Questions of Racism in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald and Questions of Racism in The Great Gatsby

Racism is one of the most overlooked themes in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. This does not make it a racist book, but it does provide for some uncomfortable moments for anyone reading the novel. At certain points, one is forced to ask, “Is this just Carraway’s naive, unEastern ways coming to the surface, or is there truly a racist point of view at work?” The novel isn’t intended to be analysis of racism, nor is it intended to be a didactic work in the vein of Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. But there is evidence of racism. Where does this leave a 21st century reader of the novel?

The novel is, interestingly, a favorite one of alleged murderer O.J. Simpson. Simpson confessed to having read it at least five times during his college years, and was often baffled when his team mates dismissed his interest in racial aspects of the novel. Blacks, he noted, are mentioned only twice. One of them is a witness at the fatal knife fight that occurs after one of Gatsby’s parties. The other was a witness to Myrtle’s death. Then, there is the offensively stereotyped description and language of the Mexican drug dealer, Wolfsheim (at least Profkiev, in his now classic essay, Underground: The Jewish/Mexican “Gonnegtions” in The Great Gatsby, saw the portrayal of Wolfsheim as a satire on political events of the time. Fitzgerald expressed amazement that so few readers realized this).

Since Carraway’s voyeuristic ways allow him to fill in so many blanks that he otherwise would have had no knowledge of (particularly his knowledge of the cigarettes Gatsby smoked during the war, or how Jordan Baker was, in addition to being a liar, an occasional shoplifter), it is fitting that African-Ameri...

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...ovel: There to remind us that ancient cultures, which are usually mute, are there to offer tidbits of wisdom from time to time. Still, no other novelist in America at the time populated his novels with representatives of so many races.

Racism is a constant of American society. No other society may be as racist. Yet, what other society has made such valiant efforts to rid itself of this evil? Fitzgerald, who hated discussing such political questions, may ultimately be judged by not only this novel, but by the fascinating personal decisions he made in his own life. His conversion to Islam (only a few short weeks before his death at in the attack on Pearl Harbor) may or may not have been the key to reinvigorating his writing, but, as Boris Becker reminds us: “He was not a racist. He was a man who was determined, in the best way he knew, to bring all races closer.”