Similarities Between Trimalchio And The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald was never quite happy with the title “The Great Gatsby.” In fact, when the first draft he sent to his publisher was titled “Trimalchio.” Trimalchio is a character from The Satyricon, a novel thought to have been written in the first century AD. What has survived of the story comprises three parts, the second of which (“The Banquet of Trimalchio”) details a lavish party thrown by a freedman named Trimalchio. Despite the title change, Trimalchio is certainly not absent from the published version of The Great Gatsby. Indeed, Fitzgerald’s novel retains striking and intentional parallels to the ancient Roman text, and even more can be found when looking at passages that were omitted from the final edition. By analyzing the similarities

The only explicit allusion to Trimalchio in The Great Gatsby occurs in Chapter 7, when Nick says “and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over” (119), aligning Gatsby with the titular character of “The Banquet of Trimalchio.” However, this line is not the only textual evidence of parallels between the two texts. The first chapters of the novel are rife with similarities to the ancient story, the most obvious of which is the main character’s hosting of a grand parties involving elaborate decorations, frivolous entertainment, copious alcohol, and ridiculous amounts of food. However, the more important similarity is the motive of the hosts. The parties are not thrown for fellowship with friends or even for having a good time, as one would expect. Many of the guests at Gatsby’s parties don’t even know who he is, and

Trimalchio is a freedman, meaning that he was a former slave who was set free by his owner. In Ancient Rome, freedmen had the same rights as Roman citizens and the potential to become extremely wealthy, as Trimalchio does, but they never could quite escape the stigma of having been a slave. At his party, the guests, who are all mostly freedmen as well, notice Trimalchio treating his own slaves quite harshly, which suggests not only an extreme insensitivity but also a desire to escape from his past self. Gatsby, too, comes from a poor background, having been raised by unsuccessful farmers that “his imagination had never really accepted [...] as his parents at all” (104), and he also experiences a rapid rise to wealth. Interestingly, the unpublished draft Trimalchio depicts Gatsby throwing a “harvest dance” with farm themed costumes and decorations, complete with a “negro dressed as a field hand serving cider.” Although this scene is not present in The Great Gatsby, it is an important parallel that demonstrates Fitzgerald’s original intentions regarding Gatsby’s character. It is established elsewhere in the text that Gatsby is extremely past-oriented, seeking to both repeat his past with Daisy while burying his impoverished background. His high society take on farming, like Trimalchio’s public displays of authority over his slaves, distorts his past into something