english

"They're such beautiful shirts.... It makes me sad because I've never seen such—such beautiful shirts before."

Daisy says this quote during her reunion with her long-lost lover, Gatsby. When Gatsby invites both Nick and Daisy to his house and shows them his English shirts, Daisy begins to have an emotional breakdown. Gatsby tries to flaunt his wealth and prove to Daisy that he can fullfill her wishes of living a lavish life, and that he perfectly fits the mold of a upper-class man. Her actions reflect her superficiality and shallowness, as the simple display of wealth proves that she cares more about socioeconomic status than actual love. However, Daisy also expresses regret because she sees what Gatsby could have provided her, and she understands that she cannot go back into the past and choose her husband again.

"I'm the Sheik of Araby.

Your love belongs to me.

At night when you're asleep

Into your tent I'll creep—"

The speakers of this quotatation are the little girls that Jordan Baker and Nick Carraway hear while driving through central park. In the car, they discuss Gatsby's past with Daisy. The song is about a man who attracts beautiful women and claims he is the embodiment of love. The last two lines of the stanza represents Gatsby's creepy obsession with Daisy. Even when Daisy is unaware of his presence, he continues to stalk and follow her. Aditionally, the second line of the stanza represents Gatsby's arrogance. He believes that all the wealth he accumulated over the years makes him inherently entitled to Daisy's love. This also shows how Gatsby views Daisy as an object that belongs to him, instead of a person who is equal to him.

"But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground."

Nick says this when he describes the billboard located in the Valley of Ashes- the designated industrial wasteland between the city and West Egg. The billboard depicts the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg, an optician. The Valley of Ashes represents the darker side of the roaring 20's, as this is the place where the dream's of the working class are deferred, forgotten, and lost sight of. Dr. T.J. Eckleberg is just one example of this struggle, as his "eyes dimmed little by little" as he loses hope of expanding his medical practice.

5. "... they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing."

As news circulates about gatsbys past Nick says this as he describes Gatsby's past for how it really is , he is talking about gatsbys dreams before they were influenced by Dan cody.

Gatsby holds on to a reality that doesn't exist. His unreality becomes his reality if only he will spend enough money and somehow will his way back in time, back to when he was with Daisy. There is of course a chance that he might woo Daisy back but things can never be like what they were before. Whatever Gatsby was hanging seemed in reach but never graspable. Nick describing young Gatsby's real physical dreams and how they influenced his real dream before getting on Dan Cody's boat, Gatsby's past.

"It eluded us then, but that's no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... and one fine morning------"

On his last night before moving back to Minnesota from West Egg, Nick visits Gatsby's empty mansion. He talks about Gatsby, the green light, before he says this quotation. The "we" is society and this represents how society repeats the cycle of fighting to achieve their dream of recreating the past, even if those attempts inevitably result in their demise. Gatsby is just one of the victims of this deadly cycle, because no matter how hard he tried to recreate the past with Daisy, "one fine morning" he gets killed in his own pool for a crime he did not commit. However, when Nick says this quote, he stops his sentence midway because he does not want to be overly negative at the end of the book and deliberately crush all of the reader's spirits about achieving their goal. He also does not want to lie, as he mentioned in the beginning of his book that he is one of the few honest people he knows.

"... it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men."

This line serves as one of the last lines of the intro. Nick is describing gatsby and saying a lot of contradictory things about him. Nick is giving us insight on the future saying that no matter what gatsby had successfully achieved, such as money and the american dream, there will always be foul dust that floated in the wake of them, what preyed on him, stuff that he will never be able to achieve even with all the money he can get. Such as daisy and being respected and his life for that matter. The foul dust could also represent the foul things that he did in life to achieve the american dream such as lying scamming cheating. Even though he has successfully " made it", there will always be that moral dust that will shame him and always follow him around, that is what nick says temporarily closed his interest of "short winded elations" which

"Self-control! ... I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out...."

On the hottest day of summer, Nick, Jordan, Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy all head into the city. Gatsby and Daisy make it painfully obvious that they are having an affair. Tom notices and starts to confront Gatsby. The second he has suspicians of his wife cheating on him, he needs to be the dominant man and put her back into her place. Fitzgerald conveys his hypocrisy and sexism, as he has been cheating on Daisy with Myrtle long before Daisy's extramarital affairs, but still he acts as if he is the only victim of infidelity.

"God sees everything,"....

"That's an advertisement,"...

Mr. Wilson is in shock after his wife Myrtle's death, while having a conversation with his neighebor Micchaelis, and accuses whoever Myrtle's affair was of murdering her. He looks out the window and into the eyes of dr tj eckleberg, claiming that god sees everything, while michaelis assures him that was just an advertisement. The doctor might be god might be frowning upon american society and how it is a moral wasteland filled with many people, specifically the upper class that are cynical and self-absorbed and dont care about others. Mr. wilson now has seen the true form of deceit of the upper class while michaelis doesn't really understand and doesnt proceed to do anything. This is why Wilson takes action, going to kill Gatsby,the person he thought killed his wife. During the 20s, the working class becomes increasingly aware of the class imbalance and even takes action.

. "And I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool!"

Nick is at a dinner party with Tom and Daisy Buchanan. He asks questions about Daisy's baby, and she responds with this quotation. Daisy implies that a girl can live a better quality life if she is ignorant and materialistic. If her daughter was a fool, than she would marry rich and end up living a lavish life. Even though Daisy is intelligent, her rationale leads her to live her life as a "beautiful little fool", as she chooses to stay with Tom. That way, she can rely on him for his wealth, status, and support. She wants the best for her daughter, and in the 1920s, where gender inequality is very prevalent, this deems the only efficent way to do so

"Rise from bed.....

Dumbbell exercises and wall-scaling.....

Study electricity, etc.....

Work....."

Nick is the speaker of this quote. After Gatsby dies, Henry Gatz his father visits Nick and shows him a notebook in which young Gatsby wrote a schedule for his self-improvement. This demonstrates Gatsby's original hardworking and disciplined nature. He believed that he could climb the social ladder through sacrifice, determination, and building an ambitious schedule. However, Gatsby eventually grew tired of this process after he met Daisy- he thought his process was too slow, and wanted to gain wealth and success fast to buy love from her. This eventually made his resort to unethical methods of wealth such as bootlegging alcohol.

"With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment, and as she expanded the room grew smaller and smaller around her, until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the smoky air."

Nick is the speaker of this quote. Nick is at a party at Tom Buchanon's apartment in New York City and Myrtle changes into a elegant (epensive) dress. Nick is talking about the two sides of Myrtle Wilson- the person that she is and the person that she wants to be. Although she is part of the working class, she desperately seeks a better life. The dress is a symbol of her desire to fit into the upper-class, as when she puts it on, she transforms from a poor, garage owner's wife to a woman with confidence and arrogance and wealth

"He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through the frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about... like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees."

Nick is the speaker of this quote. He is describing Gatsby's last moments and how he sees the world before Wilson comes and kills him. In the moment, Gatsby reflect on his love for Daisy, and how he realizes that it is impossible to attain this goal. He looks at the "unfamiliar sky" and the "frigtening leaves" as this is the first time that he has come to terms with reality, as it was something that he was trying to run away from- always trying to live in his imagination (perfect). This is a new perspective for him, which is why he sees everything as unfamiliar and intimidating. He also realizes what a grotesque thing a rose is. A rose typically symbolizing beauty and love and gatsby now comes to reality and realizes she is unattainable, the rose AKA Daisy kinda loses her beauty and love/ value.

"Then from the living room I heard a sort of choking murmur and part of a laugh, followed by [a] voice on a clearly artificial note:

'I certainly am awfully glad to see you again.'"

Daisy says this at her and gatsbys reunion, however she was the only one that did not know they were being set uo again. Nick had planned this all out with gatsby because hes a stalker. This was an awkward moment for each other after not seeing each other for 5 years. Its weird to be in each others presence now that daisy has moved on to another chapter of her life, but gatsby is still stuck on the same line. Daisy's awkwardness is cuz shes taken back, also because she maybe feels guilty about chooses tom and would have to actually faced the man that she betrayed. And also because gatsby knew she fell in love with the money.

"They're a rotten crowd.... You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."

Nick says this to Gatsby after spending time in the morning. This is the parting line of their final interaction with each other. This was the only complement Nick ever gave to him so Nick does have mixed feelings about his close friend. However, he believes that Gatsby is different from the other wealthy characters in the novel. The diction of the word "worth" is ironic because even though characters such as Daisy and Tom are born into wealth and live a luxurious life, they are morally worth nothing as they prove to be shallow superficial and cynical people. However, despite Gatsby immoral ways of making money, he is worth a lot more than them because he 1. Worked for it and 2 Nick realizes the greatness upon his character and that sets him apart from others. In this quote, Fitzgerald is showing the hollowness that the stereotypical upper class member hides with their wealth.

"I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth."

Nick says this quote at the beginning of the book as he shares what his father told him. He conveys the message that wealth isnt the only aspect that is distributed unfairly. More importantly, the "fundamental decencies" such as kindness, empathy, and generosity are more abundant in some people at the moment of birth. This comment shows very good as a intro because it alludes to the characters that he will meet later in the book, such as Tom and Daisy. These two characters come are born into wealth, but more importantly, are unfairly assigned to more dishonorable and shallow character traits, that will drive many people like gatsby and nick away from them. In part, nick is saying that it is not their fault theyre so terrible

"My dear... I'm going to give you this dress as soon as I'm through with it. I've got to get another one tomorrow. I'm going to make a list of all the things I've got to get."

Myrtle says this to Mrs. McKee while they are the party located in Tom Buchanan's NYC apartment. Myrtle is a working class women who desperately wants to become part of the upper class. As she wears the dress that Tom likely gave to her, her personality begins to shift to a more confident and arrogant woman. She is presenting herself as someone who is wealthy and rich and believes that the dress is a efficient mask to hide her true identity. This is also how she and the rest of the lower class view the upper class- as people able to waste their money by carelessly giving things away and buying new clothes constantly.

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Nick says this quote as after Gatsby died. It is the night before he moves back to Minnesota from New York and it is the last line of the book. Literally, the imagery is depicting a boat that rows towards the desired destination but is constantly getting pushes back from the stronger forces of the current and wind. TMetaphorically, this is Fitzgerald's message that society's inability to give up on their dreams, even as the obstacles continue to try to push us back. This is a reference to Gatsby and his pursue of Daisy, throughout the novel he did everything in his power to recreate the past with his ex lover by ___ and ____.

"Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope."

Nick says this in the beginning of the book as he introduces himself as a non-judgemental, honest person. Carraway was always accused to being a politician by reserving his judgements, but this quote reveals a deeper intention as to why he does so. He is telling the readers to not base an opinion on someone without truly getting to know them. To give ppl the benefit of the doubt This rationale is exemplified through Gatsby. To many that quickly judge him, however, Nick tried his best to reserve his judgements and they ultimately developed a longlasting friendship and in the future, Nick was able to see through some of his flaws and find the greatness in gatsby, hence "the great gatsby"

"Sophisticated---God, I'm sophisticated!"

Daisy says this quote to Nick as she talks about how she has developed a cynical worldwide. She now believes that everything is terrible, and she tells him that this perspective is common among many upper class people. She sees herself as being more "sophisicated" than other citizens because shes seen more of the world because of her status. She feels unimpressed with the world because shes seem everything and finds everyday dull because now nothing makes her excited.m She resorts to being cynical to cope and acts like being wealthy and rich is annoying. This proves how shallow both she and the rest of the upper class population are because this "cynical" perspective is not exactly valid because her wealth and privilege protects her from the truth of many things.

"He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way."

This is gatbsby and daisy's reunion nick calls klipspringer over to play the piano and by then it seems like they have forgotten about nick. And nick wonders whether daisy will live upt to the full expectation of gatsby because yk idealized but their loved was fully rekindled. Gatsby spent over 5 years trying to find and see daisy again, hence it was his creative passion, his obsession. Feathers symbolize freedom and flight so this could symbolize how gatsby let the idealize version of daisy fly in his head freely, and nick wonders if this will cause him some disappointment (daisy not good enough???). Also, gatsby had "thrown himself in the situation" and this could mena that gatsby was blinded for his desire with daisy, once the obsession with finding daisy again started, he may never get out alive

"So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight."

Nick is the speaker of this quote. Nick, Jordan, and Tom ride back from the city after after Gatsby and Tom fight over Daisy at the Plaza Hotel. After a long day, Nick suddenly remembers that is his his birthday. He is 30, and he talks about how he is entering an intimidating era of his life. This could be a reference to mortality and how Nick is literally approaching his death as he gets older. The quote also foreshadows Myrtle's death, as later in the chapter, they approach her murder scene. Also, they are driving through the Valley of Ashes, AKA industrial wasteland, and this is the location where the dreams of the working class go to die.

"What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?"

Gatsby says how as a young man he found his true love in Daisy, realizing he would rather spend the rest of his life with her than simply fulfilling his youthful dreams. He vistis him after the fight he had with tomGatsby tells nick about his relationship with daisy before he went into the ware. Gatsby admits that all the things he did especially to become wealthy were for daisy and not the actual purpose of doing 'great" things. This could allude to the title and be ironic since gatsby wasn't really as great. This proves why he took the easy/fast route rather than the hard working root. If there was no point in taking the time to do great things, when he could simple just do them quijcly and tell daisy all about it.

"Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life."

Nick Carraway, reflects on the enigmatic allure of the city and his own position within it. The mention of "our line of yellow windows" suggests a collective human experience represented by the city's illuminated windows. This shared illumination, however, contributes to an air of secrecy for those observing from the darkening streets. Nick expresses a dual perspective, being both an insider ("within") and an outsider ("without") to the city's complexities. The phrase "simultaneously enchanted and repelled" encapsulates Nick's ambivalence towards the diverse and sometimes elusive aspects of life he encounters. Overall, the quote captures the dichotomy of fascination and discomfort that defines Nick's experience in the vibrant yet enigmatic world of "The Great Gatsby."