What mythological allusions are used in the story, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz?

Many references to myths and fables make the story seem more like a fable itself. On the first page, when the reader learns that John is from Hades—the underworld of the dead in Greek myth—the story veers from the path of realism into the realm of fantasy. Characters in the story repeatedly make reference to how hot it is in Hades (“Is it hot enough for you down there?”), and when John leaves to go to St. Midas—another reference to a fable—his father assures him that “we’ll keep the home fires burning.”

Other references to historical and mythical figures abound. When Percy and John near the Washingtons’ property, John muses, “What desperate transaction lay hidden here? What a moral expedient of a bizarre Croesus?” Croesus was a Greek king known for his great riches. More than once, the Washingtons’ property is referred to as “El Dorado,” the name of a mythical South American kingdom fabled to be rich with gold. Finally, when Braddock Washington is offering his diamond bribe to God, Fitzgerald writes, “Prometheus Enriched was calling to witness forgotten sacrifices, forgotten rituals, prayers obsolete before the birth of Christ.” This is a reference to Prometheus Bound, a drama based on myth by the Greek writer Aeschylus. Prometheus was a mythological character who defended men from the Greek god Zeus; Zeus punished him by chaining him to a rock and having an eagle endlessly eat his liver.

All these references to legend and myth cause the reader to think of the story as a symbolic fable, rather than a realistic story. Moreover, they suggest that the themes in this story are universal and ageless.