We Need to Talk About Nick : Sexual Divergence, Characterization and the Hardcover Closet in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Abstract: Criticism of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby (1925) is often focused around its already evident focal points, such as its critique of capitalism, excess and greed. Therefore, this essay focuses on and discusses instances in The Great Gatsby of sexual divergence and homoeroticism. It is written with the purpose of giving the novel an alternative reading and perspective, coupled with expressing the need to look beyond a surface-level analysis of the novel. This is primarily accomplished by analyzing and highlighting the novel's narrator and central character, Nick Carraway. While this kind of reading is not as common as other readings of The Great Gatsby, it is however not original. By using other queer readings and criticisms I have found that Nick Carraway’s repressed and hidden sexual ambiguity is exposed in, as well as informed by, his homosocial interactions, his move to New York and his relationships throughout the novel, especially his relationship to Jay Gatsby. What this essay does, that many other queer readings neglect, is expressing the need to not label the characters with binary forms of sexuality, even though such forms are implied. This essay also highlights how Fitzgerald’s language sometimes suggests sexual divergence and discusses the importance of exploring these instances.