Christianity In The Great Gatsby

In literature, authors use their life experiences and their culture in the development of their plots and the creation of their characters’ traits. The era and area where an author emerged are key to the development of these experiences and cultural elements that are created and established in their works. Due to the predominantly Christian culture in the early 1900s, authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, who were raised in that era, were brought up and schooled in reading and interpreting the Bible. The effect of this culture on Fitzgerald’s work is shown when he utilizes his prior knowledge of the Bible to reference it, just like many Authors before him incorporated their knowledge of myths and Shakespeare in their works. In The Great Gatsby,

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses religious symbolism and biblical allusions to liken Gatsby as a Christ-like figure.
From the moment Fitzgerald introduces Gatsby, there are clear allusions to the fact that he is the embodiment of a Christ-like figure. The reader’s first encounter with Gatsby takes place on a late night when Nick sees that Gatsby had “come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens,” staring at the Bay, behind his mansion (Fitzgerald 24). When talking about “what share was his of our local heavens,” Fitzgerald uses diction to imply that Gatsby has a place in heaven, much like Christ, who has a place in heaven at the right hand of God (Fitzgerald 24). Furthermore, Fitzgerald strengthens Gatsby’s introduction as a Christ-like figure by adding that; Nick even almost called to him, until Gatsby “stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, … trembling” (24). The mention of Gatsby stretching out his hands, and trembling is an allusion to Christ’s crucifixion, where he was nailed to the cross with his arms and legs stretched out, trembling in the immense pain. Gatsby’s outstretched hands and trembling are the first of many of Fitzgerald’s “allusions to the suffering and death of Jesus” and are ironic, as they foreshadow the role of Gatsby as a Christ-like figure, as well as his grim fate of dying for Daisy’s sins (Dilworth 2). Even before the reader knows anything about Gatsby, or the part he will play in the novel, Fitzgerald relates Gatsby to Christ through the use of allusions of Gatsby on the cross and diction, in stating that Gatsby has a place in heaven.
Additionally, Fitzgerald uses parallels to stories from the bible, to relate Gatsby to Christ.

An example is when Daisy accidentally hit Myrtle with Gatsby’s car, “killed her instantly” and then proceeded to flee the scene of the crime (Fitzgerald 154). Upon the revelation that Daisy was the driver of Gatsby’s car and killed Myrtle, Gatsby admits that “of course I’ll say I was” driving (154). Fitzgerald uses the sequence from the novel about Daisy killing Myrtle and Gatsby taking the fall, to parallel the story of mankind sinning and then being redeemed by Christ. For instance, when Daisy accidentally kills Myrtle and then flees, she sins, just as Adam and Eve sinned by eating an apple from the tree of knowledge and then fleeing. As Gatsby decides to take the blame for Daisy’s hit and run, in order to redeem Daisy, it becomes clear that Fitzgerald paralleled Gatsby’s decision to that of Christ’s decision to sacrifice himself on the cross for mankind. In addition, Fitzgerald shows that Gatsby’s dedication to Daisy supersedes his other character traits and shows that Gatsby is passionate enough to lay down anything, including his life, in order to redeem and save Daisy (Dilworth 2). Here Fitzgerald draws parallels between Gatsby’s unwavering dedication and passion for Daisy, and Christ’s dedication and passion for mankind, as well as the selflessness that both Gatsby and Christ exude for the ones that they love. Thus, Fitzgerald’s clear parallels between Christ’s sacrifices

and commitment to absolve mankind of their past sins and Gatsby’s decision to take the blame and sacrifice himself for Daisy’s sins, demonstrate that Gatsby is a Christ-like figure.
Another biblical parallel that Fitzgerald uses to liken Gatsby to Christ is Gatsby’s vigil over the Buchanan house. In the novel, Gatsby hold vigil over the Buchanan house, where his friend Nick finds him and then forsakens him, “standing there in the moonlight—watching over nothing,” alone (Fitzgerald 156). Gatsby’s vigil is paralleled to Christ's vigil at the Garden of Gethsemane, as Gatsby’s vigil is also held the night before his death. Furthermore, Fitzgerald shows that Gatsby, “like Jesus ... keeps his vigil in a garden, the back garden of the Buchanan’s house [and] just as Jesus suffers alone while his disciples sleep, Gatsby is left alone by Nick Carraway, who goes home to sleep” (Dilworth 2). To further parallel biblical events Fitzgerald uses Nick to tell the story of Gatsby, much like the apostles told the story of Christ in the Bible. Finally, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s vigil over Daisy at the Buchanan house to further showcase Gatsby’s dedication to Daisy and show that both Christ and Gatsby held vigil over the person or people to whom they had dedicated their lives, thus portraying Gatsby as a Christ-like figure.
Similarly, Fitzgerald uses symbolism to further the likening of Gatsby to Christ. For example, Gatsby was made to carry the vessel on which he would be slain, in his case a “pneumatic mattress” (Fitzgerald 172). Fitzgerald uses the mattress to symbolize Christ carrying his cross on his journey to calvary. Moreover, because Gatsby “shouldered the mattress and started for the pool,” he “stopped and shifted it a little, and the chauffeur asked him if he needed help, but he shook his head” and continued the journey to his death (Fitzgerald 172). To further show that the mattress is symbolic for Christ’s cross Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s chauffeur offer to bear the weight of the pneumatic mattress, which parallels Simon of Cyrene offering to help Christ bear the weight of his cross in the Bible (Dilworth 1). In conclusion, Fitzgerald uses both the symbolism of Gatsby’s mattress as Christ’s cross and the biblical parallel of both Gatsby and Christ being offered help with bearing the weight of that object to their death, to liken Gatsby to Christ in the novel.
Even after Gatsby’s death, Fitzgerald continued to parallel the Bible and equate Gatsby to Christ.

As Gatsby’s body was discovered, Nick observed “a thin red circle in the water” in the pool (Fitzgerald 173). Fitzgerald emphasized Gatsby’s blood in the water, because it is a clear allusion to Christ as the “mixture of blood and water may evoke” a memory similar to “‘blood and water’ flowing from the side of Christ after he was pierced in the side by a spear” of a Roman soldier (Dilworth 1). Just as the Christ’s death was confirmed when blood and water flowed from a spear wound in his side, Fitzgerald parallels the conformation of Christ’s death by confirming Gatsby’s death with blood in the water of the pool, presumably from the gunshot that killed Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses this biblical allusion to show that in life, and even after death, Gatsby is a Christ-like

figure.
All things considered since Fitzgerald is building Gatsby as a Christ-like figure using biblical parallels and symbolism, it would stand to reason that other biblical figures would be parallelled in The Great Gatsby to support Gatsby's role as Christ. One such character who parallels biblical figures is “Nick Carraway, the narrator and interpreter of the novel, [who] describes Gatsby” throughout the novel and tells us the story of Gatsby, much like the apostles later wrote parts of the new testament in the Holy Bible about Christ and his teachings (Pearson 2). Throughout the novel Fitzgerald emphasizes Nick’s increasing infatuation with Gatsby and his teachings, so when Gatsby dies, Nick no longer has a shepherd to herd him and he begins to believe that “the East was haunted” and that the East was “distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction,” which prompts him to move back West (Fitzgerald 188). Through Nick's loss of purpose and direction after Gatsby’s death, Fitzgerald shows that Nick’s belief in the corruption of the East and sudden return back West parallels the apostles loss of purpose and direction after Christ’s death. In particular, Fitzgerald parallels Nick’s rebirth to that of Saint Peter, an apostle, who denied knowing Christ three times the night of his capture at the gardens, and then was reborn, starting anew to become the first Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Moreover, no Christ figure could be complete without the addition of an apostle, and Fitzgerald ensures that Nick Carraway is clearly representative of an apostle, confirming that Fitzgerald made Gatsby a Christ-like figure. Another such character who Fitzgerald uses to parallel a biblical figure is Tom Buchanan. In Tom’s case, Fitzgerald draws a parallels to Judas, such as when Tom “told him [George Wilson] the truth” about how Gatsby killed Myrtle and then later showed no remorse by saying that Gatsby “threw dust into their [everyone’s] eyes just like he did in Daisy’s,” and got what he deserved (Fitzgerald 180). Fitzgerald shows that Tom admits betraying Gatsby with no regret, even though it led to his death, much like Judas, who betrayed Christ and indirectly caused his death. In conclusion, Fitzgerald structuring other characters, like Nick and Tom to react to Gatsby like biblical figures in the Holy Bible reacted to Christ, definitively indicates that Gatsby is a Christ-like figure in The Great Gatsby.
Ultimately, The Great Gatsby is a novel in which F. Scott Fitzgerald likens the character of Gatsby to Christ through the use of religious symbolism and biblical allusions woven throughout the novel. Whether it be the allusion to crucifixion with Gatsby’s outstretched arms at the beginning of the novel or the agony and self-sacrifice that Gatsby experienced for Daisy being symbolic for the agony that Christ underwent for mankind, Fitzgerald draws unmistakable parallels between Gatsby and Christ (Foster 126). Considering that Fitzgerald is described by some as “an exquisite artist, fully in control of his intended effects,” his description and presentation of Gatsby clearly show that he conceived Gatsby as a Christ like figure (Becnel). However, Fitzgerald not only portrayed Gatsby as Christ, but even went as far as constructing characters who behave and interact with Gatsby in a manner much akin to the interaction of biblical figures with Christ. Not only Tom’s Judas like betrayal and Nick’s role as an apostle, but events and allusions from the introduction of Gatsby to his eventually murder, unequivocally indicate that Fitzgerald intended for the reader to conclude that Gatsby be the Christ figure of his novel, The Great Gatsby.