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For my multimodal project I decided to make a Gatsby inspired vest. I enjoy sewing and so I wanted to sew something that could represent my argument. 

Materials: locally sourced and thrifted fabrics! + fancy buttons (and thread)

The outside fabric on the vest reminded me a lot of Gatsby and is very formal so I wanted to use that for the outside. The buttons have little anchors on them which represent Gatsby’s sailor arc in the book. 

On the inside, Each side represents a different part of Gatsby. On the right side, we have green fabric forming rays that represent the green light in the book. The green light is a very important thing in the book for Gatsby that represents his longing for Daisy. On the left side, each fabric represents a different thing. The blue eye themed fabric reminded me of nosey people like Gatsby’s guest that spread rumors about him. The green tile fabric above it reminded me of a mansion floor and it represents the luxury and wealth that Gatsby has gained near the end of his life. The one above it reminded me of a cocktail party kind of scheme. It represents Gatsby’s parties that he hosts to attract Daisy’s attention. The fabric above that is music notes because of the musicians he hires for his parties and house. There is also a flower themed fabric above that represents the scene where Daisy and Gatsby meet again.  

On the inside of the back of the vest, there is a big heart. The heart represents Gatsby’s main ambition: Love. The fabric itself has wheat on it because of how he had to do things like bootlegging to have the chance at getting his love again. 

On the outside the vest is very put together and clean, but on the inside there are a lot of loose edges and hanging threads. This was on purpose for my argument. I wanted to show Gatsby’s feelings of not being able to fit in with rich people with his new money. It shows how he looks very clean cut on the outside, but is still the same person on the inside. Even though he was able to meet so many people at his parties, none of them stayed. His relationships through wealth were shallow and so was the rich persona he put out to people. 

Bonus vest lore:

I usually don’t sew lining for any vests I make (because no one really sees them) but I actually was able to learn some new sewing techniques through this one. Basically the tactic is to sew two separate vests and sew them together, but it is not as easy as it looks. Also, to sew on the different fabric rays I kind of went the embroidery/ quilting approach of just sewing some straight stitches over the fabrics to keep it in place and then connecting the panels of the vest after that. Anyways, I had a good time and I hope other people enjoyed it too : )

Bruccoli, Matthew J. Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Open Road Media, 2022. Accessed 3 April 2025 Chpt. 24

This source is from a biography of F Scott Fitzgerald and talks about his life and feelings around different things. It goes in depth of the public perception of TGG in the time it came out. It will be very useful for talking about FSF’s thoughts and public perception in my essay. 

Dickstein, Morris. The Authority of Failure. file:///C:/Users/hanna/Downloads/Fitzgerald%20The%20Authority%20of%20Failure%20(1).pdf.

This source talks about FSF’s struggle with his identity and finances. It goes over how Fitzgerald didn’t think very highly of money and instead is very centered around Zelda in his earlier life. I could use this in my essay to show Fitzgerald’s version of the American Dream.

FRIEDRICH, OTTO. “F. Scott Fitzgerald: Money, Money, Money.” The American Scholar, vol. 29, no. 3, 1960, pp. 392–405. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41208658.Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.

This article talks about the financial and other issues FSF has encountered growing up as well as some more opinions on different issues. It also talks about his relationship to Zelda and how money played into it. I think that it would help with my analysis of Fitzgerald’s relationships and feelings around money. 

Greene, Philip. “Drinking While Writing: Ernest Hemingway & F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Daily Beast (New York), July 2020, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=e24199c3-e69b-3a2e-a6e6-40fd4ff92abf.

This source talks about FSF’s thoughts on alcoholism in his letters to other people. I can use this to show how FSF thought about himself being an alcoholic and his friend’s thoughts on it. I could use this with other sources to show my argument about FSF’s thoughts on alcohol in my essay. 

Irwin, Julie M. “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Little Drinking Problem.” American Scholar, vol. 56, no. 3, June 1987, p. 415. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=33176a3d-0526-356a-b710-cfb784ed0eb2.

This talks about FSF’s alcoholism and its impact on him and his writing. It shows the impact drinking had on him as well as his friend’s thoughts of his alcoholism. This could be used in my discussion of his alcoholism in my essay. 

Kruse, Horst. “The Real Jay Gatsby: Max von Gerlach, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the Compositional History of ‘The Great Gatsby.’” The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 1, 2002, pp. 45–83. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41583032. Accessed 10 May 2025.

This source talks about the life of Max Von Gerlach and his comparisons to Gatsby. It talks about the possible interactions that he and Fitzgerald could have had and any evidence. I could use this source as the backing of the counter argument.

Wilson, B. F. Notes on Personality, IV – F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Smart Set, 1924, file:///C:/Users/hanna/Downloads/Conversations%20with%20F.%20Scott%20Fitzgerald%20_Notes%20on%20Personalities_.pdf.

This source talks about Fitzgerald’s personality and small details about his life. This is helpful to show some of Fitzgerald’s system of thinking and personality. It talks about how much Fitzgerald got rejected by editors and such as well as how it made him feel. I can use this source to show some more small details about Fitzgerald to support my argument.

  Works Consulted

Mangum, Bryant, editor. F. Scott Fitzgerald in Context. Cambridge University Press, 2013. Accessed 3 April 2025.

This source talks about some of the societal changes that happened during the writing of different FSF’s novels and his morals on certain things. I did not cite this article directly, but I did read it and used it to contextualize Fitzgerald to myself. 

Wilson: Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna lewini)

The hammerhead shark is often not taken seriously because of their silly appearance. However, a long face gives them better eyesight and more space for ampullae of lorenzini. The ampullae of lorenzini are the little holes you see under a shark’s snout. They use that to electricity in the water. Through these they can feel their prey that they seek out. 

I think Wilson is this shark because of how much people underestimate him. They just see him as any other guy but he ends up committing murder later on. However, he works very hard and is better than what people expect him to be.

BONUS FACT:

The Bonnethead Hammerhead shark can reproduce asexually. 

Myrtle: Nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum)

Nurse sharks are very friendly and beautiful creatures. They are very sociable and friendly. They will often form groups of individuals and form and pile together on the ocean floor. They are also friendly to humans and divers as well. However, they are constantly threatened by humans because they are so friendly. People tend to farm these sharks. That’s why these happy slow moving creatures are vulnerable to being endangered. 

I think Myrtle is this shark because of how Tom takes advantage of her. He promised her a happier life with more riches. She believed in Tom and he was just taking advantage of her.

BONUS FACT:

American Alligators prey on these sharks!

A bit of a short post today so sorry about that 🙂

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!

In the book, Gatsby’s death brings an end to the story and a lasting legacy for his name for readers for decades. However, would the legacy have been as triumphant if Gatsby lived the ordeal?

I think that The Great Gatsby would not have been as long lasting in legacy if Gatsby had lived. His funeral serves as a lesson that true friends don’t come from money. It gives the tale a moral. Without this, the book wouldn’t be able to have as bold an ending. I think that it would dampen the societal implications that FSF was trying to push out there. The Great Gatsby would just be another book. It would be just another love/ drama book. Gatsby’s death is the only true ending the book could have to serve its purpose in storytelling. However, what would happen if Gatsby was not killed by Wilson?

I don’t think that Gatsby would ever succeed in any version of the story. Let’s say Wilson couldn’t kill Gatsby. Gatsby was always doomed to fail for the start. However, I think that if he wouldn’t have died, that he would have more of a falling out with Daisy. I think Daisy would still stay with Tom. At this time, the divorce rate was around 0.15% (US Marriage & Divorce Rate), and looked down upon heavily in society. This would not look good for the reputation that Tom and Daisy had. I think that Daisy would ultimately end up leaving Gatsby. This would leave Gatsby alone once again. This would work relatively well for the wrap up of the story and the implied morals, but it wouldn’t be as impactful of an ending. I think Gatsby needed to die to keep the legacy of the book.

US Marriage & Divorce Rate, https://robslink.com/SAS/democd80/us_divorce_and_marriage.htm. Accessed 23 February 2025.