The Car: A Vehicle of Cataclysm

"Cars were the symbol of the new consumer society that emerged in the 1920s. In 1919, there were just 6.7 million cars on American roads. By 1929, there were more than 27 million cars--or nearly one car for every household in the United States. In that year, one American out of every five owned a car--compared to one out of every 37 English and one out of every 40 French car owners. Car manufacturers and banks encouraged the public to buy the car of their dreams on credit. Thus, the American love affair with the car began." (The Consumer Economy and Mass Entertainment)

Cars have a significant role in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. If the cars in the novel were taken out of the plot, the novel would collapse. Fitzgerald brings the cars in the novel to the foreground in order to critize the American Consumer Economy, which became catastrophic in 1929. The consumer mentality became a race of buying the most extravagant and expensive car so that the car would serve as a symbol of one's status. Gatsby's car, a Rolls Royce, is definately much more expensive than Tom Buchanan's car. While these two cars are racing in the novel, those who are poor, like the Wilsons watch the race. They owe their survival to the cars, which are serviced by Wilson. However, ironically and tragically their death comes from the cars. Myrtle Wilson is run over by the Rolls Royce, which forces George Wilson to destroy the monster that drives the car. As he kills Gatsby, he also commits suicide.

Fitzgerald's prophecy is that cars bring destruction, if they are not merely taken as transportation vehicles. If they are taken as objects of show-off(as in Turkey) and invested a lot of money, the result will be both economically and spiritually a great depression as it was for the Americans by the end of the 1920's.