Ambiguity In The Great Gatsby Essay

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 modernist literary classic The Great Gatsby encompasses the idea of ambiguity on an array of levels. By including stereotypes, culture, and emotional tendencies of his characters, Fitzgerald adds diversity to create the realistic atmosphere of the 1920s in his novel. The characters of Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Jordan Baker, Tom Buchanan, and Mr. McKee illustrate the attitudes and culture of New York in the 1920. New York was a culture hub in the "roaring" '20s, and Chauncey 's book Gay New York provides insight into homosexuality during the time Fitzgerald wrote his novel. By combining ambiguity with an underlying subtext of sexuality and gender stereotypes, Fitzgerald has crafted the narrating character Nick Carraway

McKee. McKee is described as a "pale feminine man" opening his character up for a deeper interpretation of his personality that what is explicitly written by Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald 34). McKee is a photographer in New York City. A career choice in the arts is often considered a feminine profession, something men do not usually partake in. His portfolio contains works such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "Loneliness," both titles that have a feminine feel (Fitzgerald 42). "Beauty and the Beast" is the same title as the fairy tale: a tale full of love regardless of appearance. This can illustrate loving an individual of the same sex, looking past appearance and into true personality. "Loneliness" is being by yourself, exiled, and an unwanted emotion. Emotions at the time were a female thing. Men were to remain strong and emotionless not engaging in art or feeling alone. All of this creates McKee 's anima, his female traits in his male personality, just as Gatsby exudes an aura of his own anima. Jay Gatsby is the character first reveals the name of. The novel begins with an unnamed narrator speaking about a man named Gatsby. Gatsby’s impression on Nick is strong, for he states, “If personality is an

When Nick and McKee meet in the New York City appartment in chapter two, readers get to interpret the way the two interact with one another. Fitzgerald left the end of chapter two ambiguous; Nick and McKee leave the apartment together and Nick only recalls segments on the rest of their time together. Nick begins by following McKee out of the room to the elevator, something usually not done when you have only known the person for one afternoon. McKee then invites him to come to lunch “anywhere” indicating he wants to see Nick more and does not care where (Fitzgerald 42). While leaving the apartment in the elevator, McKee is reprimanded by the elevator boy for having his hand on the lever. This encounter can be viewed in a sexual light. To some readers it is an unnecessary part of the novel. To others, it is McKee making a sexual reference towards Nick. In The Sexual Drama of Nick and Gatsby, it is agreed that “in this context the image must be sexual” (Wasiolek 19). After the elevator scene, Fitzgerald begins the next section with ellipses. It has been claimed that “we read over instead of reading through” many passages throughout the novel (Froehlich 5). Nick informs readers that he is beside McKee’s bed and McKee is in only in his underwear, Once again, this information seems irrelevant, but it indicates the