Blog Entry the 4th: Text-to-Text Connection

Chapter seven begins as a short time lapse, telling of Gatsby's refusal to throw any more parties: "...the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night – and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over" (113). The equally obscure reference to a character in the Roman novel, The Satyricon, had long been a point of interest to Fitzgerald, as revealed through his working titles for The Great Gatsby being both Trimalchio and Trimalchio in West Egg. After being persuaded by his editor and wife that the reference would not be appreciated or pronounced correctly, it was changed to its current title, which Fitzgerald regards as "'only fair, rather bad than good" (Wikipedia article on The Great Gatsby). The allusion to Trimalchio is an equitable comparison to Jay Gatsby, if not a little exaggerated. Trimalchio was a freedman who attained great wealth and power through determination and honest work and used his gains to throw ostentatious, lavish parties. Perhaps Trimalchio's feasts surpass those of Gatsby's, but the intent was the same: to impress and entertain, for no reason other than to prove oneself to their nouveau riche guests, respectively. That Fitzgerald remained unhappy with the title even after its publishing shows that this is a relevant and important text connection, which often goes unnoticed due to its brevity and, in the novel, seeming offhandedness.