FROM GATSBY TO THE DIGITAL AGE: THE CONTINUITY OF IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION AND BELONGING

Abstract

This article examines the construction of identity and belonging across historical periods, from the early twentieth century to the digital age. Using F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby as a literary lens, it explores how Gatsby’s carefully curated persona reflects the enduring human effort to shape and present the self. Drawing on performative identity theory, the analysis moves beyond questions of authenticity to show that identity is constituted in and through performance, rather than simply masked by it. The study focuses on repetition, circulation, and recognition as the fundamental mechanisms that constitute identity. While social platforms have evolved, digital systems now mediate visibility and recognition through algorithmic ranking. By tracing these persistent dynamics, the article reads The Great Gatsby as a critical resource for understanding how identity and belonging are formed in changing technological contexts. It argues that the algorithmic self does not break from modern performative identity but intensifies it through digital systems, continuing the same logic of visibility and recognition.