A Murder and a Metaphor: Litkicks Mystery Spot #1

Fiction,

History,

Can you identify the famous literary work represented in the photograph above? Here are a couple of hints:

• You have definitely read this novel. It's one of the most widely loved novels of all time.

• A person is killed, during one of the novel's climactic scenes, by the forked road near the top right of the photo.

• The vast expanse in the photo's center, which appears to be a work of geometric modern art, provides one of the novel's central metaphors.

This image has been seen before but has never before, as far as I know, been connected to or identified as related to the famous novel it depicts. I had to do some research and make some educated guesses to ascertain the exact spot myself, and I will explain my reasoning in the post to follow.

I spotted this image while browsing a historical map site referred to me on Twitter. The photo was taken in 1924, and I will reveal its source and link to the very cool map website when I reveal the identity of the spot in the next post.

Please post your guesses by commenting. Just to keep it interesting ... I will not publish any comments until I reveal the answer, because it would ruin the fun if a commenter gave it away. I wonder how many of you will guess it!

FOLLOW-UP: the answer is revealed here.

This article is part of the Litkicks Mystery Spot series. The next post in the series is In Gatsby's Tracks: Locating the Valley of Ashes in a 1924 Photo.

161 Responses to "A Murder and a Metaphor: Litkicks Mystery Spot #1"

Weedpatch camp. Grapes of Wrath.

Hooper Ranch. Not Weedpatch. Grapes of Wrath. That's my guess.

The Great Gatsby

Great Gatsby

Gatsby?

I switch my guess to Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men.'

0-0

Old TJ sees all.

fun game.

Heeey, I like this! Mystery Photos... do more, do more!

For this one I guess . . . The Great Gatsby.

Nope. I'm moving my guess back to The Grapes of Wrath. The Hooper Ranch guards killing Casy by the road.

No! I change my guess! Valley of Ashes. The Great Gatsby!

I got it! You know I did. Great Gatsby. Wilson's Garage. Valley of Ashes. I found the satellite image. Right here: http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/index.jsp?z=6&p=1026229,213087&c=orth...

I'm going to guess and say Of Mice and Men

Keep the guesses coming, folks! I'm not going to publish the comments yet, because I don't want to give away the answer, but several of you did get it right (I'm impressed) and several of you also sent good guesses that were incorrect. I'm going to let this ride a little longer before I put up a new post explaining the answer.

I believe this is an aerial photo of the ash heaps between West Egg and NYC in Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby. The crossroads was the spot where Myrtle was killed. Great Post - love a good mystery - can't wai for Part II.

A 15-second guess off the top of my head, Gatsby.

This is northern Queens, somewhere between Flushing, Corona, Jackson Heights and Long Island City -- probably New York State Road 25A, Northern Boulevard, and the novel is "The Great Gatsby."

If the form in the middle is the "valley of ashes," then it's The Great Gatsby.

It's got to be The Great Gatsby -- the ash heaps, right? Great find, Levi, and great game!

The Great Gatsby? Is the photo of the ash heaps?

It's the Valley of the Ashes in the Great Gatsby - future home of Shea Stadium, Citi Field and the nearby World's Fair. Fitzgerald's Queensboro Ballad, as it were....

Great photo!

The Grapes of Wrath?

It's the Great Gatsby. I haven't read it in years, but somehow the clues you provided brought it all together. Jim Sleeper

The Great Gatsby?

From the hints, I'll go with the Great Gatsby. Fitting, since I'm in East Egg right now. This seems like a fun series.

The Great Gatsby!

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Great Gatsby.

(Your reference to the 1924 NYC map, which I just heard about the other day, was as important a clue as any of the others.)

gotta be east egg, long island sound.

Gatsby!

Great Gatsby, huh?

My best guess is The Great Gatsby. The death you're referring to is the road accident, and this is a picture of the road linking West Egg and East Egg.

To Kill a Mockingbird?

Great contest by the way...

"To Kill A Mockingbird"

I'm going to guess that it's from The Great Gatsby, and the field is the ash field below the Dr TJ Eckleburg sign, close to where Myrtle Wilson is killed.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby? Mainly because of the first hint.

Is it The Great Gatsby??? This is killing me, I have to know!!!

The Great Gatsby? Is that Long Island?

is it The Great Gatsby? Right where Myrtle is killed?

To Kill a Mockingbird?

Great Gatsby, obviously

To Kill a Mockingbird.

Great Gatsby.

To Kill a Mockingbird?

Anna Kerenina

I got your email this morning. What a great puzzle! My deduction: Great Neck, Long Island, i.e. East and West Egg, from The Great Gatsby. That vast area in the middle, situated between the two Eggs, is the valley of ashes. The fork in the road is near where Myrtle is mowed down by Daisy in the yellow car. It took me some thinking to decide this, and it all really turned on your description of the novel - I had to ask myself, What universally beloved novel features a sudden roadside death and is rooted in a specific place based on true geography. As I worked my way down the list of Faulkner novels, I couldn't admit that any are widely loved. I considered the date of the map, and reasoned that unless this was a very rural area, there would have been considerable development since the 1920s. Ah, the Jazz Age, I thought. And BAM! it hit me. I hope I'm right, because the certainty is almost overwhelming. I'm like this with mysteries: if I have any true addiction, a jonesing which I will take to my grave, it is puzzling (and rarely, solving) mysteries.

to kill a mockingbird! "macon, GA"

The Great Gatsby?

Great Gatsby. Would never have guessed it from the photo. It was only the second clue that nailed it down for me. Even the first clue about the metaphor escaped me. Please give us a reminder when you finish up.

The Great Gatsby. Eh? Eh?

Hello.

Hmm. This is a tough one. I have no idea actually, but I'm going to stab in the dark and guess _The Great Gatsby_.

Thanks for the fun mystery! Enjoying the site, which I just discovered yesterday.

Best,
Leigh

The Great Gatsby. It's where Myrtle gets run over by the car....I think! lol

That's a very early picture of Flushing Meadows, aka the "Valley of the Ashes" from The Great Gatsby. As for "widely loved", I'm glad SOMEONE liked it.

I wish we could see signage! But even without a glimpse of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's advertisement, I'm going to have to guess F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

The Grapes of Wrath

My guess is "The Great Gatsby."

This is great. I'm going to guess it's The Great Gatsby?

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby. Valley of Ashes, later the site of the NY World's Fair.

As an English teacher, the first thought is always "Gatsby", and I was searching the site within seconds for those mystical giant spectacles that watched over the grisly comings and goings. This must certainly be the "no man's land" between worlds I read about in my youth, probably a dozen times in various classes. I wonder what they built on it now... and what it was used for at the time.

The Great Gatsby. And your CAPTCHA is annoying.

I can't say that I recognize the arial photo immediately, but based on the clues my best guess is this:

The photo shows the location where Myrtle was killed Daisy and Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. This happens when Daisy and Gatsby are zooming off to New York and the "vast expanse" in the center of the photograph must depict the two egg-shaped areas in New York that the narrator recounts. The East and West Egg. The center might also be the Valley of the Ashes...

That's my guess :)

Is this the area depicted in The Great Gatsby?

The Great Gatsby (the valley of ashes)

Awesome!

Monroeville, Alabama, hometown of Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird"

It probably ISN'T The Great Gatsby, but I really want it to be, so there's my guess.

Grapes of Wrath

Murder at the New York World's Fair?

NY city, where twins towers are stood

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

The Onion Field by Joe Wambaugh

I believe this is the Salinas Valley, at the site where Geore killed Lenny in Steinbeck's fabulous "Of Mice and Men."

This photo screams the Valley of Ashes from The Great Gatsby. It looks like where Myrtle Wilson was killed.

What as wonderful contest.

...or Great Gatsby?

The Great Gatsby!

Flushing Meadows...

Don't know anything about the book though. ;-(
Looked up the pic on "Tin Eye"! ;-)

Great Gatsby?

Hurry up and post, the suspense is killing me! : )

Where Myrtle is hit by Daisy's car in GREAT GATSBY?

Great Gatsby. Scene at the garage where the guy is run over.

The Great Gatsby

Are those the train tracks/train yard running through Great Neck, which would make the book you're talking about The Great Gatsby? /straws: clutching at. Google maps is giving me a headache.