Crystalline Crackers

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

For some reason, only one word stood out to me when I read this title. Why do I feel hungry all of a sudden?

If you're craving something that lacks any meaningful nutrition, a Ritz Cracker is a great snack. I, personally, love the flavor because of the salt that comes with each cracker. That being said, the word "Ritz" stood out to me only when I read the title for a second time because the salt on a Ritz cracker relates directly, if not perfectly, to a large theme in The Diamond as Big as the Ritz: Perfection.

First of all, salt has a crystalline structure due to the ionic bonding of sodium and chloride ions. Similarly, diamond also has a crystalline structure, which, by the way, is the closest nature gets to making a perfect substance. Now, Fitzgerald obviously did not have Ritz crackers in mind when he wrote The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, but the coincidence applies perfectly to the theme of perfection. For example, John only wants a girl who is "the incarnation of physical perfection".

John, however, is not the character who seeks perfection the most. This characteristic goes to Braddock Washington and his want for perfect security. The value of Washington's diamond mountain has caused him to become extremely paranoid, leading him to protect the mountain and its value in the most perfect way possible. This, inevitably, leads to the death or imprisonment of the visitors of the mountain. At the end of the story, however, we see that Washington was not able to reach perfection, as his mountain exploded and took his wealth and his life with it. 

What do you think of perfection?
Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Yellow Car!

"Yellow Car!"

*punch*

"OW"

"HEhe"

"Where? I don't see it"

"Look left, it's actually a really nice yellow car"

"Oh wow that's a yellow Rolls-Royce Phantom"

"Yeah, must be someone really rich"

The first thing that comes to mind when I see a flashy, expensive car is "the owner must be so rich". Obviously, only an affluent person has the resources to purchase a mighty Rolls-Royce, but why choose such a pretentious color? Bright, shiny, in-your-face yellow; Maybe it matches the design of the car well. Maybe the owner wants to prove that he owns the roads by showing off to the world that he has something that 95% of the world cannot afford. Maybe, however, the owner is the Great Gatsby and he is, instead of amusing himself, trying to reach an old friend to bridge his gap of loneliness.

Just like his massive house and excessive parties, Gatsby's car is a symbol that represents him perfectly: a rich but honest man with a simple goal of winning Daisy. His bright yellow Rolls-Royce is just another tool that he uses to find Daisy. As the story progresses, the reader realizes that although Gatsby has many unnecessary items, he is actually a morally just person unlike Daisy and Tom. Daisy, for example, takes Gatsby’s car to murder Myrtle. This is just one example of where Gatsby’s pure intentions are being used by inconsiderate people like Daisy. Nick was correct, “Gatsby turned out all right at the end.”

Gatsby's yellow Rolls-Royce

What do you think about Gatsby’s yellow Rolls-Royce?
Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Curtains for Everyone

Do you have a curtain in your car? Maybe not a complete curtain, but many of us have sun shades that are either built into the window mechanism or can be attached to the window. A car sun shade is an unnecessary product but people still have it for comfort, and this idea stemmed from the beliefs of the 1920s and the Modernism Era.

The photograph above is an advertisement for curtains that block the sun from entering your car. Advertisements such as these started appearing mainly during the Modernism Era (the 1920s), and this photograph is a perfect example of the shift in consumerism that occurred during this time. For example, before the 1920s the idea of having curtains on your car windows would have been something available only to the rich; however, during the 1920s, there was a shift of consumerism from the rich towards the common person. The advertisement shown above was meant for everyone, not just the wealthy.

Inevitably, this shift led to excess consumerism; people were buying items that they did not really need, and nowhere is this more relevant than the Eggs from The Great Gatsby: in the West Egg, Nick has "a swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden", yet he mentions that it is an "eye-sore" compared to the other houses there. Additionally, he also mentions that the East Egg has fashionable "white palaces".

In many ways, just like the car shades, excess consumerism has persisted in the United States to this day. This includes food, vanity items, cars, clothing, etc. Although this is mostly negative, it has also resulted in many advancements in science and technology. Engineering, for example, has advanced greatly due to the increased demand of customized vehicles. Still, many of us today buy items that are totally unnecessary, and we should be helping out people who cannot afford these items instead of buying them.