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Cars in The Great Gatsby

The Conclusion

Cars in the 1920s

  • Starting in the 1920s, the automobile industry, headed by Henry Ford, flourished
  • Due to the roaring economy, cars were mass produced and were more affordable
  • Cars allowed faster and faster travel which increased the need for petrol and mechanic stations
  • Many of the expensive cars were custom built for their wealthy owners, who often had a chauffeur or mechanic to drive them

"You see, when we left New York she was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive – and this woman rushed out at us just as we were passing a car coming the other way. It all happened in a minute, but it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us, thought we were somebody she knew. Well, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back. The second my hand reached the wheel I felt the shock – it must have killed her instantly."

Tom Buchanan's Car

"So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight."

Cars as a symbol of wealth

"It’s a blue car, a coupe."

  • Not much is stated about Toms car throughout the novel. The only scene where it is briefly mentioned is when all of them go to New York and when Tom, Nick and Jordan come across the accident scene.
  • Whoever owned the newest and custom made cars were often wealthy.
  • People who were well off often bought several custom made cars in order to show off their wealth.
  • Jay Gatsby owned a luxurious car which showed off his wealth to everyone he passed on the road
  • George Wilson, who was dirt poor, could not buy a car off of Tom enforcing the idea that he is less well off compared to Tom.
  • In the United States at the time the story of Gatsby takes place, all the rich and famous owned cars and often showed them off to those who they thought were below them. This is similar to how Gatsby is always showing off his car to Tom and Nick.
  • Nick is only mentioned to own a older Dodge.
  • "I had a dog — at least I had him for a few days until he ran away — and an old Dodge"
  • When he moves out of East egg he states "and my car sold to the grocer" symbolizing his abandonment of his life in the east.

Nick & Jordan's cars

  • Fitzgerald never revealed in the novel if Jordan Baker owns a car.
  • She has several conversations with Nick regarding her own, and other's careless driving, but did not mention what type of car she drives.

Jay Gatsby's Car

Using Cars to Foreshadow

“It was a rich cream color, bright and there in it’s monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns.”

  • Gatsby's car foreshadows his faith.
  • Whenever cars are seen driving into New York, it foreshadowed something bad was about to happen.
  • Whenever Gatsby threw a party, cars were always seen driving up to his door.
  • The cars that arrived at Gatsby's symbolized the wealth Gatsby and his guests had.
  • Most importantly, Gatsby's car symbolized how destructive wealth is when a careless person is behind it.

Carelessness

"I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made"

-Nick Caraway

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“You’re a rotten driver,” I protested. “Either you ought to be more careful, or you oughtn’t to drive at all.”

“I am careful.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Well, other people are,” she said lightly.

“What’s that got to do with it?”

They’ll keep out of my way,” she insisted. “It takes two to make an accident.”

“Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself.”

“I hope I never will,” she answered. “I hate careless people. That’s why I like you.”

- Nick Caraway to Jordan Baker

"You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess"

- Jordan Baker

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