great gatsby

Themes : Big ideas in the novel

Definition : a powerful idea the author explores throughout the story

What are the 3 themes from The Great Gatsby?

1) Truth vs. rumors

2) Rebirth / second chances

3) The American dream

1) Truth vs. rumors

• Rumors are often more ________ than the truth

• People believe what sounds ____________

• When truth comes out it causes ____________

exciting, interesting, disappointment

Truth vs. Rumors example in novel

The mystery and rumors ab Gatsby

2) Rebirth / second chances

• Gatsby believes he can _______________

• He tries to recreate the _______ with _________

• The “______” symbolize Rebirth

• he can start over

• recreate the past with Daisy

• Eggs (like Easter eggs!)

3) The American Dream

• Originally : success through _____ work. If you work hard, you become successful and happy - no matter where you start.

• It’s about opportunity, self-improvement, a better _____

• In Gatsby : author shows that American dream has _______

• Instead of hard work = _______ , it becomes ________, parties, showing off, status, etc.

• It becomes ________ and _________

hard, future, changed, success, money, shallow and empty

2) The American Dream

How Gatsby represents it:

Gatsby…

• Starts p_____

• Becomes ______

• Throws big parties, buys car, house

But why?

• Not for ha______ or g______

He does it to impress Daisy

So, his dream isn’t about _________, it’s about winning someone back and proving he’s worthy.

poor, rich, happiness, growth, success

2) The American Dream : What Fitzgerald is saying

• He is criticizing the 1920s.

• He says people care more about wealth and pleasure than m______.

• The dream turned into pursuit of _________ (hedonism)

• _________ does not bring real happiness

• Gatsby gets everything he thought he wanted but ends up alone and dead - his dream is empty

morals, pleasure, money

Hedonism

Pursuit of pleasure

Original dream : h____ w_____ = ______

1920s dream : M______ = s_______ = p______

hard work, success, money, status, pleasure

American dream symbols

• car = wealth and status

• color motif

Motif

something that appears again and again

Motifs in The Great Gatsby

1)

2)

Time and color

What type is this?

1) Time

• Hundreds of references to time

• Gatsby constantly talks about the ______

• He wants to ______ and fix t____

• “Can’t repeat the past? Of course you can!”

past

relive, time

What type is this?

2) Colors

• Colors highlight ________ in the 1920s (excess vs. poverty)

conflicts

What does yellow highlight?

Wealth, materialism, excess

• Gatsby’s yellow car

What does green highlight

money and jealousy

• the green light

What does blue highlight?

rebirth

What does white highlight?

innocence, honor, purity

Symbol = an object that represents something bigger

What are the 3 symbols in the Great Gatsby?

The car, eggs, eyes of T.G. Eckleberg

What is this?

1) The car

• shows you’ve _______ the American dream (s______ and prosperity)

• Gatsby’s car = ______ = his American dream is ______ and beauty

achieved, success, yellow, wealth

Symbols

2) Eggs

• Represent _______ and second _______

• East egg : ____ money

• West egg : _____ money (what character?)

• rebirth, chances

• old, new (Gatsby)

• archetypal symbol for birth, reneral, second chances

Symbols

3) Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg

• Represent _____ or a person’s _________

• Suggests question “Is anyone _________? Are there ____________?”

• Shows moral emptiness of 1920 and Fitzgerald’s struggle with moral vacuum

God, consciousness, watching, consequences

Modernism was a movement in art and literature in the early 1900s.

• It happened because people started feeling like the world _______________________

• doesn’t make sense anymore.

Reasons why modernism happened

1) WW1

2) Einstein

3) Sigmund Freud

Reason 1 for _________ : WW1

• Millions of people died

• War wasn’t heroic / romantic - it was _______

• The use of the _______ showed everyone this reality

• People lost faith in traditional values

brutal, camera

Reason 2 for __________ : Einstein

• Time and space are ______ not fixed (it can change depending on speed and gravity)

• Reality _____ flexible than we thought

• World made less sense and more ________ than they thought

relative, more, chaotic

__________ reason 3: Freud

• He said your ___________ controls your behavior

Before, people believed humans were logical and moral

After: people believed humans were emotional, flawed, controlled by impulse

• Frued’s physcology emphasized the ________ mind

• subconscious

individual

Modernism grew from WW1 because….

The war was brutal and bloody, not glorious and romantic. The camera showed everyone this reality.

Modernism grew from Einstein because….

Space and time were now relative. People feel that the world made less sense and was more chaotic than they thought.

Modernism grew from Freud because….

according to Freud, it was your subconscious that controlled you

3 other names used to describe modernism (don’t need)

Post-Enlightenment, Jazz Age, The Lost Generation

Important writers in modernism (don’t need)

Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Modernism is a _________ attitude from a time period

literary

3 characteristics of modernism

rejection of romanticism, free structure, disillusionment

Modernism characteristic 1 : rejection of romanticism

• no perfect _______

• resulted in _________

Modernism characteristic 2 : free structure

• no strict _____

Modernism characteristic 3 : disillusionment

• the ________ world that made sense ______ ________

• and the phrase no higher _______

heroes, antiheroes, rules, traditional, broke down, truth

Was religion a theme in modernism?

There was moral ambiguity : characters don’t clearly know right and wrong

Modernist Art

Focused on 3 things :

1) imagination over reason

2) pleasure

3) importance of the individual

Wassily Kandinsky painted

Farbstudie Quadrate

Paul Klee painted

head of a man, going senite

Pablo Picasso painted

• He used _____ism

Ma jolie, Guitarist & self

cubism

F. Scott Fitzgerald Facts

• Married _____ and moved to _______ where they ______

• Zelda wouldn’t marry him until he had enough _______

• Became famous overnight after publishing ________________________

What are his 4 characteristics?

1) Meticulous ________ __________

2) Self _______ and __________

3) Lived the _______ he _______ about

4) Competition with __________

Zelda, Paris, partied, money, this side of paradise

1) Meticulous self-editor (cared ab pef writing)

2) Self conscious and insecure - felt others seceded more easily

3) Lived the life he wrote about (parties, wealth disillusionment)

4) Competition with Zelda (she was also ambitious and influenced his lifestyle)

Truth vs. Rumors other examples from the book

What is represents : Rumors are more appealing than truth, excitement changes what people think is real, the truth is disappointing.

• People spread rumors about Gatsby (he killed someone, German spy)

• The truth (he’s just a man in love) is less interesting

Rebirth / second chances examples in the book

What it represents : Someone can reinvent themself

• Gatsby changes name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby

• He believes he can repeat the past with Daisy. He tries to recreate his romance with Daisy, ultimately seeking redemption and new beginnings.

The American dream examples from the book

What is represents : success and hard work, then in 1920s shallow, empty, focused on pleasure

• Gatsby gets rich to win Daisy

• His parties show hedonism (alcohol, wealth, status)

• His dream ends in loneliness and death - showing dream is corrupted

Time

What is represents : Inability to let go of the past

Examples in the book are…

• Gatsby says you can repeat the past

• the clock almost falling when he reunites with daisy

Color Motif

Blue Example in book

• He wears a blue suit when he reunites with Daisy

Color Motif

White Example in book (shows fake innocence, purity)

• Daisy’s and Jordan in white dresses - they seem pure, wealthy, elegant, BUT DAISY ISN’T MORALLY PURE