After reading both
The Great Gatsby and
The
Diamond as big as the Ritz, I noticed that even though the two stories are
different from each other in terms of content, there is still the motif of
secrecy present in both. For example, in
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,
this motif of secrecy is shown in the form of the secretive wealth of the
Braddock family: “‘We’ve got a dozen anti-aircraft guns and we’ve arranged it
so far–but there’ve been a few deaths and a great many prisoners” (The Diamond
as Big as the Ritz 81). Here, Percy is describing the weaponry his family has
in order to keep the diamond, the backbone of his family's wealth, unknown to
the rest of the world. This shows the extreme and immoral measures Braddock
takes to keep his wealth a secret. The fact that he captures and imprisons
"unfortunate mariners" into his dark pit solely for the purpose of
maintaining the confidence of his richness is just absurd and the fact that
some have even died shows how immoral one's actions can become when faced
with
enormous affluence. The fact that Braddock covers up pit of unjust
behavior with a peaceful green golf
field on top strikes a comparison with how Gatsby covers up his unwanted past
his is made up stories, "which weren’t even faintly true," as a facade
to amplify and drastically elevate his social standing. In both scenarios,
Fitzgerald demonstrates how affluence leads to immoral behavior to protect the
secretive nature of one's wealth.
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