Catholic Prohibition of Divorce

The Catholic Prohibition of Divorce is a rule invoked within the novel to explain the impossibility of marriage between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, despite their ongoing affair. It is presented not as a matter of personal conviction or institutional doctrine, but as a convenient, and ultimately false, explanation for why the two cannot formalize their relationship. The rule thus functions as a narrative device that exposes the characters' willingness to manipulate religious and social conventions to serve their own purposes, while also highlighting the deeper, unspoken barriers that keep Tom and Myrtle apart.

Origin and Context of the Claim

The rule is first and most explicitly articulated by Catherine, Myrtle's sister, during the drunken party at the couple's New York apartment. When Nick Carraway inquires why Myrtle does not simply divorce George Wilson and marry Tom, Catherine provides a definitive answer: "It's really his wife that's keeping them apart. She's a Catholic, and they don't believe in divorce." This statement is delivered with an air of authority, as if it resolves the matter entirely. However, Nick immediately recognizes the lie: "Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie." The claim is thus exposed as a fabrication, a piece of misinformation circulated to provide a socially acceptable reason for the affair's continuation without the commitment of marriage.

Function as a Social and Narrative Device

The invocation of the Catholic Prohibition of Divorce serves multiple purposes within the story. For Catherine and, by extension, Myrtle and Tom, it provides a ready-made excuse that shifts the blame for their inability to marry onto an external, unchangeable religious rule. This allows them to avoid confronting the more uncomfortable truths: that Tom, despite his affair, has no genuine intention of leaving his wife, Daisy Buchanan, and that the social and economic gulf between the wealthy Tom and the working-class Myrtle makes a legitimate union unlikely. The lie also reflects a broader pattern in the novel, where characters use religion and morality as a shield for their own actions. Tom Buchanan himself, earlier in the same chapter, pontificates about the need to preserve the white race and civilization, citing a book called "The Rise of the Colored Empires" to justify his own prejudices and sense of superiority. The false claim about Daisy's Catholicism is a parallel maneuver, a cynical deployment of religious doctrine to obscure personal convenience.

Contrast with Other Religious and Moral References

The Catholic Prohibition of Divorce stands in stark contrast to other religious and moral references in the novel, which are often treated with irony or as empty gestures. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, a faded billboard advertisement, are described as "the eyes of God" by George Wilson, who sees them as a witness to his wife's infidelity. This is a desperate, personal interpretation of a commercial sign, not an expression of organized faith. Similarly, Gatsby's own moral code is a self-created one, a "Platonic conception of himself" that he follows with religious devotion, but it has no connection to any established church or doctrine. The false claim about Daisy's Catholicism, therefore, fits into a world where religious language and symbols are detached from their original meanings and are instead repurposed to serve individual needs—whether to justify an affair, to console a grieving husband, or to fuel a personal dream.

Significance and Thematic Resonance

The rule's significance lies not in its theological accuracy but in its exposure of the characters' moral evasions. The lie about Daisy's religion is a small but telling detail in a novel filled with larger deceptions and self-deceptions. It underscores the theme of carelessness that Nick Carraway later identifies as the defining trait of Tom and Daisy Buchanan: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." The Catholic Prohibition of Divorce, as a fabricated rule, is one of the tools they use to maintain their careless arrangement, allowing Tom to continue his affair without consequence and Myrtle to cling to the false hope of a future with him. It is a rule that, in the end, means nothing and everything—nothing as a matter of faith, but everything as a marker of the characters' willingness to bend any truth to suit their desires.