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!