Allusions In The Great Gatsby

If someone mentions the word “prodigal” today, it most likely pertains to The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32, in which after a son wastes his inheritance on lavish possessions and hiring prostitutes, his father forgives him and accepts him back into the father’s house. One could compare the wastefulness of the son to the attitude of the affluent in the Roaring Twenties who, much like Jay Gatsby, threw opulent parties oblivious to the world’s growing problems.

In his reflective Roaring Twenties Novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald displays his society’s tendencies towards living elaborately in order to warn the younger generations that an extravagant lifestyle tends to lead to destruction.

Extravagance can cause people to fill their lives with meaningless things. On summer afternoons, Nick watches Gatsby’s guests making use of his raft, beach, motorboats, hydroplanes, and vehicles (Fitzgerald 43). The repetition of “his” constructs the generous use of parallel structure and implies emphasis, as the focus lies on Gatsby’s possessions and not the people. The people certainly do not matter to Gatsby, as Nick and many other people acknowledge that most of the partygoers do not need to be invited. However, Lucille describes the lengths that

Gatsb

y goes to in order to ensure his guests’ happiness: “When I was here last I tore my gown on a chair, and he asked me my name and address—inside of a week I got a package from Croirier’s with a new evening

gown in it”(47). The presence of “several hundred feet of canvas” and “colored lights” and “a whole pit” orchestra connotatively imply that Gatsby hosts a sort of stage play, in which the guests star, in hopes of catching Daisy’s attention (44). But that facade of the persona comes tumbling down after Daisy shows disdain for parties, as Gatsby subsequently fires all of the now obsolete servants in order to pluck Daisy. Eventually his fame and all of his work becomes meaningless when George Wilson shoots him. Fitzgerald’s life as a member of the Lost Generation imbeds itself into the carefree nature of the majority of the characters, who waste their time, money, and lives in a meaningless pursuit of satisfaction.
Extravagance can contribute to an individual’s lack of reverence towards religion. Gatsby lives during the Roaring Twenties, a time characteristic of personal pleasure and debauchery; a time where God slowly dies out of neglect. Only in the valley of ashes, the shadows of capitalism, lies a reminder of God’s omniscience in the form of the Doctor T.J. Eckleburg billboard. After Myrtle’s murder, George Wilson breaks the fourth wall when he claims in reference to the billboard that, “God sees everything” (167). Myrtle follows her name and tries to creep up the social ladder towards Daisy, with money and respect motivating her. When her husband begins to untangle her deception, he threatens her with the judge of her eternity. With no facial features but eyes, Fitzgerald personifies the billboard throughout as an entity who mankind all but eliminates but keeps a constant watch on the smoking remains of the lives of New York City (27). Nick notices the ad’s eyes multiple times as they “brood”, “persist”, “keep their vigil”, and regard people “with peculiar intensity”, but other character hardly give the forgotten advertisement a second thought (28,131). Fitzgerald’s representation of God as an overlooked message allows him a way to criticize his generation of their lack of satisfaction with God and the rise of money as their new idol.
Extravagance can contribute to a person’s moral degradation. After Gatsby’s death, Nick runs into Tom in the city.