Aldwin Aguilar asked this question about
The Great Gatsby:
My teacher keeps on insisting that Jay Gatsby is black. Is he?
Christine
This is going to be long, cause I wrote a paper on what ethnicity is Gatsby.
If he is black, he is probably biracial, being black and white. He is pass…moreThis is going to be long, cause I wrote a paper on what ethnicity is Gatsby.
If he is black, he is probably biracial, being black and white. He is passing-it occurs when a person classified as a member of one racial group is also accepted as a member of a different racial group. Aka he would have to be so close to looking white that there would have been no true hint of his ancestry or if people suspect, he could excuse tanning. There are the african americans you do see in the limo being driven while a white guy drives them which could show Gatsby being a passing man is now high in society, but again, there is so much symbolism in the story (there is so much symbolism in the story you could write a book on all the symbolism in this story and it would be probably longer than The Great Gatsby itself), you could argue for many ethnicities that Gatsby could be.
Look at race relations at the time, look into Fitzgerald letters to get a hint of the whole situation. At the time only those with nordic/german ancestors (or those that fit the Nordic white anglo saxon protestant type) were consider the most superior, the whole Nazi ideology didn't start with Hitler, it was around before he was (reason why many top elite businessman in the US actually threw money at him in show of support in the beginning).
Now between 1880s-1930s pseudoscience academics came up with terms to break down white people intro different groups as to try to prove who was racially better. There are debates was this as a result of immigration or was it already there and immigration was the spark that ignited it. Who knows? Personally I think its the later given race relations & history throughout the world, just me though.
Madison Grant & Lothrop Stoddard (which btw Fitzgerald basically does mention, but changes a few letters- this is ballsy because he basically critiqued the guy in the book & the same company that published Stoddard's book, published The Great Gatsby), these two were believers of this idea & many elite believed it as well. Now beside Nodric (blonde, hair, blue eyes, good build, german archetype,etc). There were Mediterranean whites (greek, Italian- black hair, tanner skin, but white nose & features) & Alpine Whites (Eastern Europe-Brown/black hair, lighter skin). Even among the pseudoscience community at the time there were debates as to which of these two were 2nd or 3rd place.
With all the research I did, I still think he would have been mixed, IMO would have been more likely he would have some mediterranean descent in him and maybe some german as well (given his original born name Gatz does come off as german). Now, because they talk about the horrors of mixing race in the story, it is highly possible (like I would say 99%) he has some "nordic" in him. It is unlikely he has blonde hair like Daisy. Look to chapter 6 for this
"It was indirectly due to Cody that Gatsby drank so little. Sometimes in the course of gay parties women used to rub champagne into his hair; for himself he formed the habit of letting liquor alone."
For those that don't know champagne was used as a beauty diy treatment at the time to keep the blonde shiny & stand out. Them rubbing his hair with champagne were them trying to figure out if he had some blonde in him, something he wouldn't want to be reminded of.
As for skin color look to chapter three
"His tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face."
Keep in mind even "mixing" with other white people, not of nordic descent would have been frowned upon or even cause alienation for people from rich/elite families. So for Gatsby to be mixed, high up in society, and trying to pass as being nordic white would have been an issue. If Black descent, even bigger, racial hierarchy.
If you are interested in reading the bizarre mindset by the two pseudoscience authors I mentioned, I would get a beer or a glass of whine. I remember when first reading it for my research paper and I was amazed. Not in a good way mind you.
Now in his letters to his editor/publisher though even Fitzgerald stated he never could figure out what Gatsby looked like. To sum it up, he couldn't get a grasp of his appearance, so his appearance has and can be left up to interpretation itself. This annoyed editors & publishers because they like how descriptive he was of the other characters like tom buchanan( which btw he is always shown as having dark hair in many movie interpretations when in fact he should be blonder than gatsby. Think maybe Chris Hemsoworth , he was supposed to come across as strong, big, and beautiful).
To answer your question, "Is he black though?"
I would have to say, it is possible, but no one really knows for sure, for the author didn't know. Now, for your teacher to say that he is without a doubt, is very wrong of him/her to do so. Imposing their own interpretation on the students. My professor would be appalled ( she told us like day one she is african american, Caribbean (i'm pretty sure on that one) , & Irish descent) and she did her best to tell us what were her opinions and what were facts in the story. It is up to you to decide and at the end of the day Fitzgerald was trying to make a point in talking about race. Trying to figure out what Fitzgerald was saying on race IMO is more important than what did Gatsby look like.(less)
If he is black, he is probably biracial, being black and white. He is pass…moreThis is going to be long, cause I wrote a paper on what ethnicity is Gatsby.
If he is black, he is probably biracial, being black and white. He is passing-it occurs when a person classified as a member of one racial group is also accepted as a member of a different racial group. Aka he would have to be so close to looking white that there would have been no true hint of his ancestry or if people suspect, he could excuse tanning. There are the african americans you do see in the limo being driven while a white guy drives them which could show Gatsby being a passing man is now high in society, but again, there is so much symbolism in the story (there is so much symbolism in the story you could write a book on all the symbolism in this story and it would be probably longer than The Great Gatsby itself), you could argue for many ethnicities that Gatsby could be.
Look at race relations at the time, look into Fitzgerald letters to get a hint of the whole situation. At the time only those with nordic/german ancestors (or those that fit the Nordic white anglo saxon protestant type) were consider the most superior, the whole Nazi ideology didn't start with Hitler, it was around before he was (reason why many top elite businessman in the US actually threw money at him in show of support in the beginning).
Now between 1880s-1930s pseudoscience academics came up with terms to break down white people intro different groups as to try to prove who was racially better. There are debates was this as a result of immigration or was it already there and immigration was the spark that ignited it. Who knows? Personally I think its the later given race relations & history throughout the world, just me though.
Madison Grant & Lothrop Stoddard (which btw Fitzgerald basically does mention, but changes a few letters- this is ballsy because he basically critiqued the guy in the book & the same company that published Stoddard's book, published The Great Gatsby), these two were believers of this idea & many elite believed it as well. Now beside Nodric (blonde, hair, blue eyes, good build, german archetype,etc). There were Mediterranean whites (greek, Italian- black hair, tanner skin, but white nose & features) & Alpine Whites (Eastern Europe-Brown/black hair, lighter skin). Even among the pseudoscience community at the time there were debates as to which of these two were 2nd or 3rd place.
With all the research I did, I still think he would have been mixed, IMO would have been more likely he would have some mediterranean descent in him and maybe some german as well (given his original born name Gatz does come off as german). Now, because they talk about the horrors of mixing race in the story, it is highly possible (like I would say 99%) he has some "nordic" in him. It is unlikely he has blonde hair like Daisy. Look to chapter 6 for this
"It was indirectly due to Cody that Gatsby drank so little. Sometimes in the course of gay parties women used to rub champagne into his hair; for himself he formed the habit of letting liquor alone."
For those that don't know champagne was used as a beauty diy treatment at the time to keep the blonde shiny & stand out. Them rubbing his hair with champagne were them trying to figure out if he had some blonde in him, something he wouldn't want to be reminded of.
As for skin color look to chapter three
"His tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face."
Keep in mind even "mixing" with other white people, not of nordic descent would have been frowned upon or even cause alienation for people from rich/elite families. So for Gatsby to be mixed, high up in society, and trying to pass as being nordic white would have been an issue. If Black descent, even bigger, racial hierarchy.
If you are interested in reading the bizarre mindset by the two pseudoscience authors I mentioned, I would get a beer or a glass of whine. I remember when first reading it for my research paper and I was amazed. Not in a good way mind you.
Now in his letters to his editor/publisher though even Fitzgerald stated he never could figure out what Gatsby looked like. To sum it up, he couldn't get a grasp of his appearance, so his appearance has and can be left up to interpretation itself. This annoyed editors & publishers because they like how descriptive he was of the other characters like tom buchanan( which btw he is always shown as having dark hair in many movie interpretations when in fact he should be blonder than gatsby. Think maybe Chris Hemsoworth , he was supposed to come across as strong, big, and beautiful).
To answer your question, "Is he black though?"
I would have to say, it is possible, but no one really knows for sure, for the author didn't know. Now, for your teacher to say that he is without a doubt, is very wrong of him/her to do so. Imposing their own interpretation on the students. My professor would be appalled ( she told us like day one she is african american, Caribbean (i'm pretty sure on that one) , & Irish descent) and she did her best to tell us what were her opinions and what were facts in the story. It is up to you to decide and at the end of the day Fitzgerald was trying to make a point in talking about race. Trying to figure out what Fitzgerald was saying on race IMO is more important than what did Gatsby look like.(less)
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