The Great Gatsby Predeterminism Analysis

Predeterminism in The Great Gatsby John Calvin’s view of Calvinism is focused on the idea of predeterminism. Ideally, this idea mainly tells people that God has already decided where they will end up after death. This concept can relate to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. In this story, the character of Jay Gatsby attempts to acquire wealth so that he could marry the rich, Daisy Buchanan. However, Gatsby could not climb the figurative class ladder without a punishment for this transgression. Gatsby’s class was predetermined so that he could not fight against it. Just as Gatsby could not fight against the class that he was born in, many other characters were punished for doing the same. The theme of The Great Gatsby is that trying to live above your class will result in punishment. This can be displayed when Gatsby, Myrtle, and George try to live above their class. One character that displays a fight against

The first way that Myrtle illustrates her fight is how she tried to be with Tom. Again, Tom was old money, but Myrtle was working class. Myrtle cheated on her husband so that she could be with Tom. An example of Myrtle trying to live above her class is when she says, “‘it’s just a crazy old thing,’ she said. ‘I just slip it on sometimes when I don’t care what I look like’” (Fitzgerald 31). During this instance, a woman complimented Myrtle’s dress. Myrtle tried to act rich by saying that the dress she was wearing had less value. By degrading the dress, she was implying that she was rich enough to wear multiple dresses each day. She was trying to live above her class and that punishment for this was death. Fitzgerald says, “Myrtle Wilson’s body, wrapped in a blanket, and then in another blanket, as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night, lay on a work-table by the wall…” (138). Myrtle was killed as a result for trying to live on Tom’s class