Fitzgerald: The Diamond as Big as the Ritz - Exam #1
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In about 250 words explain how Fitzgerald deals with the theme of superiority in the novella.
*Anton L. Šijanec, 2. a*
# How can immense wealth lead to dominance
It's quite common, perhaps even frighteningly often, that a human individual gets immensely wealthy overnight. Not to mention that our brain revolves around a capitalistic idea of wealth bringing freedom, however, this is not always the case. Most importantly, there's another factor, that can greatly impact how evil a person is and how much damage that person can make - power.
During the 1930's in the USA's history timespan, consequences of what's been done had already left a great mark on society. On one hand, great technological advantages and discoveries prolonged the human life, but in contrast, a great gap between social levels, most importantly levels of superiority, was forming, being never as big as before, as immensely rich people used their freedom immoraly and got as powerful as they could. And it only went worse as the years went by.
Apart from real life scenarios, many writers, including Fitzgerald, explained the abuse in the land of rich in great detail. In our novella, Braddock and the whole Washington family are exposed to being on top of the world, likewise they even imagine they are able buy everything with their precious diamond. Towards the end, it becomes visible that the power brought nothing but blood and terror.
Another key thing to remember, having said that, is that the Washington family was always subjected to being on top of the world. When the diamond is found, already established social and materialistic superiority is used to hide it from the outer world. To give an illustration, Kismine and Percy are already subjected to the superiority of their family, to the point where not only they can't even notice it anymore, but also to the point of accepting the slavery and immoral actions.
It's notably important for regulations to be present in order to even out the distribution of power an individual possesses in an even way to prevent unnecessary conflicts between high orders of superiority that could perhaps shake the ground of the future of mankind, or even derail it altogether. The local government, as they notice the horrors of the Washington's residence, try to attack it with aeroplanes, but the damage was already done nevertheless.
All things considered, it's quite visible that giving rich people power or vice-versa soon turns into terror, nonetheless this happens all over the world. Firstly we must be educated about such dangers, secondly we must learn how to detect them, thirdly we must be able to prevent them. "Permanent superiority has never been realized by any nation in history. After the rise comes the fall."
