Month: March 2025

If The Great Gatsby characters were sharks, what sharks would they be? 

These sharks are determined by a couple of things:

 1) Ecology – the shark’s/ character’s outward impact on the environment/ other people

 2) Behavior- common actions done by characters/sharks

 3) Personality- Personality of person/sharks (yes, sharks have personalities!)

Tom: Oceanic Whitetip Shark (Carcharhinus longimanus)

The Oceanic Whitetip shark is a primarily solitary predator. They move very slowly and live in relatively deep open oceans. Although they are solitary, they have been seen following other predators and sharks in the sea and fighting to take their food. There are a couple of species that tend to follow these sharks like Remoras and the Mahi Mahi fish. The Oceanic Whitetip also tends to enter a ‘freezing frenzy’ state. This is where the shark is so overwhelmed by the amount of prey they have that they will uncontrollably thrash and attack anything around them including other sharks. 

I think Tom matches this shark very well. He takes advantage of most people he meets and makes it worse for everyone. He has a reputation by the public even if he is not really a good person. He blatantly cheats on Daisy with Myrtle and still has to go and criticize Daisy for being with Gatsby. 

BONUS SHARK FACT:

 Longimanus means ‘long hands’ in Latin!

Daisy: Thresher Shark (Alopias pelagicus)

Thresher sharks commonly live in shallow waters across most of the world. These sharks have extremely long caudal fins that they use to whack small fish to stun and eat them. They are usually solitary, but will sometimes form groups of two to three other sharks to hunt with. They also tend to fully jump out of the water. This is known as breaching, and it is not known why they do this. 

I think Daisy really represents this shark based on the species’  interpretation. These sharks are beautiful and mostly calm but could really do some damage if they wanted to. Their behaviors are not really understood and seem confusing compared to other sharks, but that is just what makes them more interesting.

BONUS SHARK FACT:

Thresher sharks can jump up to 10ft while breaching!

Gatsby: Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas)

 The biggest impact caused by Bull sharks is their reputation that changed the societal viewing of sharks. Bull sharks caused the fear that people feel of sharks today. Movies like Jaws were based on the original stories of Bull shark attacks. Despite this reputation, Bull sharks are actually incredibly unique creatures. One of their unique abilities is the ability to live and thrive in entirely freshwater. They do this by regulating the Sodium in their own digestive track and systems to conserve and make salt. Using this ability, they travel up freshwater rivers and streams to spawn. They go incredibly far, and have been found as inland as Iowa! Oklahoma has also seen these sharks near the Red River and Lake Texoma. They are durable and determined creatures.

Gatsby also has quite a bit of a terrible reputation. Most of it is based on nothing, but rumors still spread. However, Gatsby stays strong and keeps going everytime he fails until he achieves what he wants.

BONUS SHARK FACT:

Bull sharks throw up their stomachs when threatened to escape predators!

Nick: Remora fish (Remora remora)

Ok this one was cheating, but their relationship with sharks really describes what Nick is to them. Remoras are small fish that stick to the side of sharks, turtles, and dolphins to hitch a ride and get free food. They have a powerful suction cup formation on their face that creates a vacuum. Since Remoras need to constantly move to breathe, they can stick themselves to their host and just relax. They are able to eat the scraps of their host’s meals and detach themselves whenever they feel threatened. The sharks and other animals don’t mind the Remoras being there and sometimes benefit by Remoras eating any skin parasites on their hosts. 

I thought Nick was a Remora based on how useless he really is in the book. He just kind of follows the other characters around. When things get messy for them, Nick just watches and then leaves to go back home. He provides some emotional support for some characters but other than that he has no real purpose. 

BONUS SHARK FACT:

Remoras can stay attached to their hosts for up to three months!

Should I make a part two?

Self Made Boys is a reimagining of TGG with a modern day view. It makes the original classic novel more relatable to new audiences. However, is slightly changing a classic story into your own work really ethical?

Transforming a classical story to attune to a newer audience has never been new. Tons of the stories we enjoy are just revamped versions of previous texts. For example, even the classic Lion King movies are retelling of the Shakespeare stories of Hamlet and Romeo And Juliet. It never says anywhere that that is where they got the story from, but people also accept it as a unique story. So does changing the characters make it an original work? Is this still considered plagiarism? How long does a story need to be around before it’s considered fair to take the plot of? 

I think that the ethics depends on the context. For Self Made Boys, it’s easy to tell the difference from the new plot added, and the original story of the novel. It builds off of the original to make the characters and plot more interesting. On the contrary, this story still uses major parts of the storyline that were not written by this author. I think that this is ethical because of the popularity of the original novel. TGG is known by most people and the author does make it different enough to be unique. However, if TGG was not as big as it is, or came out relatively recently it would not feel as moral. SMB is still a retelling, but it’s one that enhances the original story of TGG for modern audiences.

Disclaimer: Is this weird? Most likely! Is this cringe? Absolutely! Will these facts discourage me from making my silly little characters? No! If you don’t like this kind of stuff then you don’t have to read it. This is how I’m interpreting TGG in a modern day kind of sense. All of this is for good fun. That being said:

What if Gatsby had a fursona?

Alright, so first we have to walk through the parts of making a fursona. The main parts being: Species, colors, personality, and if applicable, accessories! 

Species: Cat

There’s a couple of reasons why I think Gatsby would be a cat. For one, post WW1 is the first time that cats were considered household pets, and their popularity was growing rapidly. Second, an estimated number of 500,000 cats were deployed in WW1 to eat rats/ detect gasses. This made cats a symbol of resilience throughout the war. Also during this time, cats were used as a symbol in women’s suffrage movements around the world.

This one specifically was from the british suffrage movement in 1908:

Cat symbolism was used in a lot of different ways, but it is primarily in a positive light. In a modern day perspective, cats were also used as villains and criminals (ex: Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp, Tom/ cat friends from Tom and Jerry, Lucifer in Cinderella, etc.). These combined symbols of resilience, progressiveness, and illegal activities create the Gatsby we know. 

Colors: Yellow, Blue, White and Different Shades of Green.

Green is the most obvious color here. The green light, the “green breast of the new world” are huge symbols in the novel. Both yellow and blue are mentioned almost as many times as the color green and add up to make the color green as well. With all these bright colors, we need a base color that can even it all out. This is why I’m adding white to the combination too. 

Accessories: Bowties!

Bowties are a simple and clear way to show animals who are ‘distinguished’ or ‘higher class’. This is why I think Catsby would have his own green bowtie to wear. 

Alright, so what would these combined traits look like? Well I think something like this:

(Don’t mind my terrible drawing, but this was a free base from the artist whose tag is on the bottom) 

I made Catsby an alternative color Tabby because it was a very common stray breed of the time. The brighter green represents the bright light of the green light, and the darker floral color green represents the new world.

Stay tuned for part two… there might be a surprise coming!