The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

Gino Mortellaro

Gary Larkin

ENC-1102-88040

October 12, 2016

“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This story is about the story’s protagonist, John T. Unger, and his adventurous summer holiday that he goes on to his New England school mate Percy Washington’s home. The Washington’s are a very wealthy family and when Unger arrives at the home he is finally able to agree with Percy that the home is a diamond that is as big as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. As the story goes on and Unger learns more about the family and their history, he begins to wonder if this summer might be his last. Unger soon discovers, from Percy’s sister Kismine, that each summer for the past however many years the Washington children invite friends to stay the summer with them. It never ends well because the stories antagonist, Braddock Washington, somehow finds a way to get rid of them and they all seem to suddenly disappear. Braddock Washington will do anything possible to not let anyone get in the way of his fortune.  

The story is analyzed mainly on the American history and its values that it holds. Fitzgerald’s life was a part of the general drama of the American’s emotional innocence before life (Barrett 435). The Washington’s are descendants of two important founding fathers, George Washington and Lord Baltimore. In this story, Fitzgerald portrays society in a very serious way. He argues that, “America is a place where the blind pursuit of wealth has replaced religion” (“Shmoop” 1). Fitzgerald also forms this allegory for the expansion of America, in the West, and states that “the expansion was at the coast of human values and human life” (“Shmoop” 1). Money is the root of all evil and that is exactly what the Washington’s are all about. Braddock Washington is a very cruel and evil man and will do whatever it takes to gain his power just like his father Fitz-Norman. For example, the slaves in the story are a key example of symbolism. Fitz-Norman convinces them that the South had won the civil war and slavery is still legal. By no means Braddock Washington is a religious man, but by the end of the story finally looks to God for help in his desperate time. Washington keeps his prisoners in an underground area that they call “hell”. The prison is below the ground while the estate is above ground, representing “heaven”.

Material success always has its costs. While reading this story, Fitzgerald uses many themes of symbolism to get his point across. The estate is a representation of the Garden of Eden while Hades, the city John Unger is from, represents hell as well. The giant diamond is a symbol of Washington’s wealth. In this time large diamonds were considered to be vulgar. So it is ironic that the Washington’s just happened to have built their estate on a mountain of wealth. Fitzgerald uses imagery of a hurt body to describe the Montana landscape. The entire estate is filled with jewels that anyone could ever imagine having. The mindset and values of the desire to do anything to gain wealth and power shows how Braddock represents the real antagonist of the story.

There are multiple settings throughout the story. The first, Hades, is a small town on the Mississippi river where John Unger and his well know family live. The second, St. Midas’ School, the most expensive and exclusive boys preparatory school that is an hour and a half from Boston. The third, Washington estate, chateau in the middle of Montana that is considered to be a paradise. Each location are key places within the story. As mentioned before, Hades, basically is a representation of hell. St. Midas’ school is where John and Percy meet and that is the start of their very short friendship. The estate is supposed to represent heaven since its so high up in the sky basically floating on thin air. The irony here is that Braddock Washington is the farthest thing from religious but yet his estate is supposed to represent a heaven while everyone below him is in hell.