The Great Gatsby references so many topics that it’s easy to forget some of them were mentioned in the novel. There’s a large range of topics and themes, from dreams and ambition to classism to gangsters to romance and obsession to tragedy. One topic that is sometimes overlooked in The Great Gatsby is its brief tread into LGBTQ territory. Though this novel was written long ago, there are times The Great Gatsby seems to reference what in that time would be a taboo.
The first time this occurs, Nick skips a section of his story and resumes abruptly with Mr. McKee in his underwear and Nick beside his bed. While Fitzgerald chooses not to elaborate on this, there was a reason this scene was included. It would not make sense for Fitzgerald to tread on a taboo topic of the time if he did not intend to say anything by it. The other time the topic appears within the novel is more subtle and just before this scene. Catherine, Myrtle Wilson’s sister, is at the party and Nick questions whether she lives in the flat where Myrtle and Tom have their affair. She laughs and explains that she lives in a hotel with a girl friend. Though this is by no means a confirmation of her sexuality, it is a lesbian trope that they live with a girl friend who is secretly their partner as well. It could be dismissed as mere coincidence, but the following of the party with Nick’s adventure in the bedroom seems to provide evidence that this is not a wild guess.
Why did Fitzgerald choose to reference the LGBTQ community at all within the novel? There are no further mentions after the party at the flat, even in the wilder parties at Gatsby’s house. Could Fitzgerald be making a commentary on the changing gender and sexuality norms of the Roaring Twenties? Though wide acceptance of the LGBTQ community did not happen then, perhaps in smaller circles it was accepted more than the years prior. Fitzgerald’s deliberate inclusion of these scenes is a message of some sort. He clearly believed they were important to the novel and they deserved to be included.