"The Great Gatsby" by F.Scott Fitzgerald

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“The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald features characters who are rich, who become rich, and who are poor. Gatsby, one of the main characters in this book, becomes rich. When he became rich he enjoyed showing off by buying expensive, showy, flashy, items, such as his bright yellow sports car. This expensive car becomes a symbol throughout the novel. It’s not only a symbol of riches, but it also becomes the symbol of death. Ethel Wilson’s “Swamp Angel” is just the same. Ethel has formed a character, Nell Severance, who used to be a circus performer. Nell was a juggler in the circus, and she juggled flashy guns. She took one of these small, nickel plated, pearl handled revolvers (Wilson 31) after she had retired from the circus and she called the gun Swamp Angel. The Swamp Angel holds a symbolic symbol throughout Wilson’s novel.

When you first think of a gun, do you think of death? The majority of people think of death when they think of a gun because a gun is usually used to kill someone or something. But the Swamp Angel is considered to be a special gun, one which holds many memories; a gun which has not killed anything. It is used to entertain and to have an audience become astonished by someone.

Nell Severance had a daughter, Hilda Severance, who lived with her and took good care of Nell. Hilda absolutely despised the Swamp Angel. You could almost describe her hate for the gun as being jealous of the gun. The gun is what controlled Hilda’s life when she was young. It controlled where the family would live, who Hilda’s friends were, and it controlled all of their finances. Because the Swamp Angel controlled so many aspects of the family’s life, it held

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great importance. But as time passed the Swamp Angel had to be kept as a secret because it was not acceptable to carry a gun around in your pocket for no reason. A gun was thought of as a “killing machine”, but Nell only wanted it as comfort, the gun was her life from the time she left home. The Swamp Angel was a very important aspect of Nell’s life. It controlled her family and it controlled her life. The gun was her life.

The gun doesn’t look as fancy as it sounds. It a small, 80% ...

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The gun doesn’t look as fancy as it sounds. It a small, 80% nickel revolver with an ivory handle (Johnstone Par 24). When Nell fell on the sidewalk outside of her home, the gun slipped out of her pocket which allowed all prospectors to see. She became frightened the authorities were going to come and accuse her of some unknown crime. She decided to send the gun in a shoe box to a friend, Maggie, who lived by a lake. Before Nell sent the gun she wrote a note to get mailed with the gun which had specific instructions for Maggie. She wrote on a scrap piece of paper “Maggie, keep the Angel safe for me. When I die, throw it into the deepest part of your lake, N.S.” (Wilson 104) Nell passed away a few years later, and Maggie followed Nell’s instructions. Because the gun was thrown into the lake and will be forgotten about from that day forward, it loses all the importance it ever held. Nobody will ever remember it once Maggie or Hilda pass away. Only the people who have watched Nell in astonishment while she juggled her guns would remember. But once they have passed away there will be no one to be there to remember the Swamp Angel. It could no longer cause

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the astonishment it had once caused, because the gun was now gone at the bottom of the lake.

It’s amazing that when we think of a car we think of it as happiness and traveling, and our way around the universe. A car isn’t usually thought of as a symbol of death. But Gatsby’s car became the symbol of death, the car which would lead to the fate of Gatsby himself. Just as the Swamp Angel is perceived as a death symbol, although the Swamp Angel is used as entertainment.

Gatsby’s life revolved around his teen sweetheart, Daisy, whom he had lost to another man. Gatsby would do practically anything in order to gain Daisy’s friendship back. He allowed Daisy to drive his car one day, which was a huge privilege for Daisy because Gatsby’s car held great importance to him. At the time Fitzgerald wrote “The Great Gatsby”, cars were becoming a social symbol of richness (CourseWorkBank Par 3). Gatsby’s car showed he was rich; it showed he could afford such an immaculate car. It turned out to be a poor decision to allow Daisy to take control of the wheel. Daisy accidentally ran over a woman and killed her on their way home and she didn’t stop to help. The lady’s husband found out who the flashy yellow sports car belonged to and killed Gatsby for Daisy’s crime. This event made Gatsby’s car into a symbol of death, because it not only ran someone over and killed her, but it was the cause of Gatsby’s death as well.

The fact that a gun holds the symbol of death would make you believe that the Swamp Angel would also symbolize death. But the Swamp Angel holds the

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symbol of laughter, of happiness, and of jealousy. A car is thought of as enjoyment, of trips, and of happiness. If you were to look at the brochure from

ICBC (a car insurance company) it will state anything and everything that may go wrong while you are driving your vehicle, but it doesn’t have information on the enjoyments of your vehicle. Because of this, the brochure symbolizes a car as a dangerous form of transportation.

Gatsby’s car took on the symbol of richness. But after the accident happened, the car became a symbol of death. It’s almost as if the gun and the car’s symbols have switched positions. Gatsby’s car was a very important aspect of his life. It was his way of yelling “Look at me! I’m rich!” He enjoyed bragging he was rich, whether he got his money illegally, or legally, he wanted everyone to know he had money. Because the car showed he was rich, which is what he wanted, it held great importance. When Gatsby was killed, the car never lost the importance it held. The car will still be there for evidence, it will still be used after the investigation, and nobody will ever forget the tragedy.

A car usually symbolizes happiness and new, fun experiences, and a gun usually symbolizes death. When you take these two symbols into the context of the books in which they were written in, it turns out they have switched their interpretations. The gun in “Swamp Angel” symbolizes happiness, and the car in “The Great Gatsby” symbolizes death.

Citations

David Johnstone Antique Arms. Main. David Johnstone. 25 Nov. 2003 <http://www.carbines.co.uk/pistols.asp>

COURSEWORKBANK.CO.U. Main. CourseWorkBank.Co.Uk. 2003 <http://www.courseworkbank.co.uk/coursework/great_gatsby_-_materialisim_1007>

ICBC Autoplan Insurance A Guide to Autoplan insurance and registering and licensing your vehicle, n.d.

Laura Giles

November 28, 2003

English 102-01

Bob Wakulich