Gatsby and Atonement

Annie Haigh
Both ‘Atonement’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ are novels about writing a novel. Compare
and contrast the ways in which the authors examine the concept of truth by using
different narrative perspective.
‘The Great Gatsby’, published in 1924 and set in 1920 is hugely influenced by
modernism, a characteristic feature of modernism is to rebel against a morally
corrupt world. Most of this comes from cheating, fighting and racism, whilst the
reader can see Tom Buchanan physically do this, Jay Gatsby is more concealed, he
cheats the American dream and fights for Daisy. ‘The Great Gatsby’ alsoincludes
direct links to ‘The Waste Land’ by T.S Eliot in chapter two Valley of the ashes.
‘Atonement’ published in 2001 and set in 1935-1999 is influenced by post-
modernism which in ‘Atonement’ subverts the reader’s expectations and denies them
the satisfaction of being told a story in which they can believe.
Both ‘The Great Gatsby’and ‘Atonement’ show fiction imposing an order on reality.
The techniques used throughout were influenced by different literature movements
(modernism and post-modernism). The narrative perspective is biased in both
novels, and the reader is not always told the events in chronological order. Both
novels portray a consistent class system which links Gatsby and Robbie to each
other; neither of them was born into money, Gatsby worked his way up the American
dream and Robbie was lucky to be given money by Mr Tallis for his higher education.
Atonement is most likely to criticise the class system because it is influenced by post-
modernism. Robbie and Gatsby also have similar complicated relationships and are
connected through war, which also affects both novels.

Both novels Narrative perspective is biased making them unreliable. ‘Atonement’ is
mostly written in third person, yet at the end the author reveals that it’s Briony
writing the novel, within a novel. This same technique is used throughout ‘The Great
Gatsby’; the reader is constantly reminded that Nick is narrating, as he repeats
‘reading over what I have written so far…’1 this point of view highlights how the
concept of truth is lost. We comprehend the whole affair through the eyes of Nick
Carraway, one of the first things he tells us is some advice his father once gave him
‘whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, (…) just remember that all the people in
this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had’2 We see that Nick chooses to
ignore his father’s advice, by quietly judging people throughout the novel, especially
Gatsby. On first impressions Gatsby is judged by everyone whomeets him, to be a
wealthy educated young man who has inherited his fortune. However this is a
persona, as he is originally a lower-class, uneducated man, who has made his money
and is living the American dream. Although Gatsby has secretly worked his way up to
achieve his personal dream, he still hasn’t managed to quite complete it and get what
he wants, Daisy. Nicks fathers advice also links to the American dream because he is
trying to explain to Nick that people without their advantages and money, will never
be in the well-off position that they are in, but to Nick this doesn’t matter because he
was brought up with ‘advantages’3 , but because Nick doesn’t know any better, it
enforces him to have a ‘limited life experience’4 and therefore everything he says is
biased, and shows him to be an unreliable untruthful narrator.
The novels clearly demonstrate how the perception of how things can change a whole
story, particularly in ‘Atonement’. Briony is writing in a post-modernist age
1 Fitzgerald,F.Scott (2000,penguin UK) The Great Gatsby page 56
3 Fitzgerald,F.Scott (2000 penguin UK) The Great Gatsby page 7
4 Crow, Anne page 43

framework, her error and childish snobbery caused Robbie’s confinement. Briony, as
a young girl, sees herself far superior to anyone else, but she grows to regret her
choices hence the novel ‘Atonement’ – to atone her fatal errors. Briony is a very
biased narrator, her lack of knowledge as a child influenced her to observe Robbie as
a sexual maniac after witnessing the fountain scene in the novel. Briony was inside
and spying from her window, she could not hear what was being exchanged between
Robbie and Cecilia, but she studied their actions and pretends to understand ‘Robbie
imperiously raised his hand now, as though issuing a command Cecilia dared not
disobey’5 This shows Briony’s love for play/story writing which makes her dramatic
and imaginative which is the reason why she perceives his action this way; acting
older than her age and thinking dramatically rather than realistically, Briony carried
on to suggest that Cecilia is ‘Unable to resist him’6 and therefore that must be the
reason she removes her clothes and plunges into the fountain. Even in the novel the
reader is told that ‘Briony did not understand’7 and this makes her an untruthful
narrator because of her naivety, she doesn’t seem to accept that she might be wrong,
and doesn’t know the meaning of this scene, no matter how hard she thinks into it. In
the previous chapter of the novel, we are told the actual scene at the fountain, being
narrated by Cecilia, this brings a concept of truth to the narrative. Briony also
demonstrates he dramatic side further by looking at the relationship between Robbie
and Cecilia, she keeps referring back to plays which she had written ‘a humble
woodcutter saved a princess from drowning and ended by marrying her.’8 What was
presented here fitted well.’ She talks about Robbie being the hero, which contrasts
her feelings towards him by the end of this evening, she also talks of him marrying
5 McEwan, Ian (2002) Atonement page 38

her sister and that they will live happily ever after, but in fact they won’t. This might
have been added in to resemble some truth as Cecilia does drown in the end, but that
is ironic because Robbie was not there tosave her like Briony is saying he should be.
In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Nick states how he is ‘inclined to reserve judgements’9 yet we
still see that Nick is an unreliable narrator as he doesn’t give an objective view. This
is because he has a relationship with the main characters. Briony is far more
unreliable than Nick because she is supposedly writing her novel to atone a crime. In
both novels the narrators aren’t directly involved with the main love story which
makes them bystanders. In ‘The Great Gatsby’Nick deliberately withholds
informations to create suspense, such as Gatsby’s background and family. This is
concerning as he is changing the story slightly by telling us the story in non-
chronological order, but chronological to the way he finds out all of the information.
Parts of the novel are told through different characters, however their stories are told
through Nick. Nick acts like a filter and will change information to provide
entertainment. Some details such as Gatsby and Daisy’s affair are left to the reader’s
imagination.
Throughout ‘Atonement’ McEwan uses the narrative device of letters. These letters
help make the novel seem like it has more authenticity as it captures the importance
of privacy. This in return distorts the thin line between the truth and lies which are
embedded throughout the novel. The use of letters in ‘Atonement’ and non-
chronological order in ‘The Great Gatsby’ show how much the narratives of the
novels contrast each other and impose an order to reality. In both novels characters
are perpetually under-going, and sometimes dramatic changes which mould how
they are perceived by the reader. The narration of ‘Atonement’ enrols this idea as the

author is going back and repeating key scenes from a different perspective of the
main characters involved. The most significant is the fountain scene. In ‘the Great
Gatsby’ Nick is seen as being delusive; he fails to inform the reader on key events and
so deprives them of a full understanding. At one time he was too ‘drunk’1 0 to have
remembered and everything seemed to have ‘a dim hazy cast over it’1 1 He could have
easily given the reader invalid information due to false perception. The story is told
in fragments – and is presented to us in non-chronological order, this is due to Nick
only reporting what he wants us to know. Yet this lack of chronological order to
rights of events keeps the narrative in suspense. This same suspense is included in
‘Atonement’ as flashbacks are present throughout. When it comes to Gatsby, it seems
at times Nick deeply idolises him and may have a hidden jealously for his and Daisy’s
relationship. When talking about Gatsby and Daisy’s kiss he describes how his mind
would ‘never romp again like the mind of god’1 2 this is an example of Nick expressing
his feelings towards Gatsby in a surreal and poetic way by magnifying his emotions to
seem more dramatic. This can also be seen in his first encounter with Jordan Baker
and Daisy by describing them as being on an ‘anchored balloon’1 3 with their dresses
‘rippling and fluttering’1 4 jealousy is also highlighted in ‘Atonement’ although she is
atoning, Briony enables us to have closure, part three unites Robbie and Cecilia but is
soon undermined when she takes the closure away in ‘London 1999’ it highlights to
the reader that the whole story is fiction; the author makes all decisions, there’s no
destiny or a realist dream involved. It also suggests that Briony is jealous of the
relationship between Robbie and Cecilia therefore deprived them of having a
fulfilling ending.

Social class boundaries are decaying in each novel. Nick highlights the traditional
social ideas of America when he explains the ‘Dutch sailor’s eye’1 5 as they first
discovered in America. This image underlines the equality and discovery America
originally held. These ideals evolved around the pursuit of happiness. ‘The Great
Gatsby’ shows how these values have decayed to evolve around money and social
values. Gatsby’s personal American dream of Daisy was ruined by the difference of
social status, showing the injustices and inequalities of social class appearing
throughout the novel. He was only able to be with her as the war masked his true
identity. After the war he desperately tries tobe reunited with Daisy by recreating
himself, causing Gatsby tobe a construction of his self-created history. He then
justified his place in society by hosting large parties and flaunting his ‘Oxford’1 6
education. The parties prove that he is rich yet his past at Oxford implies that he is
‘old money’ whereas, in fact he is ‘new money’ this is represented in the fact that he
lives in West Egg, new money, instead of East Egg, old money. Yet Gatsby is
criticized for being new money and is described as representing everything that Nick
had ‘an unaffected scorn’1 7 for. Nick represents old money and can be seen as being
snobbish towards Gatsby; they are all victims of snobbery. This novel shows how at
the time it was written; people regretted that order and the class system were
breaking down. Similarly in ‘Atonement’ as it questioned the class system. In the
Tallis household, Robbie is lower class whereas in war he was treated as an equal, as
an officer. The social class breaks down as Cecilia didn’t socialise with Robbie when
they were both at Cambridge and she said her sister Briony later became a nurse
which is not suitable for their class. The relationship between the upper/middle class
(Cecilia) and the lower class (Robbie) underlines the distorted system. Yet there

social class does not change their relationship drastically whereas in ‘The Great
Gatsby’ relationships are based on the different classes. The social class difference in
both novels are portrayed well when Nick from ‘the Great Gatsby’ goes todinner at
Daisy’s and Tom’s as Robbie from ‘Atonement’ goes to dinner at the Tallis’ house.
The only other person accused of Lola’s rape was Danny Hardman, the servant. Even
with a realistic alibi from his father, the conviction remained. Paul Marshall on the
other hand, is upper class, and would never be considered as the culprit, the only
difference between them is their social status.
Relationships as the centre piece in both novels, only present doomed love which
ends tragically before they can begin. In both central relationships there is a long
period where the couples are excluded from each other. Robbie is called up for war
and cannot see Cecilia whilst Gatsby is occupied recreating himself to impress Daisy.
This theme of doomed love in ‘The Great Gatsby’is also presented in more minor
relationships, such as Tom and Myrtle; showing that two extremely opposite classes
are doomed, all relationships within both novels are partitioned due to the class
differences.
Both novels include the importance of modernism and post-modernism. This is
highlighted as they both write a novel within the novel. Unlike ‘Atonement’ ‘The
Great Gatsby’ is more realistic; not only because of Fitzgerald’s style, but because of
the historical information we get about the ‘roaring twenties’. Overall the novels have
examined the concept of truth in relationships; they highlight realism and the
dangers of fiction, showing that the novels should be read with caution.
Word count: 2180

Gatsby and Atonement

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Gatsby and Atonement