God In The Great Gatsby Analysis

The 1920s saw a great reform in traditional living, as women and black people began to gain more rights and unorthodox opinions began to be accepted more and more. The Great Gatsby itself is a novel known for the many controversial topics it discusses, from the sanctity of marriage to the questioning of a true God through the concept of Deism. F. Scott Fitzgerald approaches the existence of God by writing Gatsby as a character who is tied to such a spiritual entity. One form of symbolism which exemplifies Gatsby's struggles and abilities as a character is his frequent comparison to God Gatsby has several symbolic ties with the Christianity , as well as being connected to several forms of Greek god imagery, and his downfall reflects many other

When Gatsby’s house is talked about by Nick, he says, “There was nothing to look at from under the tree except Gatsby’s enormous house, so I stared at it, like Kant at his church steeple, for half an hour” (88 Fitzgerald). This compares Gatsby to Christian God , as he compares Gatsby's home to a church, which is often referred to by many as the house of God.As the text states:
On Sunday morning while church bells rang in the villages alongshore, the world and its mistress returned to Gatsby’s house and twinkled hilariously on his lawn. “He’s a bootlegger,” said the young ladies, moving somewhere between his cocktails and his flowers. “One time he killed a man... Reach me a rose, honey, and pour me a last drop into that there crystal glass.” (Fitzgerald

Gatsby’s death coming at the hands of a lover reflects how many other gods have met their end. When Gatsby and Daisy first have sex, the text states, “He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God...at his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete” (Fitzgerald 117). This quotation exemplifies how Gatsby’s downfall both begins and ends with Daisy. When he has sex with her for the first time, Gatsby loses his god-like invincibility, thus starting his slow downfall at her hands. His downfall is accelerated by how Daisy gets together with him but then refuses to let go of Tom, eventually going back to Tom, and leaving Gatsby distraught and heartbroken. This puts big cracks in his facade, and the entire interaction leads to the most important event in his life. His true downfall is sealed when Daisy murders Myrtle. With them being in his car it is assumed by others that he was the one to hit her. This, along with Tom’s jealousy, leads Tom to tell Wilson that it was Gatsby who hit her this causes Wilson to finally end Gatsby's life while he is floating in his pool thinking