The Great Gatsby Trigger Warning List

Hey everyone! I'm back with the trigger warning list for The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's shorter than some of them (I'm looking at you "Huck Finn"), but because of that, I don't think I've missed much. I've spent the past 2 months working on these lists and have gradually refined my process and I think I've finally got a smooth process going.

I know I keep promising to post the updated versions of the lists that I've done so far. I swear I'll get them done soon. Well, technically, all of them (through The Book Thief) are done already, I just need to post them.

I'm way off track, so without further ado, here is the list for The Great Gatsby.

[Important: Please note that trigger warnings are not necessarily to make it so that you can just avoid the content. There is a fairly popular mistaken belief that trigger warnings are censorship. That is not true. Trigger warnings exist so that, if you are sensitive to the content, you are made aware of it before it occurs and surprises you. This gives you a chance to prepare yourself mentally before reading it so that it does not affect you as negatively as it might if you didn’t know that it was going to happen. Also, please note that if you rely on triggers for the shock-value or plot twists (aka, “Well I can’t use trigger warnings because they’re spoilers!”), you aren’t a very good writer and you definitely aren’t taking into consideration the potential sensitivity of your audience.]

Triggers, listed in order of the number of occurrences are: death, alcohol, ableist language, racism, violence, sexual content, sexism, suicide, slurs, child abuse, and drugs.

The paragraph numbers and a general summary of each are listed on the following pages. For reference, the italicized numbers in the parenthesis are the page numbers in my book, and the total number of paragraphs in each chapter are listed below:

Chapter 1 - 152

Chapter 2 - 136

Chapter 3 - 171

Chapter 4 - 168

Chapter 5 - 153

Chapter 6 - 135

Chapter 7 - 415

Chapter 8 - 113

Chapter 9 - 155

Death

Death is mentioned in the following paragraphs. I added a summary when I felt that the paragraph needed an extra warning.

• Paragraph 122 (36) of chapter 2.
• In paragraphs 30 (44), 35, and 88 (49) of chapter 3, there are mentions of killing someone.
• In paragraphs 2 (61) of chapter 4, there is a mention of killing someone.
• In paragraph 4 (61) of chapter 4, there is a mention of drowning.
• Paragraphs 23 (65), 28, 29, 32 (66), 55 (68), and 72 (70) of chapter 4.
• In paragraph 76 (70) of chapter 4, someone reminisces about a friend of his getting shot in the stomach.
• In paragraph 77 (70) of chapter 4, there is a mention of people being executed with an electric chair.
• Paragraphs 59 (86), 127 (93), and 152 (96) of chapter 5.
• Paragraph 13 (100) of chapter 6.
• In paragraph 91 (106) of chapter 6, there is a mention of almost being drowned.
• Paragraphs 193 (127), 291 (134), 308 (136), and 387 (143) of chapter 7.
• In paragraph 290 (134) of chapter 7, there is a brief mention of someone looking like they “killed a man.”
• In paragraphs 315 (137), 316, 325 (138), 335 (139), 336, 340, 397 (144), and 398 of chapter 7, a woman is killed by being hit by a car and there is a description of the accident and her dead body.
• In paragraph 71 (157) of chapter 8, there is a brief mention of a dead body.
• Paragraphs 87 (158) and 91 of chapter 8.
• In paragraphs 112 (162) and 113 of chapter 8, there is a murder-suicide.
• In paragraph 1 (163), 3 (164), 11, 17 (165), and 45 (168) of chapter 9, there are mentions of dead bodies.
• Paragraph 19 (165), 22 (166), 29, 31 (167), 41, 42 (168), 57, 58 (169), 69, 88 (171), 94 (171), 98 (172), 115 (174) through 117, and 128 (176) of chapter 9.

Alcohol

Alcohol or being drunk are mentioned in the following paragraphs:

• Paragraphs 54 (10), 56, 74 (12) of chapter 1.
• Paragraphs 51 (29), 52, and 118 (35) of chapter 2.
• Paragraphs 1 (39), 3 (40), 4, 6 (41), 10 (42), 11, 19 (43), 41 (45), 54 (46), 59, 60 (47), 93 (50), and 101 (51) of chapter 3.
• Paragraphs 2 (61), 5 (62), 66 (70), 68, 136 (76), 137, and 144 (77) of chapter 4.
• Paragraph 111 (91) of chapter 5.
• Paragraphs 13 (100), 14, 22 (101), 38 (102), 60 (104), 82 (106), and 87 of chapter 6.
• Paragraphs 62 (118), 73, 87 (119), 100 (120), 106, 135 (122), 172 (126), 179, 187 (127), 222 (129), 283 (133), 299 (135), and 408 (145) of chapter 7.
• Paragraph 64 (156) of chapter 8.
• Paragraphs 68 (169) and 127 (176) of chapter 9.

Ableist Language

The ableist language used in this novel includes the words dumb and crazy. The instances that I noted are on the following paragraphs:

• In paragraph 27 (26) of chapter 2, the word dumb is used.
• In paragraphs 62 (31), 113 (35), 114, and 116 of chapter 2, the word crazy is used.
• In paragraph 68 (87) of chapter 5, the word idiot is used.
• In paragraph 56 (103) of chapter 6, the word crazy is used.
• In paragraph 135 (111) of chapter 6, the word dumb is used.
• In paragraph 122 (121) of chapter 7, the word dumb is used.
• In paragraphs 172 (126), 238 (130), and 248 (131) of chapter 7, the word crazy is used.
• In paragraph 222 (129) of chapter 7, the word stupid is used.
• In paragraph 64 (156) of chapter 8, the word stupid is used.
• In paragraph 107 (160) of chapter 8, the word crazy is used.
• In paragraphs 1 (163), 21 (166), and 36 (167) of chapter 9, the word mad is used.
• In paragraphs 141 (178) and 144 of chapter 9, the word crazy is used.

Racism

• In paragraphs 76 (12), 78 (13), 80 through 83 of chapter 1, a character mentions “The Rise of the Colored Empires,” and spounts some racist rhetoric, including that white people are the “dominant race.”

Violence

• In paragraphs 126 (37) and 127 of chapter 2, a man breaks his mistress’s nose.
• In paragraph 6 (62) of chapter 4, there is a mention of a man strangling his wife.
• In paragraph 9 (63) of chapter 4, there is a mention of someone having their nose shot off during World War I.
• In paragraph 32 (66) of chapter 4, a character talks about some fighting in the war.

Sexual Content

• In paragraph 37 (44) of chapter 3, there is a brief mention of the expectation of sex.
• In paragraph 13 (100) of chapter 6, there is a brief mention of brothels.
• In paragraph 228 (130) of chapter 7, there is a mention of sex.
• In paragraph 11 (149) of chapter 8, there is a mention of sex.

Sexism

Most of the sexism in this book is the use of the word bitch. There are also some period-typical misogynistic attitudes that show up, but I did not note those specific instances.

• In paragraph 43 (28) of chapter 2, the word bitch is used.
• In paragraph 337 (139) of chapter 7, the word bitch is used.
• In paragraph 123 (175) of chapter 9, the word bitch is used.

Suicide

• In paragraph 135 (54) of chapter 3, there is a brief mention of suicide.
• In paragraph 7 (63) of chapter 4, there is a mention of a man who killed himself by jumping in front of a subway train.
• In paragraph 32 (66) of chapter 4, a character mentions trying to die.

Slurs

• In paragraph 107 (34) of chapter 2, the word kike is used (it’s a slur against Jewish people).
• In paragraph 6 (41) of chapter 3, the word gypsy is used (it’s a slur against the Romani people).

Drugs

• In paragraph 103 (90) of chapter 5, there is a brief mention of being in the “drug business.”

Child Abuse

• In paragraph 112 (173) of chapter 9, there is a brief mention of someone beating their child.

Up next: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

A Note for Teachers or Librarians: If you want to distribute these lists to your students or have them available to patrons, I can format the text into a singular sheet of paper--either as a flyer or a tri-fold brochure. Let me know if you want that; My rates are variable and low, as I don't want to create a paywall to accessibility.

Love Always,

Sam

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