Examples Of Individualism In The Great Gatsby

Within the United States of America—the great "melting pot," the land of opportunity, the incredibly promising nation of mixed people of all races, cultures, and classes—emerges a vehement drive in the individual to be recognized and commended. However, what constitutes a true individual? In a sense, every person is an "individual”—one who is single; separate (Merriam-Webster)—by nature of his or her eye color, race, or personal interests. However, true individualism is far more complex than a simple difference in fingerprint patterns or unique DNA sequences. Only the dauntless few who choose to set themselves apart by recognizing, celebrating, and exploiting their own differences are truly American individuals. This principle is illustrated

by influential American authors, namely Zora Neale Hurston in her accounts of growing up as an African American in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Francis Scott Fitzgerald in his melancholic novel, The Great Gatsby, and Langston Hughes, a prolific African American poet who predominantly led the Harlem Renaissance.
Born on January 7, 1891, during the time of Jim Crow laws and continued oppression of African Americans in the southern United States, Zora Neale Hurston epitomizes individualism through her incredible accounts of growing up as a minority in Eatonville, Florida. In her autobiographical essay, “How it Feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston chiefly expresses her individual heritage at the very beginning of her piece by stating that she is “the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief” (Hurston 951). Furthermore, Hurston seems exceptionally pleased that she is the only Eatonville native to greet white tourists, actors, or others passing through the town:
I usually spoke to them in passing…Usually the automobile or the horse paused at this, and after a queer exchange of compliments, I would probably ‘go a piece of the way’ with them, as we say in farthest Florida. If one of my family happened to come to the front in time to see me, of course negotiations would be rudely broken off. But even so, it is clear that I was the first ‘welcome-to-our-state’ Floridian, and I hope the Miami Chamber of Commerce will please take notice. (Hurston 951)

However, despite the seemingly innocent, colorless version of the world that the young Hurston appears to perceive in the above example, she is not oblivious to the discrimination present during these times. When Hurston was thirteen, she was sent to school in Jacksonville, Florida. She describes the change she underwent during this time: “It seemed that I had suffered a sea change. I was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a little colored girl. I found it out in certain ways. In my heart as well as in the mirror, I became a fast brown” (Hurston 952). It is here that Hurston fully accepts and acknowledges the fact that society would evaluate her not based on her personality, intellect, and character, but on the color of her skin. This is also her first stride in becoming a true American individual—the acknowledgement of a difference in race. Hurston furthers her individual credibility by her statement, “I am not tragically colored; I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation…No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife…Slavery is sixty years in the past” (Hurston 952). In this example, it is clear that Hurston does not allow the effects of racial discrimination to influence her life; rather, she disregards it and carries on with her own successes. This is a further sign of true individualism—putting to use her own differences regardless of the opinions of others. In an excerpt from an essay written by Alice Walker, a novelist who rediscovered the writings of Hurston, she describes the way that Hurston influenced and empowered readers:
Very regular people from the South, rapidly forgetting their Southern cultural inheritance in the suburbs and ghettos of Boston and New York, they sat around reading the book themselves…listening to each other read the book, and a kind of paradise was regained. For what Zora’s book did was this: it gave them back all the stories they had forgotten or of which they had grown ashamed…in the end they could not hold back the smiles, the laughter, the joy over who she was showing them to be: descendants of an inventive, joyous, courageous, and outrageous people. (Walker 955)
Clearly, Walker is incredibly passionate about the way that Hurston essentially abolishes the racial barrier between African Americans and the rest of society. In a sense, Hurston’s writings allow people to overlook hindrances associated with race, which leads to more cooperation and equality, as well as less of a sense of inferiority by minority races. Because she is able to so effectively inspire, encourage, and motivate others because of the celebration of her own cultural and racial heritage, Zora Neale Hurston is a true American individual.
Similarly to Hurston, Francis Scott Fitzgerald creates a sense of individualism through his novel, The Great Gatsby.

Written in 1925, The Great Gatsby recounts the lives of several New Yorkers during the “Jazz Age,” a time of flourishing economic prosperity in the United States. While the novel begins with a portrayal of the main character as an enigmatic, mysterious man, it is later discovered that he, Jay Gatsby, is a spectacularly prosperous gentleman who is desperately trying to win back the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. However, Daisy is married to the arrogant and also wealthy Tom Buchanan. In an effort to attract Daisy’s attention and rekindle their love, Gatsby uses his extreme wealth to throw extravagant parties each weekend. Through the exploitation of his material wealth, Gatsby shows a remarkable individualistic trait: perseverance to gain that wealth, as well as perseverance to gain Daisy’s attention. However, this is not necessarily done in an honest manner. In the later part of the novel, it is learned that Gatsby earned his fortune by illegal means, which Tom Buchanan reveals during a heated argument: “He [Gatsby] and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasn’t far wrong” (Fitzgerald 133). While Gatsby clearly does not earn his fortune in an honest manner, he still constitutes an

individual—one who puts to use his or her own personal differences—because of his massive wealth and his effort to gain the attention of Daisy. However, he accomplishes much more than this; nearly all of New York City recognizes his name and hundreds of people, including celebrities, make their presence at his parties. In fact, Gatsby is not the only character to utilize the accumulation of wealth; Tom Buchanan also uses his material advantage—money—to pursue an adulterous relationship with Myrtle Wilson, the wife of a mechanic in New York City. Though neither Gatsby nor Tom honestly earn and use their individual differences (which, in this case, is the accumulation of wealth) for a good cause, they each still exemplify individualism. They each accomplished feats that could not have been achieved by other, less wealthy men.
However, such hedonistic motives are not shared by Langston Hughes, yet another true American individual.

Born on February 1, 1902, around the same time as Hurston, Hughes was a prominent African American poet who helped establish Negro cultural identity during the Harlem Renaissance. Spanning the time period of the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance was a prosperous time for African American literature, music, and entertainment. Hughes is especially individualistic in his particular writing style; he does not try to recreate the same patterns of the white poets that he had learned about in school, as do other poets of the time. Rather, he incorporated aspects of African American speech, as well as musical elements that included syncopation (a characteristic rhythm that accents the weaker beat rather than a stronger one), improvisation, and heavy accents—all of which are derived from bebop jazz music. In his 1945 poem, “I, Too,” Hughes acknowledges racial discrimination and provides a solution for overcoming inequality. He states that, “I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table…Nobody’ll dare say to me, ‘eat in the kitchen’…They’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed. I, too, am America” (Hughes 925). By stating that the African American can grow strong even while being suppressed by whites, Hughes inspires countless African Americans by giving them hope of one day

achieving equality. “The Weary Blues,” another of Hughes’s poems, relies even more on African American dialect and musical patterns to emphasize its purpose. By repeating the line “Oh Blues!” at the end of several adjacent stanzas, Hughes introduces a motif, which is both a musical and literary element. A further example of Hughes’s incorporation of musical aspects in his addition of scansion in his stanzas. The literary parallel to the musical term syncopation, scansion is the representation of a metrical character of a line of verse. He brilliantly incorporates African American dialect and utilizes a meter that includes a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable in the stanza, “Ain’t got nobody in this world, ain’t got nobody but ma self. I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’ and put ma troubles on the shelf” (Hughes 927). The aforementioned stanza is unmistakably syncopated; emphasis is naturally placed on beats two and four, the normally weak beats. By integrating music of the African American culture into his poetry, it is clear that Hughes celebrates and appreciates his cultural background, and wishes to inspire others through his writing. In his 1926 essay, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Hughes again addresses the issue of racial discrimination: “One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, ‘I want to be a poet—not a Negro poet,’ meaning, I believe, I want to write like a white poet’; meaning subconsciously, ‘I would like to be a white poet’; meaning behind that, ‘I would like to be white.’ And I was sorry the young man said that, for no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself” (The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain). Because he so passionately defends the right for African Americans to write while incorporating their own heritage and cultural traditions, and does so himself, Langston Hughes is a true American individual.
These authors, whose principal purpose is to express one idea—American individualism—are quite successful in portraying the idea that true individualism is a mindset that can be utilized to attain some form of happiness, such as wealth, love, equality, or recognition. However, by understanding the motives behind these authors’ literary works, one can discover that genuine individualism only comes to those who accept and assiduously apply their own unique diversity in order to benefit some entity—the community, a specific group, or the individual himself. An individual once stated, “Every person is born to do one thing, and if that person does not accomplish it, that thing will never be done.” Perhaps true individualism is the spark that will ignite the passion, desire, and ability to accomplish that one feat.