The Great Gatsby is more like a realist novel than a modernist novel. With reference to appropriately selected parts of the novel, and relevant external contextual information on realist novels and modernist novels, give your response to the above view.

Further support for the view that the novel is more realist than modernist can be found when we consider how Fitzgerald uses social realism in his writing. Social Realism is an international art movement that draws attention to the everyday conditions of the working classes and the poor, and who are critical of the social structures that maintain these conditions. While the movement usually applies to paintings, it can just as easily be applied to novels such as The Great Gatsby. The most obvious instance of social realism in the novel is the depiction of the Valley of Ashes. Fitzgerald deliberately places this after the extravagance of chapter one in order to have maximum impact on the reader. We are presented with an area that bears closer resemblance to the slums of the third world rather than an economically thriving western nation such as America. It is described as, “a certain desolate area of land,” and, “the solemn dumping ground.” The Valley of Ashes is based on a real location called the Corona Ash Dumps, further increasing the social realism. This stark portrayal of reality suggests that the novel is more effective as a realist novel than a symbolic novel.

Finally, it could be argued that The Great Gatsby is more effective as a realist novel than a modernist novel due to Fitzgerald’s use of naturalistic realism. Naturalism was a literary movement from the 1880s to 1930s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character. Naturalistic works tend to focus on the darker aspects of life, including poverty, racism and violence. As a result, naturalistic writers were frequently criticised for focusing too much on human vice and misery. We certainly see these dark undertones in The Great Gatsby. If we take racism as an example, the form that Fitzgerald uses to describe to us the character of Tom Buchanan is decidedly naturalistic. Fitzgerald wishes to convince the reader that Tom is a highly despicable character, but he does not come out and say such in so many words. Rather, he meticulously describes Tom’s actions so that the reader is left to draw no other conclusion. His views are clearly racist, evidenced by his choice of reading: “Have you read the Rise of the Coloured Empires by Goddard?” This refers to a genuine book that was around at that time, titled The Rising Tide Of Colour by Lothrop Stoddard, which increases the realism.  Tom feels threatened by the rising power of racial minorities and wishes to preserve the archaic status quo. In light of Fitzgerald’s skilful use of naturalistic realism, it perplexes me that anyone could claim The Great Gatsby is more modernist than realist.

Those that oppose my view claim that The Great Gatsby is more like a modernist novel than a realist novel. There may be some merit to this opinion, especially if we consider how the novel reflects the general disillusionment of society. Modernist novels have an interest in themes of loss, disillusionment and social alienation. Fitzgerald was writing in the aftermath of the First World War and was part of the ‘lost generation.’ Both Gatsby and Nick too part in the First World War, and Gatsby says, “Then came the war, old sport. It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die.” Society was coming to terms with the true destructive nature of humanity and this cynicism is evident in Fitzgerald’s writing. These themes of disillusionment are clear in the life and character of Gatsby himself.

Gatsby appears to be the embodiment of this dream – he has risen from being a poor farm boy with no prospects, to being rich, having a big house, servants, and a large social circle attending his numerous parties. He has achieved all this in only a few short years, having returned from the war penniless. However, Gatsby is never truly one of the elite – his dream is just a façade. Fitzgerald explores much more than the failure of the American dream – he is more deeply concerned with its total corruption. Gatsby has not achieved his wealth through honest hard work, but through bootlegging and crime: “I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered, "That's my affair," before he realized that it wasn't the appropriate reply.” His money is not simply ‘new’ money – it is dirty money, earned through dishonesty and crime. His wealthy lifestyle is little more than a façade, as is the whole person Jay Gatsby. This cyclical outlook on the American Dream and 1920s society suggests that The Great Gatsby combines elements of both realism and modernism.

The claim that The Great Gatsby is more like a realist novel than a modernist novel could be contested when we consider the structure of the novel itself. Modernist novels often experiment with narrative structures, using methods such as an unreliable narrator, disrupted chronology and fragmentation of narrative. The Great Gatsby contains all of these elements, especially the unreliable narrator. In the Victorian tradition that preceded the Modernist movement, a narrator was all-knowing, all-seeing, and often pronounced judgment of some kind in a story. Modernism makes a clear break from this, as is exemplified in The Great Gatsby. Nick Carraway speaks of viewing life through, “a single window.” This points out very clearly to the reader that the story presented in these pages is just one view from one person. The 'single window' we are about to look through is Nick's mind, a thoroughly modernist interpretation of the function of a narrator.

Fitzgerald is careful to present Nick as ordinary and flawed to further dispel the Victorian tendency to bestow omniscience upon a narrator, whose presentation begins within the very first few paragraphs of the story. Nick boldly states of himself, “I'm inclined to reserve all judgments.” Moments later, he proceeds to deliver a detailed judgment of Jay Gatsby, including the observation “there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.” Not long after that, Nick goes on to use words such as ”arrogant,” “supercilious,” and “cruel” to describe his cousin's husband Tom, thus clearly passing (and expressing!) judgment. If Nick is going to tell us something about himself and then proceed to do just what he said he wouldn't, it stands to reason that we are meant to receive the things he tells us with a proverbial grain of salt, always remembering we are looking through only one window. Throughout the novel, we see things only as Nick sees them, hear only as Nick hears, and we understand things only in the way Nick understands them. Making use of an imperfect and limited narrator helps Fitzgerald to express another foundational idea of Modernism - that reality and truth are relative and dependent upon perception. This suggests that The Great Gatsby may be more effective as a modernist novel than a realist novel.

Finally, modernist novels are usually secular in their outlook. They detail a society that was becoming increasingly less interested in religion, the so called ‘death of God’ that took place during the twentieth century with the rise of militant atheists such as Stalin and Mao. In modernist novels the loss of meaning in human existence (called by psychologists the “loss of ontological ground”) has made of our world a moral wasteland in which there is no God, no universal plan, and no real rules for living an upright or successful life. The world is unfair, and men suffer. In The Great Gatsby such an outlook is clearly displayed by George Wilson: “he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg … ‘God sees everything,’ repeated Wilson.” Traditional religious values have been disregarded and replaced by the god of materialism. Throughout The Great Gatsby very little mention is made of God and religious affairs, fitting the modernist outlook and proving that the novel is more modernist than realist.

To conclude, after careful consideration we determine that although the novel is highly effective in both genres, ultimately it is more effective as a realist novel than a modernist novel. The settings and characters presented are extremely realistic, and despite the cynicism present in the narrative, there is a faint gleam of hope that prevents it from being fully modernist. The opposing arguments have some merit but ultimately they fail to realise the true implications and context of The Great Gatsby.