Religion and God

In The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, religion is portrayed as an ideal that has completely lost its appeal and is dominated by dreams of wealth and class. The small village of Fish alludes to the Bible and Christianity in many ways, including the 12 "disciples" that inhabit the village and their near worship of the train that passes their village. Thus, the village of Fish can represent traditional Christianity or religion. However, Fish is small, barren, and abandoned - similar to a ghost town. The Washington estate is the exact opposite - extravagant, large, and always occupied. The fact that the Washington estate was built up by selfishness and greed and at the same time is more successful than Fish indicates that traditional religion has been cast off in favor of a new "religion" - the worship of wealth and materialism.

This is further illustrated by the symbolism inside the Washington estate. Braddock holds prisoners in a small chamber dug underneath the ground. These prisoners attempt to persuade John to let them free or join them in the prison, paralleling mythological greek demons from Hell that attempt to charm mortals to join them. Even at one point, a prisoner shouts "Come on down to Hell!". Thus, this underground chamber is Hell, while the Washington estate above represents Heaven. Furthermore, Braddock represents the new God of wealth and materialism that has overtaken the traditional Gods. He has complete power of anyone that enters his world, or his estate, shown by not only the prisoners, but his restrictive control over Kismine's actions and John's life. Furthermore, when Braddock attempts to bribe God with a large diamond, there is no response, suggesting that God no longer watches over the world. Braddock's worship of wealth and materialism causes God to abandon him, leading to his own demise.

One of the best passages throughout the Great Gatsby in my opinion is in chapter three, when Nick describes Gatsby's smile for a full paragraph. Early on, Fitzgerald establishes Gatsby as an extremely persuasive and charismatic character, writing that Gatsby had "one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it". This creates an expectation for Gatsby's persona as someone who is trustworthy and noble - a persona that is quickly broken down as Gatsby is exposed as a bootlegger. Furthermore, Fitzgerald utilizes numerous dashes when describing Gatsby's smile, writing "[Gatsby's smile] faced - or seemed to face - the whole eternal world for an instant". The dashes set off reality - "faced" -  with illusion - "seemed to face". Again, Fitzgerald hints at the uncertainty of Gatsby's past and the numerous lies he creates to reach a relatively mundane goal.

Gatsby's smile also reveals that he doesn't see an entire situation clearly, only noticing what he wants to see. Fitzgerald writes: "[The smile] understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the imperssion of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey." Gatsby is shown as such a strong optimist to the extent that it begins to hurt him. His optimism forces him to constantly attempt to relive the past. He believes that simply because he loved Daisy five years ago, she would simply return the love when he returns. Furthermore his optimism causes him to fail to register that Daisy is married and has a child, driving him to pursue a dream that is already dead.