The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Character Analysis:
John T. Unger
• John begins the story with an obsession with
riches and the rich.
• He is so overwhelmed by what he experiences
at the lavish château that he simply falls
asleep at dinner.
• It is only later on that we see this wealth
comes at a price and that price is his life.
• It is uncertain whether or not John learns
anything from the whole ordeal.
Character Analysis:
John T. Unger
• After escaping, he, Kismine and Jasmine begin
making plans for their new lives in Hades.
• At the end of the novel, John claims he was
disillusioned, but there is no real evidence that John
has learned anything about the pursuit of wealth. He
does, though, consider his disillusionment valuable.
"There are only diamonds in the whole world,
diamonds and perhaps the shabby gift of disillusion.
Well, I have that last and I will make the usual
nothing of it." (CH 11)
Character Analysis:
Braddock Tarleton Washington
• Braddock is the embodiment of the values Fitzgerald
critiqued in his story. His life is ruled by an insatiable
desire for wealth, an absence of religion, and the will
to destroy others for personal gain.
• Braddock is a symbol of America’s founding and
expansion into the West = he is the descendant of
George Washington and Lord Baltimore.
• "Cruelty doesn't exist where self-preservation is
involved." (CH 6)
Character Analysis:
Braddock Tarleton Washington
• Braddock is a prisoner of his own wealth. His life
revolves around hiding the diamond from the world.
• After failing to bribe God, Braddock voluntarily
returns to his prison to die. Even in death, he cannot
/ will not leave it as he is a victim of his own volition.
Character Analysis:
Kismine Washington
• Kismine is described as being as flawless as her
father’s diamond:
[John] was critical about women. A single defect—a
thick ankle, a hoarse voice, a glass eye—was enough
to make him utterly indifferent. And here for the first
time in his life he was beside a girl who seemed to
him the incarnation of physical perfection. (CH 5)
• Unfortunately, she doesn’t understand the real value
of anything, not even of human life.
Character Analysis:
Kismine Washington
• At the end of the story, we discover that
Kismine is so bored with her life of luxury that
she is excited about being poor. For the
reader, this is proof that money does not buy
happiness.
"'We'll be poor, won't we?' she says to John with
childish delight, 'free and poor. What fun!'"
Character Analysis:
Percy Washington
• Percy is John’s way in to a world of luxury.
• Percy brings John to his home knowing he
would die.
• He also provides John (and the readers) with
the background of his family history.
• At the end of the novel, we discover that Percy
has followed his father back into the mountain
to die.
Themes:
Wealth
• In this story, America is portrayed as a country
obsessed with wealth.
• Wealth replaces religion and terrible things
are done in its name including imprisonment
and murder.
• Fitzgerald showed that wealth is a prison.
Those who chase it blindly lose their humanity
and cannot even see the value in human life.
Themes:
Wealth
• "He must be very rich," said John simply. "I'm
glad. I like very rich people. The richer a fella
is, the better I like him." (CH 1)
• John is depicted as the embodiment of
America’s culture at the time: totally
consumed by the promises of wealth.
Themes:
Visions of America
• In The Diamond, the pursuit of wealth has
replaced religion. Americans treat the wealthy
like gods and worship an altar of money.
• Fitzgerald compares this to the American
expansion into the West and argues that this
was done at the cost of human values and life.
• He also puts the blame on the founding
fathers for their part in the history of
American slavery.
Themes:
Visions of America
• “The Montana sunset lay between two
mountains like a gigantic bruise from which
dark arteries spread themselves over a
poisoned sky. (CH 2)”
• Here the words ‘bruise’ and ‘poison’ seem to
suggest that the land has been harmed by
those who would harness its resources.
Themes:
Religion
• Religion has been replaced by wealth and
Americans worship money instead of God.
• St. Midas School = King Midas was a
mythological Greek figure who turned all that
he touched into gold – eventually to his own
detriment.
• Hades - Hades was the Greek God of the
Underworld; the Underworld itself can also be
referred to as "Hades."
Themes:
Youth
• The story focuses heavily on the concept of
youth. During his summer at the château,
John learns about the nature of wealth and
experiences his first love.
• Fitzgerald argues that youth is “a form of
chemical madness” and says that “youth can
never live in the present”.
Themes:
Freedom and Confinement
• The Diamond is a story about a man who’s
only goal in life is to keep its existence a
secret. Braddock is willing to murder and
imprison people to do so.
• The irony is that Braddock is himself a prisoner
of his own wealth.
• The servants that Braddock keeps at the
château don’t even know they’re prisoners.
Themes:
Freedom and Confinement
• "It's impossible to be both [free and poor]
together," said John grimly. "People have
found that out. And I should choose to be free
as preferable of the two. As an extra caution
you'd better dump the contents of your jewel
box into your pockets." (CH 9)
The Diamond as a Satire
• A critique of American values and history.
• Material success comes at a price.
• Sacrificing human life for personal gain is
absurd.
• The diamond itself is a symbol of satire –
vulgar, garish excess of the Washington’s
estate.
• The Washingtons have built their home on a
mountain of wealth.
Religious and Mytholgical Allegory
• John’s home (Hades / Hell) VS Percy’s (The
Garden of Eden)
• The Village of Fish - the 12 men of Fish = 12
apostles. These men also represent America
and the fact that they’ve abandoned God.
• St. Midas Prep.– making a saint out of a king
who turned things to gold.
• Braddock tries to bribe God. God refuses or
doesn’t exist.
Understanding the Ending
• Youth as a dream – the time John spends with
the Washingtons is like a dreamy-haze, like
youth itself.
• Free and poor – John tells Kismine that “it’s
impossible to be both {free and poor}
together”, but at the end of the story, we
discover Kismine has taken rhinestones by
mistake (freedom VS wealth).
• Going back to Hell (the mountain VS Hades)