The Identity Crisis of the Modernist Era

of the world fought in WWI. When the reader is exposed to Gatsby’s life story and his search for a place in theworld in the sixth chapter of the novel, he or she is introduced to a serious identity crisis that is not onlyindividual, but also regional and national. Jay Gatsby is revealed to be going by a name that he was not born withand began his work life as a janitor then a yacht assistant, two jobs that rarely result in capitalist success. Hisparties in West Egg with East Eggers combine both “old money” and “new money” to expose a regional identitycrisis as Gatsby does not identify himself as a member of either Egg’s. As for the question of national identity, thefour locations act as microcosms of nations themselves. The Eggs and New York City are revealed to be beautifulon the outside, but moral disaster areas as one digs deeper. The novel on the whole critiques the state of allnational identity, including that of the United States. Most may have seemed successful at that time as they wererecovering from WWI, but deep down, they lacked significant moral values and social coherence.The idea of Americanism brought up in The American Journal of Sociology questions the notion thatAmericanism is the act of striving for higher moral values. In this article, America’s use of capital to get out ofsituations and as its main driving force to achieve its goals is an exact mirror to the description Nick gives of bothTom and Daisy. These two individuals are portrayed by Nick as finding comfort from their mistakes by escapinginto their money. Yet Nick’s rejection of Tom and Daisy shows the novel is critiquing pure materialism. As thenovel ends, Nick’s decision to move back to his home in the Midwest reveals a tentative moral identity forNick—although he denies it. This movement to the west also relates to the movement to the west side of thecountry during an earlier time when America was first looking westward to expand its horizons. Although theseparation of the individual identities of the characters results in a separation of the “national” identity of themicrocosms of their cities, not all hope is lost as Nick looks to the west. Perhaps this is a statement by Fitzgeraldthat even if America loses sight of its true identity and becomes corrupt, that there is still hope for the future andthe American dream.Works CitedEvans, Nicholas M. Writing Jazz: Race, Nationalism, and Modern Culture in the 1920s. New York: Garland,2000. Print.Feiler, Arthur. “Economic Nationalism.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 180.1(1935): 203-206. JSTOR. Web. 2 Dec. 2008.Lowrie, S. Gale. “Nationalism.” International Journal of Ethics 41.1 (1930): 35-49. JSTOR. Web. 2 Dec. 2008.Pierce, Bessie Louise. “The School and the Spirit of Nationalism.” Annals of the American Academy of Politicaland Social Science 175.1 (1934): 117-122. JSTOR. Web. 2 Dec. 2008.“What is Americanism?” The American Journal of Sociology 20.4 (1915): 433-486. JSTOR. Web. 2 Dec. 2008.“What is Americanism? Supplement.” The American Journal of Sociology 20.5 (1915): 613-628. JSTOR. Web. 2Dec. 2008.ELF 2009 (Vol. 1) 19