The Great Gatsby’s title was not Fitzgerald’s choice and never his favorite. How would the book’s reception be changed if it were instead called Trimalchio in West Egg, The High-Bouncing Lover, Gold-Hatted Gatsby, or Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires?

Trimalchio in West Egg would definitely give the novel a different reception. First, let’s talk about the current title, The Great Gatsby. This title shows Nick’s bias toward Gatsby as a character. At the beginning, Nick says that Gatsby is the exception to all the previous sentiments he learned from his father, leaving the title and the opening to set him up to be some sort of “great” character. He is also surrounded by a lot of mystery. Nick also makes his life seem very tragic with him heroically sacrificing himself by taking the blame for Daisy when she hits Myrtle with the car.

Trimalchio in West Egg would set a different tone. First, if anyone recognized the name, it would give them a hint to what would happen in the story. In one of the chapters of Satyricon, Trimalchio becomes very wealthy through unmoral means and then throws big parties to show off his wealth. At the end of the parties, he has the guest act out his funeral. After readers started learning about the rumors surrounding Gatsby, they could probably guess that any of the unsavory ones about him making money were probably correct. Trimalchio was not 100% the best guy, even if his parties were apparently great. Of course, at the beginning of Chapter 7, Nick tells the reader, “It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night — and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over” (134). Despite that, Gatsby still dies at the end and has a real funeral, different from Trimalchio’s because his frequent guests were not there. I almost wonder if that is why he did not go with that name? Using that name would have given a lot of implications to the story, and while some of them are there, they aren’t all present. Gatsby didn’t show off his wealth just to show off his wealth. He showed off his wealth to get Daisy. Once he thought he had her, he didn’t need to show it off anymore, hence the end of his “career as Trimalchio.” Gatsby became obsessed with money to obtain his dream with Daisy. He isn’t a true Trimalchio.

I think Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires would have been the best if Fitzgerald wanted his title to get at some of the morals he was touching at in the story, but if Nick was picking a title, I imagine The Great Gatsby is actually what he would go with.