Brianna Moulton-Packer

ENGL-2700
Professor Andrea Malouf
November 29, 2017

The Great Gatsby and Queer Theory: A Product of His Environment

F. Scott Fitzgeralds revered novel, The Great Gatsby, has been reviewed and read by

multiple people in multiple lenses of Critical Theory. This story has multiple critical elements to

be reviewed and discussed, since it does take place in New York in the 1920s in a time where

economic oppression and social taboos governed peoples lives relentlessly. The story follows a

character, the narrator, Nick Carraway, and his interactions with other people involved in the

storynamely his beautiful cousin, Daisy Buchannan, her hulking and insensitive husband,

Tom, his lower-class mistress Myrtle, Myrtles own estranged husband, George, and finally, but

most importantly, a gentleman named Jay Gatsby, who is obsessively in love with Nicks cousin,

Daisy. So, this story is almost all about the relationships and crucial events between nearly all

these characters in the book. All, seemingly, except for Nick Carraway himself, who throughout

the book, is ambiguous about his relationships with all of these people, and is even more

ambiguous about his sexual attractions.

There are multiple scenes in the book that suggest that this sexual uncertainty of Nicks

guides his thoughts and narration of the story, but it is also demonstrated with the words that he

uses to describe things and people as well. These scenes that can be observed through a lens of

Queer Theory, Sedgewick and Faucault included, and Nicks specific word choice that also

demonstrates the usage of Freudian symbolism, suggest that perhaps Nick Carraway holds inside

himself some sexual attractions for some of the characters in the book that are men, and that
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these attractions are suppressed by the patriarchal environment surrounding him. So, by

observation through a Queer Theory lens, Nicks sexual ambiguity is revealed throughout his

relationships with, and observations of, other characters, and that same ambiguity is caused by

his patriarchal and homophobic environment.

First, it is apparent in the novel that Nick is rather more observant of men than women it

would seem, which aims to suggest that perhaps Nick is unaware of how he feels, but keeps

narrating the story as he sees it unfold in front of him. Taking in Nicks first description of his

cousins husband, Tom, he says, He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a

sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two

shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of

always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could

hide the enormous power of that bodyhe seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained

the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under

his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leveragea cruel body. (Fitzgerald, 7). Nick

describes Toms body in great detail, focusing mainly on the power and muscle that Tom has, as

well as his mouth and eyes, revealing that Nick is looking rather intently at Toms figure and

face. According to the article, Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire,

Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick states, From the vantage point of our society, at any rate, it has

apparently been impossible to imagine a form of patriarchy that was not homophobic. (2,468.)

In the 1920s, the society was very much patriarchal, much like it is now, but with more intense

social repression of those within the LGBTQ community. However, in a scene of The Great

Gatsby, Tom invited Nick over to a house party in the city at an apartment that Tom uses solely

for his rather open affair with Myrtle Wilson, wherein theres smoking, drinking, and socializing.
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At this party, Tom breaks Myrtles noseexercising his male and social powers over her when

his wishes were disrespected. The fact that Tom has a mistress that he can abuse, and is quite

open about it, notes that he is a dominant figure in the relationships he has with both Daisy and

Myrtle. But all the while at this party, Nick seems to be uninterested in the women, and even less

interested in participating in the abusive patriarchal activities of the time, but instead gingerly

wipes off a smudge of shaving cream from another sleeping mans cheek. In the scholarly essay,

Jordan Baker, Gender Dissent, and Homosexual Passing in The Great Gatsby, it is stated

openly that, Because he is homosexual and not wealthy, Nick has no vested interest in the

maintenance and reproduction of patriarchal capitalism. (Froehlich.) This scene in combination

with the information found in the article demonstrates Nicks unconformity to this society, and

can further be interpreted as Nicks indifference to patriarchy, which is inherently homophobic.

While at the party that Tom invited him to, Nick encounters a man named Mr. McKee.

Nick describes Mr. McKee as feminine and Nick becomes very concerned about the dried

shave cream left mistakenly on his cheek. Even though the party continues, Mr. McKee decides

to leave early after having fallen asleep drunk, and Nick follows him into the elevator of the

apartment building. Mr. McKee then invites Nick to lunch, to which Nick agrees. However, the

revealing part of this scene is in fact the elevator boy who reprimands Mr. McKee for having his

hand on the elevator lever. In Freudian symbolism, this elevator lever would be considered a

phallic symbol that Mr. McKee was touching, so therefore, this scene reveals to the reader that

Mr. McKee is in fact, gay. But given that notion, Nick still agrees to lunch. In the next two

scenes, Nick is with Mr. McKee in McKees apartment, and Mr. McKee is in his underwear,

mumbling incomprehensible things. (Fitzgerald, 30-38). Nick does not dwell on this situation,

however, and the story goes on. The unclarity of Nicks brief encounter with Mr. McKee reveals
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that Nick both has a disinterest in inherently homophobic patriarchy as well as deliberately being

unclear about what this encounter entails. According to Michel Faucault, the author of The

History of Sexuality, the history of being open about the topic of sex, and sexuality, for that

matter, has been increasingly controlled by politics and government to influence society.

(Faucault, 1502-1521.) Therefore, in this case, the 1920s, the society in which Nick lives is

repressing his ability to be open with his feelings on patriarchy as well as McKees encoded

homosexuality, so there are details that are left out of these scenes to demonstrate and embody

his uncertainties.

Nicks relationship with his cousins friend, Jordan, is perhaps the most cluing of them all

to Nicks sexually ambiguous feelings. Jordan is described as a very masculine and proud

woman, in contrast to other women who are described quite nastily and unattractive, through the

eyes of Nick. After going on a drive with Jordan, Nick states that for a moment, he thought he

loved her. Then goes on to say, But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as

brakes on my desiresId been writing letters once a week and signing them: Love, Nick, and

all I could think about of was how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint mustache of

perspiration appeared on her upper lip. Nevertheless there was a vague understanding that had to

be tactically broken off before I was free. (Fitzgerald, 58-59). Nick states that he has interior

rules that he doesnt share as the narrator of this story, which demonstrates his unwillingness to

be truthful about how he romantically feels. However, when he does think of Jordan

romantically, he only thinks about the mustache of sweat she has while playing tennis. This

hints at Nicks attraction to Jordan concerning something more masculine rather than feminine

about her. The sentence afterword, therefore, points at an understanding of their relationship, but

before Nick could be free or in this case, free to be honest, at least to himself, about his
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feelings, he would have to define their relationship as perhaps merely friendship and nothing

more. He then admits that he is honest, at least, to himself, about these feelings he is having,

Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of

the few honest people I know. (Fitzgerald, 59).

In the case of Nicks relationship with Jay Gatsby, the hero of Nicks story, they

officially meet in chapter three, where Nick describes him, He smiled understandinglyIt was

one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four

or five times in lifeconcentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It

understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as much as you

would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that,

at your best, you hoped to convey. (Fitzgerald, 48.) In this description of Jay Gatsby, Nick

focuses very hard on his smile and, shockingly, how it makes him feel. Understood, assured,

believed in, and in many ways, just simply good. For the first time it seems since the beginning

of the book, Nick reveals his initial feelings towards Gatsbyparticularly, his smile. This sparks

Nicks interest in Gatsby and begins their friendship. Though claiming to disapprove of him

from beginning to end, Nick complimented Gatsby in lieu of all the poor treatment hed

received from those of the high society, namely Daisy and Tom. He says, Theyre a rotten

crowdYoure worth the whole damn bunch put together. (Fitzgerald, 154.) In this

comparison, Nick values his beautiful friend Gatsby above those who represent the patriarchal

society that they live in.

In conclusion, the 1920s was a time of patriarchy in the United States, when the story of

The Great Gatsby takes place. The narrator, Nick Carraway, is a very vague speaker of the story,

as he is describing events of the lives of those around him rather than describing the events in his
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own life. This vague narration includes Nick omitting his opinions on the subject matters as well

as his feelings about certain things and people. He does, however exhibit some homosexual

tendencies in his descriptions of and interactions with other characters such as Tom Buchannan,

Mr. McKee, Jordan Baker, and Jay Gatsby himself. But because the society around him, a

patriarchy, is inherently homophobic, Nicks sexually ambiguous feelings reacting to this

environment are withheld from the text and are left to the reader to decode and analyze.

However, these sexually ambiguous clues are revealed to the reader by his relationships with and

descriptions of a number of characters because they cannot be explained openly by the narrator.
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Works Cited:

Faucault, Michel. History of Sexuality, Volume 1, An Introduction: Part Two: The Repressive
Hypothesis." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed., W. W. Norton &
Co., 2010, p.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925, pp. 7-154.
Froehlich, Maggie Gordon. "Jordan Baker, Gender Dissent, and Homosexual Passing in The
Great Gatsby." Children's Literature Review, edited by Jelena Krstovic, vol. 176, Gale,
2013. Literature Resource Center,
go.galegroup.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=slcc&v=2.1&it=r&id=
GALE%7CH1420110010&asid=b516aa027a26da2a156ec08998409b80. Accessed 30
Nov. 2017. Originally published in Space Between, vol. 6, no. 1, 2010, pp. 81-103.
Sedgewick, Eve Kosofsky. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire.
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed., W. W. Norton & Co., 2010, p.