Dane Morris
Akasha Ross
Cailee Vander Hooven
Ms. Kestenbaum and Mr. Shipley
IB English HL1 Period 3
26 October 2016
The Great Gatsby Ecocritical Essay
After combining the diverse perspectives presented in The
Great Gatsby, one can
develop a collective understanding regarding ecocritical theory that is demonstrated in
Fitzgeralds novel. In order to cultivate an ecocritical analysis, it is important to look at this piece
of literature with the ideology of finding the relationship between the individual and his or her
society with the environment. By analyzing the novel through an ecocritical lens, it becomes
evident how individuals affect the environment. To create an understanding one can utilize
different theories to investigate how humans and industry have impacted the environment.
Fitzgerald illustrates the infliction caused by industry on civilization both socially and
environmentally, in which an individuals desire to gain power and wealth leads to industrial
pollution.
Environmentalism, the idea that humans need to care about their surroundings instead of
only themselves, is one of many ecocritical subtopics that can be used to analyze The Great
Gatsby. In the novel, characters such as Gatsby and Daisy are viewed as selfish and egotistic.
Daisy, only married [Tom] because [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for [him],
(130) which demonstrates her selfishness and desire for money. Throwing parties, the use of
cars, and the constant desire of money control their lives. These desires and luxuries leave no
room to care for other aspects of life such as the environment and the people surrounding them.
The American Dream drove people to seek more money which in turn led to a never ending
desire. As a result, the factories and industries increased causing a huge period of
industrialization. Industry grew constantly as the desire for money additionally increased.
However, it had significant repercussions on the environment. Tom and Daisy were careless in
their way of living as they, let other people clean up the mess they made (179). Due to the vast
carelessness of those who are selfish and have minimal respect for the environment, the valley of
ashes is created. The valley of ashes is a result of major industrialization and it was created from
an increase in pollution and dust. Less fortunate people lived in the valley of ashes, representing
their place in society. Since they do not have money and do not meet societys standards, they
are left to live in a filthy place. Fitzgerald makes this point to show what the narcissism of the
wealth brings. Gatsby, a big contributor to the waste that is apart of the valley of ashes, could not
care less what happens to the people who live there since he knows he is more fortunate. People
have become fixated on making more money. This greed and selfishness results in these
individuals becoming blinded by their senseless actions.
Industrialization results in a plethora of environmental damages. By analyzing the
relationship between the environment and society, one can recognize that people are culpable for
most environmental destruction. Anthropocentrism can be utilized to comprehensively witness
the effects humans have on nature. In order to cultivate an anthropocentric understanding, one
must view the piece of literature from a humans perspective. After evaluating the relationship
between society and the environment in The Great Gatsby, it becomes evident that humans are
generally responsible for negatively impacting the environment. Fitzgerald analyzes the
connection between the characters of the novel and their environment. He delves into the idea of
how an individuals desire to gain an excess amount of opulence, results in the destruction of the
surrounding environment. Gatsby longs to manifest a luxurious and extravagant identity leading
to the decay of his environmental consciousness. Gatsby uses his wealth to overindulge in
personal desires:
Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New
York every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a
pyramid of pulpless halves. There was a machine in the kitchen which could
extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour if a little button was
pressed two hundred times by a butlers thumb. (39)
Gatsby displays apathetic characteristics, this is portrayed as he uses a man-made juicer to
squeeze oranges effortlessly. Machinery has been constructed by man in order to satisfy the
needs of the consumer. This quote emphasizes how man-made products are used to exert and
manipulate the surrounding environment. The juicer is used to take everything that is needed
from the oranges and then throws whatever is not used away. When the juicing occurs, it
represents how the upper classes can take what they need from society, and let the rest become
waste. Industry exploits resources that are provided by nature, in order to create a product that
allows people to live a lethargic lifestyle. Fitzgerald demonstrates how society has become
dependent on the commerce of manufactured products in order to satisfy their craving to obtain
an abundance of luxuries. He uses Gatsby to symbolize how society constantly feels the need to
buy new things that were created by industry. This aspiration to gain an excess amount of
materialistic wealth has the ability to cause devastation to the environment. In order to create
products, such as Gatsbys juicer, many natural resources are used while manufacturing. The
surplus of materials that are used to create products exhausts natural resources as these
commodities are not essential in an individuals life.
Fitzgerald also emphasizes this point through the symbol of cars. The manufacturing of
vehicles not only causes devastation to the environment by extracting resources, but cars also
cause pollution by emitting chemicals and pollutants into the air. Fitzgerald recognizes the
significance of industrialization to society, as he uses cars to portray a theme of death and
destruction within the novel. In the beginning of the book, a car crashes outside Gatsbys house
after the first party that Nick attended. Nick witness the bizarre incident, In the ditch beside the
road, right side up, but violently shorn of one wheel, rested a new coup which had left Gatsbys
drive not two minutes before (53). This car crash represents the carelessness and destruction
that cars, and the people driving them, can create. The people driving the car have become
careless, and not aware of the damage that follows their destruction. This carelessness is
reflected upon the damage of the environment as we see places such as the valley of ashes.
Fitzgerald presents the idea that the money and wealth produced by industry leads to society
being foolish and hasty. The idea of cars causing destruction also is demonstrated through the
death of Myrtle. Another example of the destruction cars cause is when Gatsbys car hits and
kills Myrtle. This is an example of the physical destruction cars can cause, her life violently
extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust. (137) Fitzgerald
utilizes this language to vividly illustrate the sheer carnage cars can make. He uses this quote to
show how the lying and greed of Myrtle will lead to her downfall. The impact of the car on
Myrtle represents the destruction human beings have on nature. He encourages the audience to
stop industrializing and become more aware leading to less deforestation and pollution. He
allows the audience to witness the idea of how the money spent on luxurious items leads to waste
and creates places such as the valley of ashes. Fitzgerald therefore mirrors the idea that industry
corrupts not only society, but the environment immensely as well. Fitzgerald notices these points
and uses various symbols to illustrate their impact. For example, in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
uses cars to depict death as Myrtle is violently killed by Gatsbys car. Although, there are few
that are truly making an effort to resolve this issue. Defeating the desire for material wealth of
the different companies and industries is almost an impossible goal to overcome.
Fitzgerald describes the 1920s as an industrial era. He emphasizes the importance of
industrialization by depicting societys dependency on the production of materialistic goods. He
shows how Myrtles personality changes into impressive hauteur (30) when she puts on an
elaborate dress, signifying how peoples reaction to wealth makes them change their persona and
feel good about themselves. The idea that people change personality when dealing with money is
confirmed when the author describes how with the influence of the dress her personality had
also undergone a change (30). Myrtle feels powerful dressed in wealth, which is a feeling she
cannot achieve when she is with Wilson, and therefore longs for more possessions to feel
powerful. This represents society and reflects on how people today still look for the feeling that
wealth brings. This feeling is represented in the idea of materialism. Materialism causes people
to consume products they dont need just for the sake of having them or simply to show off their
money. The need that people have to display their wealth affects the environment because it
produces an excess of industrialization and exploits the Earths resources so that people are
satisfied. The society from Fitzgeralds age that began to instill the high materialistic mentality
modern society currently has attached too much importance to their own necessities, and the
planets own needs were not taken into consideration. Nearly a hundred years later, society still
continues to grow industrially, yet the consequences are much bigger than in those portrayed in
the novel. The author discusses the effects of industrialization, both environmentally and
socially. However, he does not present ways to improve these conditions and conserve the
environment. He describes New York and its lifestyle as distorted and grotesque (176). The
portrayal of the city as the center of industrialization illustrates how the growing materialistic
culture not only changes peoples ideology but also generates significant changes to the
environment by creating waste lands such as the Valley of Ashes.
In the present, society continues to exploit natural resources, placing their own needs
before the planets. Big companies should provide ways to reduce their carbon footprint and
release of pollution and conserve the environment. Conservationists are developing new
solutions to a vast array of ecological problems that have now turned critical, but they cannot do
it alone. Even though there are companies that do provide solutions to reduce their pollution
output, very little can be accomplished without the help of the big corporations that look out for
their own economic interests. Looking at our world today through an ecocritical lens allows us to
recognize the many flaws in society. It gives us the opportunity to observe the atrocious pollution
and global warming that is present. Global warming is a result of the greed and narcissism of big
corporations and factories. The same aspects of greed seen in the 1920s are still visible today,
meaning that we may not have the same privileges in the future as we do now in America, such
as clean water, good living conditions, and sufficient food. Subsequently, it is now the duty of
America to cut back on industry and evolve into a more environmentally aware country.