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New York vs
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Scott Fitzgerald's The
Great Gatsby and Henry Roth's Call It Sleep
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It is the landscape of business, intellect and social power whilst also being the place
of the American idea of cultural influence
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It has served as a backdrop for everyone from immigrants
(Henry Roth's Call It Sleep) to tragic troubadours (Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby) and
cultured the likes of everyone from the Harlem Renaissance writers (Zora Neale
Hurston) to the beatniks (Jack Kerouac)
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Compared to other places,
there is no place that quite explores so many different realms of culture and society
as the New York backdrop does
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In culture, it has been subject of many images in music, especially through
the lyrics of Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra
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Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and
Henry Roth's Call It Sleep
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(2006)
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In: Bigsby, C
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Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
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314-31
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Ireland and Paris
Brendan Behan's New York is a book written by a "wise old man" regarding
suspicions drawn from an Irishman experiencing the culture of New York when it was
at its peak for immigration2
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It is that forever, Ireland
would be a symbol of the Catholic faith in New York City - according to essayist Eric
Homberger, this was not really a thing to be very proud of for the Irishman in America:
"The role of the Catholic Church in New York, which seemed so formidable in
the city, was by comparison, a pale echo of the aggressive, insular, antimodern and deeply conservative church in Ireland which banned novels
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He then draws on comparisons between New York and Paris and New
York and Ireland
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" 4 within this, he makes claims of meeting the likes of James Joyce and
other famous authors, never actually encountering any "real" Americans
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Only further enforcing the anti-modern
stereotype of the Catholic Irishman upon himself via the New York populous
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7 To them, it was


2
Jones, D
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Brendan Behan's New York (Book Review)
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68
(1), p
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3
Homberger, E
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314
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New York
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USA: Hutchinson Press
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p
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pp
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31
7
Jones, D
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544

merely a "gentrification-driven"8 experience nostalgia made up of bourgeoisie
customs and out of reach to the normal American of New York and therefore, out of
mind
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Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: New York vs
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Chicago is presented as the
"past life" that Daisy cannot get back to and yet, Nick Caraway can
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This brings into question whether it is better to lead a life of fame
and mystery or whether it is better to blend into the background; this is as Nick
Caraway comes to New York and is instantly thrust into the limelight with his choice
of a famous friend - Jay Gatsby
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"Does it?" He turned his eyes toward it absently
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Let's go to Coney Island, old sport
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"
"It's too late
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"9
The World's Fair is obviously referring to the Chicago World Fair and when Caraway
speaks of it to Gatsby, it is innocent opinion and amazement at Gatsby's wealth
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Instead, he carries on talking about the state of
New York, only replying with two words: "Does it?" to show he is paying attention to
Caraway
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Chicago

8
Waterman, B
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Nostalgia and Counter-Nostalgia in New York City Writing
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Waterman, B
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pp
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9
Fitzgerald, F
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The Great Gatsby
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little grandeur as The World's Fair is a grand event in the state and yet, in New York Gatsby's own house looks like it; and thus it becomes nothing grand to the people
their, especially Gatsby
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"10
Therefore, it could be said that Caraway is a type of Fitzgerald; the type that was
encountering great achievement and great tragedy
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Nostalgia is
common in the literature of New York in this way, to present frames of unattainable
lifestyles and have the character return, never to be the same because of it
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This is analysed by essayist Bryan Waterman in The Literature of New York:
"The nostalgic strain in New York writing, rooted not just in the fear that the old
city will pass away unnoticed, but that it already passed away before one
arrived, might be said to have followed on the heels of the other broad patterns
in New York's literature
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This also brings into question about what would have happened if Nick
Caraway did not go to New York at all; would this have all happened without him and
would The Great Gatsby be lost to time and history?
The embodiment of the twentieth century is very important to the text and
seems to be for Nick Caraway as well
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(2013)
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Scott Fitzgerald
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The Cambridge Companion to
American Novelists
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pp
...

11
Waterman, B
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Nostalgia and Counter-Nostalgia in New York City Writing
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Waterman, B
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pp
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Gatsby and Caraway are stuck in; for Caraway it is Chicago and for Gatsby it is the
war
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If we were to analyse the chronology of the text it would be
acknowledged that New York is where all of the "fanciful" and "facade" events happen
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the supreme American example of the two powers exerted by cities - the
"hard" power of finance - the world of "big men, big deals, big money and big
ideas" celebrated in Business Week - and the often intangible "soft" power of
cultural and social influence
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Chicago is seen as the "move"
between a quiet life and a lavish one in New York and thus, the reasons for moving
to New York remain a secret for just about anyone in the book - even Nick Caraway:
He nodded sagely
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Once in a while I go off
on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart
I love her all the time
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She turned to me, and her voice, dropping an
octave lower, filled the room with thrilling scorn: "Do you know why we left
Chicago? I'm surprised that they didn't treat you to the story of that little
spree
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Understandably, from the war, Gatsby too keeps his move to New
York a secret
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It shows that New
York writing keeps alive the memory of people who are lost to history and yet
celebrates the lives of the people who keep the place moving on into the future
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12
Homberger, E
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New York City and the Struggle of the Modern
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The Cambridge Companion to Modern American Culture
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pp
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13
Fitzgerald, F
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The Great Gatsby
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This future is very important to the characters creating a new life in New York, it shows
that they can forget themselves
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(2010)
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In:
Cyrus, R
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The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of New York
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232-40

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