Great Expectations’ Dickens juxtaposes the traditional perception of a gentleman as a man of wealth, social standing, and ease with the gentleman as a man of moral integrity. However the statement could be considered more applicable to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ because the novel presents an emerging modern society where the staid conservatism and timeworn values of the previous decade were fast fading, causing a breakdown in traditional class boundaries. Therefore a man did not necessarily now have to come from a high social class to be considered a ‘gentleman’ as in Dickens’s epoch.
In the opening chapters of ‘The Great Gatsby’ the elusive protagonist ‘Gatsby’ is only mentioned fleetingly and from many different perspectives. Gatsby’s reputation precedes him making it difficult for the reader to form a clear view of his true ch...

... middle of paper ...

...seems to lose all moral integrity once entering a higher social sphere. However although this is the case both authors present that in the eras in which each novel was written both men by the end of the novel would be considered a gentleman in their respective societies.

Works Cited

‘The Image of the English Gentleman in Twentieth-Century Literature: Englishness and Nostalgia’ – Christine Berberich http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/prose/greatexpectations.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosegreatexpect/1prose_greatexpect_plotrev6.shtml http://people.hum.aau.dk/~riber/expect.htm http://elitedaily.com/dating/sex/the-return-of-the-true-gentleman-and-great-gatsby/ http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/ http://www.enotes.com/topics/great-gatsby/characters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gentleman