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Brynn Gorney

Mrs. Storer

English 3H, block 4

February 24th, 2020

Prompt: Archetypal Christ-Figure – Could Gatsby be considered a Christ-figure? Why or why

not? In your essay, be sure to define what a Christ-figure in literature is in your introductory

paragraph. Then, use that definition to explain whether Gatsby fits (or does not fit) the criteria in

your body paragraphs. Either way, in your conclusion, make sure that you explain what his

Christ-figure or lack-of-Christ-figure qualities means for our understanding of the great

J.C./what it means to be a good person (either all time periods or specifically for Fitzgerald’s).

Can You Really Call Him Christ?

Despite being made in his image, human beings often live a life that is far from Christ-

like. In fact, some authors (such as Scott F. Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby) use

characters who have very many or few qualities that resemble the Lord to parallel both figures’

lives and make a statement about morality. In The Great Gatsby, despite the fact that Gatsby was

thrown into some situations that mirror the life of Christ, Gatsby could not be considered a

Christ-figure because of the immorality of his thoughts and actions, seen through narrations

given by two of his closest friends and his death.

Throughout the novel, Gatsby ended up in situations that looked very similar to the life of

Christ. For example, while Nick and Gatsby were standing out in a garden and Gatsby invites

Nick to spend time together, “[Nick] looked at [his] watch and stood up. “Twelve minutes to my
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train”” (151). To make matters worse, Nick was leaving him alone in this garden shortly before

he would die. This parallels with the life of Jesus, as he spent time alone in a garden right before

he was taken away to be killed. The fact that both of them were abandoned in a garden and spent

their last night alive by themselves shows that Gatsby experienced similar situations as Christ

did. Previous to this event , when Nick finds Gatsby after an automobile accident, Nick asks,

“Was Daisy driving?”, and Gatsby replies, “Yes… but of course I’ll say that I was” (143).

Despite him having no role in Daisy’s mistake, Gatsby offers to take the blame for her actions,

which will ultimately lead to his ow death. At this time, he didn’t know how severe the

consequences for the murder would be, but he took responsibility for Daisy’s faults,

unknowingly signing himself up to get killed by Wilson and saving her life. Similar to this, the

Catholic faith teaches that Jesus chose to die on the cross for the sins of humanity so that they

could be saved, but it meant he suffered and was killed. The only major difference in this small

similarity is the consciousness of their consequence. However, these small crossovers seem to be

the only thing that supports Gatsby’s likeness to Christ.

Nick plays a large role in exposing Gatsby’s more selfish thoughts and intentions. During

the middle of one night that Nick overhears “mistresses… twinkl[ing] hilariously on his lawn.

“He’s a bootlegger…” (61). Despite this being the first time Nick is hearing this, he will

eventually hear the same story over and over again until Gatsby confirms it with his business

deal and panic at a hotel on afternoon with Tom. This detail of how Gatsby got his money,

compared with Jesus’ teachings and actions, proves he is not Christ-like and is a generally

immoral person because he was selling alcohol to get himself wealthy. Christ always taught to

love others as one loves themself, but selling people alcohol illegally is not loving the people

who are abusing the substance, as is seen in the book by the cacophony of drunken incidents. B
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illegally selling alcohol, Gatsby is also not loving the authority who put that rule into place for

everyone’s good. The only reason he was a bootlegger was so he could get money to waste on

flashy things to get Daisy’s attention, making the intention behind it selfish. The gross reality of

the situation is that there was nothing moral about his actions and none of it was compatible

with the teaching of Christ, making him far from a moral Christ figure. Another time, when Nick

is describing how Gatsby felt about Daisy, he narrates the following: “It excited him, too, that

many men had already loved Daisy – it increased her value in his eyes” (149). In other words,

Gatsby was very focused on her “value” and whether he was the one winning the golden girl of

West Egg during his life. Nothing about putting a value with someone is even slightly moral or

Christ-like. Jesus taught us to see everyone as a brother or sister, and the Magisterium teaches

that every life has worth. Treating a life like as an object does not show that life has worth. Thus,

Gatsby’s outlook on human life is not at all like-minded to Christ, especially when it comes to

Daisy. Better yet, Nick was not the only close friend of Gatsby’s who noticed Gatsby’s

immorality.

Jordan was another one of Gatsby’s friends who never consciously thought about

Gatsby’s morality but always knew details about how he was acting, through which one can

analyze the selfish intentions behind his actions. Early in the novel when Jordan is retelling how

Daisy and Gatsby met, Jordan says, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be across the

bay… I think he half-expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night…” (78-79).

Through thinking out loud in this way, Jordan reveals that Gatsby’s decision to buy a house in

West Egg and throw parties nightly was made in hopes of attracting his ex-girlfriend and

rekindling their dead romance. Additionally, the parties were a double win because of his

increased popularity within West Egg. Thinking logically, with Daisy being a golden girl, she
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was sure to have gotten married in the time that they were apart, which would have made trying

to get back together with her wrong. Jesus never used material items to pull followers into his

cause. He was a man who preferred honesty and simplicity and accepted of those who weren’t

interested in a relationship with God. Unlike this, Gatsby made constant attempts to literally win

the golden girl back, knowing where she was at in her own family life. This lack of acceptance

and need for glamor completely contrast with the style Jesus Christ used to draw people in. He

could have taken a more direct approach in finding her and held back on his fantasies about their

inevitable destiny together. After Jordan and Nick finish their conversation about Gatsby and

Daisy, they overhear the following song playing aloud:

“Your love belongs to me.

At night when you’re asleep

Into your tent I’ll creep-” (78).

Whether or not the song was really being sung by children and not just resounding in their heads

is up for debate, but the song personifies a very selfish mindset for how being in love works and

what it “excuses”. This is exactly how Gatsby thought; Daisy’s love was a possession that

belonged to him, and no other things could nullify that, not even marriage and a child. Jesus

taught that people should not covet each other’s wives and husbands, but that sort of thing didn’t

matter to Gatsby. In his mind, this also meant he could do more intimate things with her behind

closed doors, as the song begins to imply, and treat her once given affection as a pass to own her

and her body. This is a highly immoral way of living, making him far from a Christ figure.

Gatsby needed a large reality check on the what his situation really looked like and on his

moral conscience. Gatsby was clearly not a Christ figure based on what his friends revealed
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about how selfish he was, especially with Daisy, and how often his actions contradicted the

teachings of Christ, but he did reflect the life of Christ in mere coincidental circumstances only.

On a larger scale, Gatsby’s barely Christ-like character brings light to a greater message about

the time period: Society during the 1920s no longer saw the need for morals, which is a concept

that seems to be very relevant today. We might be well-served to make note of how living

without God and morals treats a society.

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Works Cited:

West, Clare, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. Oxford University Press, 2013.