F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz"

Fitzgerald's story "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" was not what I was expecting; it was better.
     The story about a fairly wealthy boy from Hades, aka Hell is not necessarily interesting, except when the author turns this seemingly uninteresting place into a place of refuge.  I say that, because John T. Unger found that the Hades he was from was not Hell, but his visit to El Dorado in Montana was actually the epitome of hell.  Here he discovers that his new friend Percy is not really his friend.  If he had been then Percy would have never invited John to visit, especially since no outsider ever leaves El Dorado alive!
The story of the founding of El Dorado is interesting...to have a man from the south discover a large diamond by accident normally would not be that interesting; yet in this case it was because that diamond was as big as a mountain.  This man and subsequent generations kept the secret of their wealth by doing some heinous crimes and by keeping their own families brainwashed as to what is right and what their place is in the world.  The fact that they had a 'bowl' with prisoners in it reminded me of hell in that it would represent the pits of hell. 
     I loved the picture that Fitzgerald painted of the house-the diamonds covering the walls and the tub in the floor that was surrounded by an aquarium.  It makes this place appear to be a refuge, but as John learns it is no refuge, but hell itself.
     The ending was probably the best part of the story, at least for me.  John and the two girls are running for safety after the planes have bombarded the home and they see Braddock Washington, his wife, Percy and two slaves entering a secret passage-presumably to escape-kind of like the underground railway, however we soon learn that the whole place is wired as the mountain explodes.  Then John asks Kismine (nice play on the name here -kiss mine or kiss me) for the jewels she was to take with her so that they could see how wealthy they would be and he discovers that she took rhinestones and not diamonds.  She valued these more than diamonds, because to her they were precious.
     The whole story was about love and greed.  John and Kismine fall in love, but that love is in jeopardy because John is an outsider and all outsiders will be put to death to keep the family secret-kind of reminded me of Romeo and Juliet.  And the greed was apparent throughout the story, and we see this when Fitzgerald informs us that the family will do anything to keep their home, wealth, and way of life a secret.
     I really liked this story, because it made you think at first that it was going to be a simple story of young love, but then it turns the tables and you realize that it is a story of life and death.  Plus I really liked how Fitzgerald made the town of Hades a haven while El Dorado becomes Hell!