Month: October 2023

In my previous post, I discussed the idea of the Great Gatsby being set in the location of New Orleans, Louisiana. I recently read a Q/A on Sparknotes that answered the question of why Tom was always brining up race in the novel. I had known before that he was racist towards anyone that was not white, which was something that was not uncommon for the time. I began to think about how I wanted the novel to be set in New Orleans and how that maybe would not work, as opposed to how I stated it could work.

Louisiana is a Creole state where a mix of many minorities reside and is a huge melting pot of culture, mainly in places like NOLA. I do not think that Tom would want to live in such a culturally dense and rich city in such a time like the Jazz age, where many African Americans were gaining public fame. In the first chapter, his perception of competition between other races that are seemingly “infringing” on his influence and power. He discusses that, “Civilization’s going to pieces” which is just him outwardly displaying his insecurity of losing wealth to minority groups.

Though there are different people that live everywhere, and especially so now, the wealthiest parts of Long Island were not as diverse and clustered as New Orleans was during the twenties. Tom was someone who liked to reap the benefits of others and take advantage without giving that person a second thought or credit. His treatment of Myrtle and Daisy are perfect examples of this, and Nick states at the end of the novel that the Buchanans are, “careless people.” The vibrant culture of African Americans through hair, clothing, music, and dance would completely engulf someone like Tom to the point where he would not be able to stand living there.

The influx of African Americans returning to New Orleans postwar flourished in the twentieth century, where nearly a quarter of their population was black. In 2021, 60% of the NOLA population was made up of African Americans alone.

A little over a hundred years ago, the 18th amendment of the Constitution was added that prohibited the, “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” (Library of Congress). It was not repealed until 1933 with the 21st amendment that then again allowed alcohol to be sold and distributed.

During the era of The Great Gatsby, the Prohibition Era was in full swing, but was clearly not working in major cities through bootleggers, moonshine, and speakeasies. The Great Gatsby without alcohol would be hard to create, and without it, there would be no novel. If anything, there would be no novel if the characters followed the law.

Image from inside a speakeasy during the prohibition.

For starters, Gatsby himself would be nothing without liquor in the novel. It was the way he made his money, and it even if he did have another means of making his money, the cocktails is what drew people to his parties and nightlife. Gatsby would be forced to arguably work harder than he did in the novel, going to a typical 9-5 job and working his way up in postwar society. He would have a more difficult time trying to appeal to Daisy through the way that she likes to be “fun and carefree” but is secretly destructive.

Tom would undoubtedly be better off with following the 18th amendment. He was an aggressive and strong man around people, which is never a good mix with alcohol that we saw clearly in the novel. While out with his mistress, it is safe to assume he was heavily intoxicated when he hits Myrtle right in the face and breaks her nose. Though it is not how he makes his money like Gatsby, he would still be heavily affected by not drinking alcohol. His influence would likely go down in its appeal to lower class women, who probably had less access to quality alcohol, or alcohol at all. Since there was no connection outside of physical between Tom and his other women, it is assumed that all they would do was engage in sex and drink copious amounts without a care. This all comes from what we see in Nick’s interpretation of the apartment in NYC one evening, but I believe it for the most part (even though he was intoxicated too).

Last year, I took a psychology class and it was undoubtedly one of my favorite classes I took in all of high school. Something that I am especially interested in is the psychology behind serial killers and those who do some of the ugliest things to others. Tom, is one of those people I am particularly interested in trying to dig up more about. Though he is undeniably a bad person, I think that there is a deeper complexity to him—a battle of nature versus nurture.

“The dispute over the relative contributions of hereditary and constitutional factors (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) to the development of an individual.”

American Psychological Association (APA)

Above is what the APA defines as the nature-nurture theory in psychology. Many psychologists agree that there is no set one in an individual, and it is typically a mix of both of these ideologies in many people.

As for Tom, I would like to think that there had been a deep rooted history of feeling inferior that likely stemmed from his parents when he was young. Being born into a wealthy family [it is typically shown] that you are often left with others to take care of you, and many things may take precedence over you (eg. special dinners, vacations, and events. Though we do not know this for sure, we can assume it through him not being a family oriented man with his wife, and especially child. He often seems to regress emotionally when situations do not go his way, like a child. Regression is the act of revering to a lower cognitive and emotional state of functioning (immature behaviors). In Sigmund’s psychosexual theory, this commonly means that individuals were not able to fully express/develop themselves in childhood for a variant of reasons, usually various trauma. Freud, did have some out there ideas, but I largely agree and am intrigued with the way that Tom seems to show some of his theories. For Tom, his coping mechanism of regression causes him hit, yell, and throw a tantrum like a child. These behaviors are not normal in adults, and especially ones of that high of a status, the sophisticated people.

Secondly, the most obvious aspect of Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory is Toms obsession with women, power, and sex. He outlined the id, ego, and superego. Tom is someone who seems to exclusively be ruled by the id, which controls the animalistic side of us—immediate pleasure. Though it is mainly sexual, it is immediate pleasure of eating, drinking, or emotional. The ego is what controls our id’s inappropriate thoughts, like wanting to leave work early to get a donut, or wanting to leave a class early because you do not want to be there anymore. For Mr. Buchanan, he seems entirely ruled by his need for instant gratification through the id that is on his shoulders.

Although Fitzgerald was the man who coined the term of the Jazz Age, it shines through the novel of Gatsby and its ideals. The novel, takes place in upstate New York in the 1920’s and I think, it should be in New Orleans.

With Daisy being from Louisville, I see her as a sweet southern belle—and not an upstate New York girl. If the novel was set in New Orleans, I believe that the storyline would be more enjoyable when it comes to the characters and their personalities. For example, the sports Tom enjoyed, polo and horses, are popular not only in New York, but in Louisiana as well.

New Orleans was, and still is, a buzzing city with great nightlife and was huge during the prohibition era. It was also one of the nations biggest alcohol distributors. This, would work in Gatsby and Wolfshiem’s favor, as well as Tom’s, who was a major drinker throughout the book.

below is the link to a house in the Garden District that seems like a house the Buchanans would live in (built in 2005).

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1415-3rd-St-New-Orleans-LA-70130/84469779_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

The rich culture and wealth to New Orleans was also super attractive during the early twentieth century. It also contained new and old money that the eggs had in New York. The generational wealth areas, like the Garden District, were lined with beautiful French mansions that I could see the Buchanans living in.

Furthermore, the class divides would not only entice someone like Myrtle to want to spend a day in the city serenaded by Jazz music in an expensive dress, but there was a sense of exclusivity that New Orleans jazz represented. This was an era where we see the emergence of popular black musicians, who were hired to give performances for wealthy white Americans. To put it blankly, many of these musicians were ripped off by white Americans, and I think that the story taking place in NOLA would add to the idea of the wealthy exploiting those under them.