Gatsby's Car And Other Cars

naokitakano says: May 2, 2016 at 11:16 am

Chapter 4 – 6

Gatsby’s car “It was a rich cream color, bright and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns.” (page 69, Chapter 4)

During the roaring twenties (1920’s), cars were seen as a social status of wealth and a new found freedom. Having the ability to run cars meant freedom to visit places. This quote on the top is spoken by Nick, where he explains the appearance of Gatsby’s car. Gatsby has a cream colored Rolls Royce, which is a car that not everyone could afford since it was rare and expensive. The word “rich cream color” (69) “green leather” and “nickel” describes his luxury. The appearance of his car symbolizes the high social position he stands on, and his car is talked as if it was everyone’s dream to have one of those cars.

The reader often is given scenes where Gatsby is driving quickly, which can be seen in this scene: “With fenders spread like wings, we scattered light through half Astoria.” He owns a hydroplane, and a fleet of automobiles. This can be seen as a trend that new rich people drive “carelessly” like Owl Eyes and Jordan, but it rather points the reader to the fact that Gatsby has this need for speed, and it makes it seem like he feels like he has fallen behind. I think that this is due to the fact that he wasn’t born rich, and no matter how much money he makes now he is still behind people like Tom and Daisy, who are “old money”. As a man who was born in a poor farm family, his fast driving exemplifies how he is trying to speed up and catch up to this thing that is unattainable; Daisy.

Theme: Physical possession provides the first impression of that owner. By knowing that Gatsby owned a Rolls Royce with a huge Gothic house, every person in that time would’ve known that he is a wealthy person. No one poor or from middle class could never afford a car that is so powerful and expensive. His rich cream car with green leather interior was definitely one of the most fancy car that represented wealth in that time.

I believe that his car best matches with Gatsby because of the color it has. The rich cream color has an impression of “new” things like a newborn chick. Although he has a Gothic style house, his car always describes the new rich society of West Egg. Gatsby himself is a new rich, in which he started from a poor farm boy and turned into a smart workman who supports a millionaire by being his personal assistance. It is still unknown how Gatsby gained his wealth at this point, but his car always imply the new rich society of West Egg. In contrast, Tom as an old money rides a horse as a tradition. In page 108, it says “They were a party of three on horseback—Tom and…”, which addresses the audience that Tom rides a horse like old style nobles do. This habit can be compared to the social difference between East and West Egg. All the rich people from back then lives in East Egg, but all of the rich people who gained wealth after the war lives in West Egg. The roaring twenties that came right after the war ended was a vivid and shining age of the America in the 1920’s, but it was also the time when alcohols were drunk illegally in illegal bars, gangs ruled over illegal businesses, and many things that were morally corrupted. People who gained wealth during the roaring twenties were always modish. Having a car meant modish, and it was a new standard to have one during the roaring twenties. The fact that Tom rode horse meant he was “old” to the trend. Car was a symbolism of the modish culture of The Roaring Twenties.

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