Finding Gatsby's Pocket of Society

Before I started reading The Great Gatsby, I thought that "gatsby" referred to an era or a feeling. I thought a "gatsby" was this fancy party or gala, or even an era of parties. I didn't know that in the book, Gatsby is actually a person and a character. But I wasn't far off, because the book still does include lots of parties; and that is how the 1920s era - when the book takes place - is partially defined. Parties, drinking, women, and wealth all define either the book, the 1920s, or both. So I got to wondering how or why I would've thought that "Gatsby" refers to an era or a feeling, and then I realized it's because "Gatsby" is Fitzgerald's and The Great Gatsby's legacy. The book is so well-known, that the word "gatsby" has been adapted into mainstream society and accepted a new definition - one that makes it widely used and alluded to in everyday speech.

Every time I hear the word "gatsby", I immediately think of the most recent use of the word (in present day society's context for it) that I am familiar with; and that is Taylor Swift's song "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things", in which there is a lyric that goes "Feeling so gatsby for that whole year." In that context Taylor refers to "gatsby" as a feeling. So up until I actually read The Great Gatsby, I had only heard "gatsby" used in such contexts like Taylor's song lyric. Society today does in fact use "gatsby" to describe a feeling, or as an adjective to describe someone or something that is lavish or extravagant. In fact the Urban Dictionary (which sort of happens to be the dictionary of modern day speech) displays the following when you look up the definition of "Gatsby", and actually credits the book and Fitzgerald with being the origin of the concept.

I think this definition of "gatsby" really does describe Gatsby himself perfectly. After all, "there was something gorgeous about him..."(Fitzgerald 2). Fitzgerald even used the word extravagant in adverb form to describe Gatsby once, saying he was, "extravagantly ambitious" (Fitzgerald 100). Clearly Gatsby truly is extravagant and cool, so not only is he the epitome of this definition, but he created this definition!

This also got me thinking about how you know you're a successful author when society takes a concept, character, or word from your book, and alludes to it for decades/centuries and generations to come in everyday speech. Two other popular examples are Scrooge, courtesy of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and Romeo, courtesy of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

In just about every Christmas movie that is made today, one character calls the grouchy character that lacks Christmas spirit a "Scrooge" - and we all know what that means. You also always hear girls and women calling the super handsome guy they like, a "Romeo". "He's my Romeo" or "he's such a Romeo", are not uncommon phrases to hear uttered out of a smitten woman's mouth in 2019.

All that being said, I think it is safe to say that Fitzgerald, Dickens, and Shakespeare were all obviously geniuses in their own right, whose legacies are still living on today. They are somehow so good, that they are dead and still contributing to society!

Fitzgerald 

Dickens 

Shakespeare