Demythologizing the sacred: F. Scott Fitzgerald\u27s The Great Gatsby as a misnomer

The first moment the reader catches sight of the cover of F. Scott Fitzgerald\u27s novel The Great Gatsby, the thing that most immediately strikes him is the \u27greatness\u27 of the eponymous character which is taken for granted as early as the very title given to it. Nevertheless, as the book unfolds, the reader comes to realize the irony that lies behind this title, thereby conjuring up the old saying "all that glitters is not gold ". Surprisingly enough, the title turns out to be no more than a mere misnomer ironically referring to a racketeer whose ill-gotten money makes of him a prominent person. The present article attempts to demythologize the ideals, if it is in anyway meaningful to call them so, of Gatsby who is considered to be great and venerable. In demythologizing Gatsby, the article challenges such values as romanticism, the American Dream and the new American elite, if not modern Western society values, held by him. This is done through dismantling the mythical and mysterious elements from Gatsby\u27s character, thereby dealing with him as an ordinary, if not \u27ungreat\u27, man