Month: November 2023

Granroth, Lucy Anderson, “”Could I annoy you for a drink?” : Social management and alcoholism in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Tender is the night” (2019). EWU Masters Thesis Collection. 554.

• (THESIS/BOOK)—KEY TERMS: alcoholism, power, authority, control
• affirms the idea that the characters such as Gatsby struggle with the effects of alcoholism in their life
• Motive for author is that alcohol is a social management in which it brings comfort into our life and IS a power authority
• Alcohol rules the life of Gatsby and is his tool to control and get Daisy
• “While a social drinker is a person who drinks in a social situation because those around him are imbibing, a social alcoholic will feel comfortable only in a social situation while intoxicated” (Granroth, 18)
• Nick is a social alcoholic—can use him as one of my characters to further the mental illness (anxiety, low self esteem, deflects that on to the others)

BYNUM, WILLIAM F. “CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 42, no. 2, 1968, pp. 160–85. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44450720. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.

• (JOURNAL ARTICLE)—KEY TERMS: alcoholism, disease, habitual, mental illness
• Details the findings of alcohol as turning into a mental illness (history of it)
• “Trotter defined drunkenness as a ‘disease; produced by a remote cause, and giving birth to actions and movements in the living body, that disorder the functions of health’” (Bynum, 168)
• furthers my point of alcoholism being a mental illness and getting treated like an illness
• Tie back symptoms and drivers of the characters to drink into this article
• Drinking was a habit and a craving (Nick beginning to drink throughout the book though he claimed to not drink before then ends up in a psychiatric evaluation in the movie at least, Gatsby becoming a bootlegger—alcohol is part of his life and work—it gives him a living, Tom and his whiskey while he is with his other women and typical acts of violence)

Project MUSE – Chronic Alcoholism and Alcohol Addiction. (n.d.). https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/monograph/chapter/3540039/pdf

• (BOOK)—KEY-TERMS: alcoholism, addiction, personality
• this chapter goes over different psychological tests conducted on alcohol abuse in both men and women, as well as tendencies in both of them
• “Sexual maladjustment seemed to be present in all of the subjects. Halpern especially noted the absence in the addicts of those mechanisms used by other maladjusted people to avoid complex and difficult situations. The addicts accepted impossible situations as a challenge and attempted to meet the challenge “head on.” They experienced a great deal of anxiety. Halpern believes that basically the addict desires to play a passive role, but that there may be an element of self-punishment in his continued exposures to frustrating situations. He seems to be constantly testing himself or trying to prove himself to himself and the rest of the world” (Henheffer, 26).
• The quote above applies to Tom in a huge way (affairs, aggression, emotional immaturity, being a “cruel body”, etc)
• It also applies to Gatsby because he can be seen as anxious and passive in his way of trying to gain Daisy, as well as “continued exposures to frustrating situations” which would relate to all the parties he has thrown and Daisy never showing up, and constant focus on repeating the past

Levine, H. G. (1978). The discovery of addiction. Changing conceptions of habitual drunkenness in America. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39(1), 143–174. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.1978.39.143

• (JOURNAL ARTICLE)—KEY TERMS: prohibition, alcoholism, addiction, drunkenness, effects of alcohol
• “Thus the Prohibition campaign of the early 20th century focused on other evil effects of alcohol: Liquor’s role in industrial and train accidents; its effects on business and worker efficiency; its cost to workers and their families; the power and wealth of the “liquor trust”; and especially the role of the saloon as a breeding place for crime, immorality, labor unrest and corrupt politics” (Levine, 1978)
• This quote can play a role on the way that many of the characters act in the move and the crime that was associated with alcohol once it became illegal
• (Gatsby and Wolfshiem being gangsters and Tom being an adulterer and abusive)
• Talks about the process reasons behind the temperance movement, prohibition, and effects on the atmosphere of American cities with alcohol

Wojnar, M. (2020). “The bottle of whiskey – a second one – was now in constant demand by all present” : Alcohol Consumption as Cultural Capital and Part of Habitus in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. DIVA. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1527719&dswid=-4640

• (THESIS) — KEYTERMS: prohibition, status, alcoholism, drunk, habitus
• “Daisy, a former non-drinker, lays intoxicated in bed and states; “Never had a drink before, but oh how I enjoy it” (92). Being sober gave Daisy “an absolute perfect reputation,” (93) but based on the class aspect she becomes a drinker when she marries Tom and starts to adapt his practices and values of the elite society” (Wojnar, 24)
• Perfect quote because it adds to Daisy growing into this society like Nick does from the beginning to end of the novel
• Shows how alcohol is a means of life for these people
• Addicting and begins to control them
• “Years later, when she finally finds her way to West Egg, Gatsby is sure to serve her “a glass of some Chartreuse he took from a cupboard in the wall” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 110) as an act of communication of his status and access to cultural goods. Daisy belongs to the society that Glickman declared to centre on mass consumption. It is not only alcohol itself, but also this particular rare brand that impresses her” (Wojnar, 2020).

Writing under the influence. (n.d.). Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mb3HAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=alcoholism+and+the+great+Gatsby&ots=tvKjcVJ2jI&sig=ddM1buN08O49WVur6pC7N2Albyw#v=onepage&q=alcoholism%20and%20the%20great%20Gatsby&f=false

• (BOOK) — KEYTERMS: under the influence, alcohol/ism, disease, relationships, guilt
• “Anyone who is crippled by the disease of alcoholism is not likely to have much sensitivity to the integrity of others. He consistently violates the most sacred boundaries of self-respect and decency; if he is dishonest with his friends, he is the worst of deceivers with his family; if he feels shame and overwhelming guilt, he projects that shame on his family with even greater force; and where he sees himself as worthless and shallow, he suspects those same qualities in those he pretends to love” (Djos, 69)
• This fits Tom perfectly (projection of the racism on book from upcoming races after drinking at dinner, dislike of Gatsby bc of his wealth, mean to his wife and cheats)
• “To the alcoholic, the most intimate of relationships are perceived as totally “other”; sex amounts to little more than a gymnastic exercise where a certain amount of detachment is perfectly acceptable; and longstanding concerns of a deeper texture are hatefully evaded” (Djos, 69).
• Tom successfully navigates his affairs throughout his relationship with Daisy and is not seeing it as bad, uses Myrtle, and definitely does use it as just a workout and to show himself

View of the role of Women in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. (n.d.). https://jh.ibsu.edu.ge/jms/index.php/SJH/article/view/282/297

• (JOURNAL) — KEYTERMS: women, roles, flappers, traditional woman, female characters
• “Myrtle’s foolishness is that she saw what she wanted to see, a man who was providing her lavish gifts because she thought he loved her. She thought Tom would leave Daisy for her sake. In reality Tom was using her, but blinded by her own foolishness she couldn’t see it” (Samkanashvili, 48)
• Her “foolishness” could be because her brain was altered by the presence of Toms top shelf liquors and lavish parties they threw in the city
• the money and booze makes Myrtle feel differently for Tom than she would if she was sober

Project MUSE – The Prohibition Hangover. (n.d.). https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/176/monograph/chapter/140171

• (BOOK) — KEYTERMS: Prohibition, alcohol, America, health, negative effects
• “Heavy consumption can increase the risk of hypertension, or high blood pressure. It heightens the risk of domestic violence, unsafe sex, and accidents caused by driving while under the influence” (Peck, 161)
• we see all of the things listed in the second sentence in The Great Gatsby with the Buchanans
• Tom has affairs with other women and violent when drunk, and Daisy kills Myrtle when drinking
• “We like the feeling of intoxication. It brings joy to every celebration—birthday parties, dinner parties, promotions at work (drinking after the work day, of course). It is a social lubricant and icebreaker, a tem- porary escape from the monotony of daily life. It releases anxiety—and helps us get through inescapably tragic family events like Christmas. Alcohol serves an important social role in the community: it helps bring people together. Humans do not just drink—we drink socially. My friend, bartender Derek Brown, remarks: “I don’t know of any other substance that helps people become friends.”4 Because alcohol helps give courage to shy people, you might say that it has a strong role in perpetuating our species” (Peck, 162)
• for Gatsby’s parties and counterargument P, he is willingly providing all of these things for people to drink and encouraging all the bad things by them being unlimited and plentiful cocktails

I will be writing about the topic of alcohol and mental illness throughout The Great Gatsby. This topic is present in all of the chapters through the drinking and ways that the characters would behave. I am extremely interested in the field of psychology and medicine so I decided to chose this as my number one topic. I am particularly interested in researching effects of alcoholism on the body and how those things relayed on to each of the characters who were drinking frequently, and get the answers behind many of their actions.

The only course reading that really led me to this topic was the book itself. From what I can remember, none of the secondary sources were in relation to this that I have read in class—possibly only briefly touched on it.

Some research that I have touched on is a thesis that talks about alcohol as an authority figure in the works of Fitzgerald and Gatsby in particular. This lead me to narrow down and possibly creat my thesis revolving around alcohol ruling the lives of characters in the novel. A couple questions I hope to answer include; did any of the characters exhibit the traits of alcoholism? How exactly did alcohol control the character’s lives? What was the social impact of alcohol during the time?Possible perspectives and assumptions surrounding the topic can include what an alcoholic looks/acts like. Many people tend to assume that alcoholics are “easy to spot” and often visibly struggling because it is something that is highlighted through the media. An argument surrounding this is the huge presence of functioning alcoholics and the disapproval of people having a mental illness in the public eye without being outcasted. Mental health outreach was little to nonexistent in the time period, and I think it went hand in hand with alcoholism and the behaviors of characters.

My research plan is the observe all of the things mentioned in the above paragraph through scholarly articles and books, as well as the novel itself. I plan on doing my PRELIMS as well as any work by the due date and also keep relevant information related to the topic within them.

I read an online page that cited evidence from different parts of the book on how Gatsby could possibly be African American. This is a really cool take on the book and brings up small details that I never thought about before but I am not sure if I am entirely convinced of it.

One of the most compelling pieces of evidence is the promise of “40 acres and a mule” after the Civil War from the Union to freed slaves. In the novel, Nick observes that Gatsby’s property was, “more than forty acres of field and garden” (Fitzgerald, 5). Like the article had stated, it is super interesting that Fitzgerald opted to describe it as more than specifically forty acres rather than any other number or estimate. Though it could be a coincidence, I think this was Fitzgeralds way of showing how Gatsby had WAY more than the average person and the average black person after the Civil War.

Another theme that keeps true with the novel is the failure of Gatsby at the end. It lives up to the failed dreams and hopes of the freed slaves after the war because they were often not given much land, let alone 40 acres at all. The idea that Tom was suspicious of Gatsby’s race can be argued through him bringing up interracial marriage and the allusion to the book about the rise of other races in power. Furthermore, Tom would not have liked Gatsby in the first place, but I think it is interesting that in a setting where there were no other races around Tom but white, he was on edge about how society is going downhill through the fortune other races are receiving.

The death of Gatsby could be tied to Tom wanting to take down the success of other races by whatever means is necessary, as him and Daisy are “careless people.”

Gatsby can demonstrate racist ideology of how African Americans are lesser than, as well as the gangster. He was seen as different because of the ways he gets his wealth, dresses, and acts. At the same time, he can also be seen as different because of his race, and the other characters like Tom can create as much as a power divide between them like the way he would between anyone else that is not his race.

Reading it from this perspective makes sense, and can be used to fill in a lot of the open-ended questions and interpretations of the book. I think that the Baz Luhrmann film would also be really cool to see if someone who was black played in the role of Gatsby, perhaps someone like Michael Ealy.