Speculation about The Great Gatsby

Some recent thinking of mine on Twitter…

Spending my Saturday morning thinking about The Great Gatsby and considering the possibility that Gatsby deserted from the Army while in France during World War I.

— Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) June 13, 2020

Was he reassigned to another unit at that point? Fitzgerald doesn't say. The point of the conversation is to make a pre-novel connection between Gatsby and Nick in units of the Third Division.

But that date!

— Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) June 13, 2020

That's obscure historical trivia today, but in the 1920s Fitzgerald's readers might have known it. Why is it important? Because Fitzgerald is telling us Gatsby left the Third Division a month before their first major action.

— Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) June 13, 2020

His enlistment could have just happened to be up at that point.

He could have been reassigned elsewhere in the Army.

He could have deserted.

— Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) June 13, 2020

Gatsby is a scammer who lives by his wits. He's also a bit of a coward, as his unwillingness to fight Tom demonstrates.

If the opportunity presented itself, why wouldn't he run?

— Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) June 13, 2020

Certainly, this literary exegesis of The Great Gatsby intrigues me more than green lights and symbolism.

— Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) June 13, 2020

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby enters the public domain at the beginning of 2021.

Header photo: “Gatsby,” by Larry Yeiser, licensed CC BY-ND 2.0