The Aspiring Outsiders in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

The Aspiring Outsiders in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is ont off the most "institutionalized" literary texts in the U.S. It appears frequently-from middle/high school English classes and Freshmen English courses (mandatory to all majors) to undergraduate and graduate courses in the English departments. It is also a text that moves across disciplines; it is taught not only in literature, but in history and sociology departments, and in American studies/American civilization and other interdisciplinary contexts. Its wide-ranging popularity in part comes from its workability or its usefulness. Fitzgerald's novel, and his protagonist Jay Gatsby in particular, has achieved the status of the eponym of the American Dream. Fitzgerald's novel is a "classic" in so far as almost every adult in the u.s. knows what it is about (even if they may not have actually read the novel). It is a classic also in that rather than readers developing their own interpretations by carefully attending to the text themselves, certain answer-key interpretations are conveniently made available to them. In other words, the protagonist of Fitzgerald's novel, Gatsby, is commended for his "Americanness"--i.e., his belief in the promises of life and his capacity for imagination and wonder. But Gatsby has grave faults: e.g., much of his economic success is a product of illicit connections and he is a cold blooded person who seems to have no consideration for the woman that Daisy Buchanan has ripped apart with her reckless driving. However, his flaws become insignificant in light of his unwavering faith in the American Dream of self-making and social mobility. As such, the critiques of American society that get played out in the novel, particularly the stark reaJlty of class differences. get obscured in most discussions of the novel--especially as the work is taught in secondary schools and in lower-division university-courses. In this paper. I consider the importance of reading The Great Gatsby in Korea. For most Korean readers, their experiences of the text are less predetermined by the discourses being reproduced in U.S. society. Without relying on certain validated and legitimized readings of the novel students in Korea can see more acutely what may be going on in Fitzgerald's work--for instance. the parallels that can be drawn between Gatsby and the two seemingly minor characters who too, like Gatsby. meet tragic ends. Much of this paper thus identifies the links between Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson-what not many scholars in the U.S. have touched on.