Connecting "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" to "The Great Gatsby" Queer Lens

It is brought up in the queer lens literary criticism of The Great Gatsby, that the sexual ambiguity of the novel and homosexual aspects of some characters are caused by Fitzgerald's interest in homosexuality. The point is raised that Nick Carraway is gay, which leads to the emphasis on many other characters' homosexual qualities, through the eyes of Nick. This literary criticism suggests that Fitzgerald makes Nick gay, or seem to be gay, to reflect himself and his own homosexual identity, similar to how Nick describes other characters to have homosexual qualities, to reflect himself. Although it is still uncertain whether Fitzgerald was gay or not, he demonstrates a clear interest in homosexuality throughout his literary work. In his short story, "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz", he does not necessarily portray any of the characters as gay, but there are a few quotes that contribute to the queer lens perspective.

This story is told by a third person omniscient narrator, whose identity we are unsure of. Therefore, we know that Fitzgerald is not trying to portray any of the characters as gay; however, there are some remarks that may suggest that Fitzgerald was gay, or at least had an interest in homosexuality. The first example is when he describes Percy as "a quiet, handsome boy,"(Fitzgerald 2). Another quote is also about Percy, he is described as "gorgeous in white kid knickerbockers, smoking in an easy chair," (Fitzgerald 7). These quotes most likely reflect Fitzgerald's view on these characters and how he wanted to portray them. Although these quotes are brief and almost insignificant to the plot and understanding of this short story, they provide support to the literary criticism of The Great Gatsby and one of the claims made by the author.

Beautiful and Relatable Quote in "The Great Gatsby"

Out of the many beautiful and deep quotes and passages in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the following is one of the most meaningful; not only to the novel, but to many other situations.

"As I went over to say goodbye I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby's face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness. Almost five years! There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams- not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart," (Fitzgerald 101).

Daisy and Gatsby had not seen each other in almost five years, but for all that time Gatsby could not take his mind off of Daisy. As time goes on while Gatsby is apart from Daisy, he dreams and fantasizes about the relationship that they had and what they could have had if he did not leave for war. His fantasies about Daisy were so amazing, that no reality could ever live up to them, no matter how amazing that reality really was. The dash in the third sentence represents the continuity of Gatsby's dreams and illusions about Daisy and how she has been constantly on his mind for the past five years. The "faint doubt" that occurs to Gatsby is because his reunion with Daisy was not as amazing as how he had imagined it to be. Many people can relate to Gatsby's situation in this passage, usually in a much less extreme way. We spend days, weeks, months, or in Gatsby's case years planning out scenarios and anticipating future events; typically, the actual event is never as good as how we imagined. The final sentence of this paragraph brings Gatsby's situation into more of a generalization. Fitzgerald is saying that nothing will ever be better than Gatsby's memories with Daisy and the fantasies he has had about her. This is why Gatsby will go to such extremes to get her, even though she is married to Tom. All he wants for Daisy to do is say that she has never loved Tom, because that is how it was five years ago when Daisy and Gatsby were in love. Even if Daisy says that she loves Gatsby, that is not enough for Gatsby because his memories and dreams of Daisy have nothing to do with Tom.