"It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete."
Of course, in the postmodern day, we associate the word 'Holocaust' with the Nazi Genocide of the 1940s; however, Fitzgerald was writing in a time before this event and, upon reading this line, I was immediately curious as to what it would have meant in the 1920s. I decided to do a little research and you can find my findings below.
Etymology:
- Originally from the Greek word holokaustos. Holos meaning ‘whole’, and kaustos from the verbal adjective kaiein meaning ‘to burn’. It was literally used to describe an animal sacrifice to God.
- This is a translation of the hebrew word olah meaning ‘complete burnt sacrifice to God’.
- From the French word holocauste meaning ‘sacrifice by fire’ or ‘burnt offering’.
Connotations in the 1920s:
- Since the 18th Century, the word was used to describe mass violent deaths. The religious connotations suggest that the persecutors are sacred and acting in God’s will.
- In 1911, the first edition of the Oxford English dictionary described it as, ‘whole burnt offering; wholesale sacrifice or destruction’.
- In WW1, Winston Churchill used the word to refer to the genocide of Americans in World War II.
- Refers to all human life and not just Jewish people.
Implications:
- Gatsby and Wilson are sacrificial offers to the Old Money God, this being the permanent class barriers which repetitively pushes people back to the social strata in which they were born.
- The word was used in an early draft of 'The Great Gatsby' and so much have been given the okay by Maxwell Perkins. Perkins made many amendments, and the fact that this wasn’t one of them suggests that it was there for effect: he didn’t simply say, ‘and the sacrificial offering was complete’.
- Holocaust is usually used in context of genocide; however, here, only two men have died. Perhaps because Gatsby’s life was worth that of 18,000 men - at least in the eyes of Nick, our biased narrator. In a way, Gatsby's death not only destroys himself, but also the whole American Dream, and one could argue this equivalent to the death of the thousands of hopefully Minnesotan citizens.
- The holocaust has been a gradual thing that has been stewing over the whole of the book (‘it was complete’). In Chapter 7, Gatsby was torn down by Nick, marking the beginning of the holocaust. Even Wilson’s attempt to kill Old-Money-Tom supports their increasingly inevitable deaths.
- Wilson’s body is clearly significant because it completes the holocaust. Perhaps because brother has turned on brother (the two were both from poor backgrounds after all). The holocaust was already complete but the fact that they are now aware of Wilson’s death seems to be more significant than his actual death.
- Both men have been sacrificed to the American Dream. It is Wilson’s own decision, but the prospect of vengeance and the cold-blooded murder of innocent life worsens it.
Yes, this is rather different to my previous posts on this blog but, as you might have already realised, I am rather academic and enjoy learning new things. Consequently, I have decided that I am going to post some intellectual bits on this blog! I hope that you enjoy and learn something new (and, after all, I am sure that this is more the kind of thing that Hermione would like to read -- also see my Hermione Granger inspired booklist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NyYsuVPFI&t=100s).
