How Does Fitzgerald Present His Car In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless novel, The Great Gatsby, drives around the conflict of “new money” versus “old money” through the lives of various characters and their connections to one another and society through their vehicles, a significant symbol in American cultural history. Viewed through status of wealth and importance, the automobile has promoted a sense of freedom, the American dream, since the early twentieth century with the mass production of Henry Ford’s Model T, the first affordable car. Since then, the automobile has continuously taken the contour of a progressing society and the reflection in the life of their owners. Jay Gatsby, a self-made man, drives an eccentric, yet gorgeous yellow Rolls Royce, while Tom Buchanan, a man

Nick Carraway, the narrator and Gatsby’s neighbor, describes a few of Gatsby’s physical appearances and costumes throughout the novel with vivid colors and contrasting imagery. During Gatsby’s various encounters with Daisy, his unattainable holy grail, Gatsby once wears “a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie” and is later described as wearing a “gorgeous pink rag of a suit” (Fitzgerald 84, 154). Somewhat overboard with his sense of style, Gatsby looks to gain the attention of others, particularly Daisy, by presenting his newfound money through his clothes from rags to riches. Gatsby’s car, similar to every part of his appearance, is a spectacle. A sight to be seen, Gatsby’s car is described to have a “rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here 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” with “many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory” (Fitzgerald 64). Like Gatsby, his bright and obvious car demands attention and possesses a sort of excitable force through magical description. Another attribute of Gatsby that is comparable to his vehicle is his literal voice through the way he speaks. Nick often describes Gatsby’s manners as uncultured when Gatsby’s speech

Once a football star, Nick describes Tom as “a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning forward” (Fitzgerald 7). Being considered “old money” and already a notable figure in society, Tom has no need to impress anyone; therefore, the boring description of a man leads to the boring description of his mode of transportation. The only real description of Tom’s car is given when Tom is questionably interrogated about his vehicle and simply says, “It’s a blue car, a coupe” (Fitzgerald 140). Like his personality, Tom’s car is somewhat boring, but it is just enough to get him where he is going. Compared to Gatsby, Tom’s car is less impressive than Gatsby’s car. When Tom sarcastically asks Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, whether he would like to buy Gatsby’s car after a forced switch in vehicles, Wilson says, “Big chance… But I could make some money on the [coupe]” (Fitzgerald 123). Significantly, Tom’s car is portrayed as more obtainable than Gatsby’s car, almost like his social status, reducing his position in society through his car. Failure in selling his car, – or any car, for that matter – Tom does more selling than he can actually