The Great Gatsby

Form & Structure

• Eulogy to Gatsby from Nick - commemorates Gatsby’s life

• Retrospective, unreliable narrator - 2 years after events happen, may be biased

• Non-linear - Nick tells events in order of his memories, not events

• Ellipses in time - elliptical nature of narration, gaps are filled in with hearsay from other characters or things he found out later

• Modern, 20th century tragedy - individual suffers regardless of class / gender, hero’s can also be a victim, their downfall is because of society (not gods), Chorus = narrator or multiple characters

• Realism - topics covered have to do w// realities of 20th century America, social life & class, sexuality, relationships, includes real places

• Social satire - ironic, exaggeration & ridicule, mocks / exposes 1920s America hedonism

• Coming of age novel (Bildungsroman): Typicality - Events spanning 1 summer = later-life coming of age for Nick that changes his outlook on society (a-typical as its so late in his life)

Key symbols / Motifs

• The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock: Ironically symbolises hope, money, the (unattainable, endless pursuit of the) American dream, could be a symbol of everlasting love because it burns through the night - green also connotes envy & sickness

• Cars: Symbols of destruction (Gatsby’s car is described as “monstrous” - newspaper labels Gatsby’s car as the “death car”, signifies the rich upper class’ carelessness for other’s lives) & of status (Tom uses his car to assert social & material superiority, Wilson’s lack of transport means he can’t take Myrtle out of Tom’s reach)

• Clocks: Symbolic of the confusion of time, its power & fragility of relationships; Gatsby leans too hard on the clock, highlighting the pressure he puts on their meeting, he puts all his hopes & dreams into the Daisy of the past & wants it to “repeat” itself, but the clock was already “defunct” and “old”, signifying there’s no way to return to the past & that Gatsby’s attempt to revive their relationship is ultimately futile as it would never work and they wouldn’t return back.

• The valley of Ashes: represents the decaying effects of capitalism - mistreatment of lower class in 1920s consumerist America & the social decay resulting from the incessant pursuit of wealth - suffering of the lower class for luxury of the upper class.

• The eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg: Represent god staring down & judging American society as a moral wasteland - ironically an old advertisement

• East & West Egg: Represent the class divide, West (new money) is so close to East (old money) however will never truly be elite & old money

• Gatsby’s mansion & parties: Signifies hedonism & grandiosity of 1920s America, also a physical symbol of Gatsby’s love for Daisy

Mythical (idealistic)/Fantastical presentation of Daisy

(femme fatale, seductress, siren (sirens lure men out to the sea with their beauty & voice then kill them - parallel to Gatsby):

“I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean towards her…” - ch1

“...her low, thrilling voice…was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.” - ch1

“I think that voice held him most, with its fluctuating, feverish, warmth…that voice was a deathless song.” -ch1

Nick’s sexualised description of Myrtle - contrasting Daisy = Madonna whore complex, Myrtle is objectified for her body due to her lower class status & lack of beauty (unlike Daisy’s ethereal description)

“she carried her flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face…contained no gleam of beauty…but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves in her body were continually smouldering…” -ch2

“her left breast was swinging loose like a flap…” -ch7

Enduring / Lost love - Pathetic fallacy representing the revival of Daisy & Gatsby’s relationship

“it was pouring” originally but “After half an hour, the sun shone again” - Gatsby “literally glowed” reflecting the weather - but it began to rain again at the end of the scene foreshadowing only a brief moment of bliss

Gatsby’s deception - creating a fake, almost impenetrable persona

“They're real... Absolutely real - have pages and everything.” - Ch3 Owl eyes - Gatsby places extreme detail in making his persona believable & authentic

“if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.” - fragility of Gatsby’s dream

“I think he hardly knew what he was saying…before he realized that it wasn’t an appropriate reply…he corrected himself…” -Ch5 - origin of Gatsby’s money is discussed

“...to his conception [of Jay Gatsby] he was faithful to the end.” -Ch6

Nick points out Gatsby’s “elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd.”

“Mrs Wilson had changed her costume…With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change.” -ch2

“furniture entirely too large for it” & “an over-enlarged photograph…”

“the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders. So…He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously…eventually he took Daisy…he had certainly taken her under false pretences.” - ch8

Gatsby’s idealisation of / obsession with Daisy

“There must have been moments…when Daisy tumbled short of his dream - not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything.” -ch5

“...he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through the end…Now…he was running down like an over-wound clock.” - ch5

“He wanted nothing less of Daisy than she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’” -ch6

“She used to be able to understand. We’d sit for hours–” - Ch6, after daisy left his party

“The trouble is that sometimes she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn't know what she's doing.” -undermines her intelligence to fit his illusion

Gatsby loves the idea of Daisy & what she represents: “It amazed him…such a beautiful house…It excited him…that many men had already loved Daisy - it increased her value in his eyes.” -ch8

“Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor.” -ch8

Gatsby’s detachment from everyone

“Gatsby’s notoriety, spread about by hundreds who had accepted his hospitality…Contemporary legends…attached themselves to him…” -ch5

- Gatsby never joins in his own parties - overlooks from above his staircase

- Nobody shows up to his funeral except Nick, Owl eyes, his father & a few servants & “no one arrived except more police and photographers and newspaper men.” -ch9 - “because no one else was interested…with that intense personal interest”

- Could be a wider message about enjoying life, integrating & socialising with others rather than constantly pursuing unobtainable love / the American dream

“'Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead,'” -ch9 Wolfsheim (ironic as he doesn’t attend Gatsby’s funeral)

Gatsby’s preference of illusion / imagination

“...these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; 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.” - ch6

“...in the very casualness of Gatsby’s party there were romantic possibilities…Perhaps…one moment of magical encounter, would blot out those five years of unwavering devotion.” -ch6

“the green light at the end of Daisy's dock…his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him…” -ch9

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us…So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” -ch 9 pursuit of the past is uncontrollable & futile & the American dream isn’t real

Gatsby’s obsession with time & repeating the past

“I wouldn’t ask too much of her…You can’t repeat the past…” - Gatsby “Why of course you can!’ He looked around him wildly as if the past were…just out of reach of his hand. ‘I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,’” -ch6

“He talked a lot about the past…he  wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy.” - ch6

“Just tell him the truth - that you never loved him - and it's all wiped out forever.” - “you want too much!…I love you now - isn't that enough? I can't help what's past.'” -ch7

“He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him.” -ch8

Gatsby’s pure / unwavering love for Daisy - devotion

“It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness…I shall never find again.” -ch1 - rare in consumerist 1920s society, Gatsby is a glimmer of hope

“The modesty of the demand surprised me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths - so that he could ‘come over’ some afternoon to a stranger’s garden.” -ch4 - determination & selflessness through grand gestures, Gatsby attempts to transcend insurmountable barriers to their love

“...he’s read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy’s name.”

“I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes” -ch5, Gatsby places all value in her not materialistic things

“'Was Daisy driving? 'Yes…but of course I'll say I was.” -ch7 Gatsby’s sacrifice for love - it. “He wouldn’t consider…leav[ing] Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. He was clutching at some last hope” -ch8

Practical / realistic / conditional love

“‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman…[who] knew something about good breeding…I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in…” - ch2 - Myrtle- Women value status & power in marriage, (their livelihood depends on it in a patriarchy)

“Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine.” - “half an hour later…the pearls were around her neck and the incident was over. Next day… she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver” Daisy shows initial devotion to Gatsby in her breakdown but ultimately settles for Tom’s practicality.

Myrtle was attracted to Tom’s upper class appearance - “He had on a- dress suit and patent-leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him…I was so excited that…I got into a taxi with him…”

“…that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” -ch1 reflects Daisy’s awareness of the patriarchy, “beautiful”  reflects superficiality of 1920s society

“Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table…his hand had fallen upon and covered her own…They weren't happy…yet they weren't unhappy either…There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy…” -ch7

“something within her was crying for a decision. She wanted her life shaped…and the decision must be made by some force - of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality…That force took shape in…Tom Buchanan.” -ch8

Barriers to love / unobtainable love

“It is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams…” - ch1 Nick - Criticism of Daisy, Tom, general upper class that surrounded Gatsby & ultimately ruined his American dream & led to his death

Time as a barrier to love - “…His head leaned back so far…the clock…tilt[ed] dangerously at the pressure of his head…he turned and caught it with trembling fingers, and set it back in place.” - signifies time’s fragility, Gatsby placing pressure on turning back time only broke Daisy & Gatsby’s relationship further, the clock was already “old” and “defunct” so no matter if he caught it it would never work or turn back time like their relationship, his attempt of pursuit is ultimately futile

“If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay…You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.” - Tom is the most personified, the barrier between Gatsby & Daisy, as well as class, societal expectations & time (all seem to not be physical & theorieticall)

“he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed in its existence before…” - Pammy is physical proof of a barrier to their love

“there's things between Daisy and me that you'll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget?'” -ch7 Tom

“with every word she was drawing further…into herself…only the dead dream fought on…trying to touch what was no longer tangible”

The reasoning for Tom’s actions: a feeling of stagnation & existential emptiness

Nick describes Tom as “one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savours anti-climax.” - Tom stagnates, peaking at 21 resulting in a fundamental boredom with anything less, unexciting married life - this may have driven him to have an affair w// Myrtle “I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking…for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game.” - did he get this drama & excitement by finding out about Daisy’s affair? Did this give him reason to fight for her & give him excitement deep down, is this why they ended up bonding closer?

Desire

Nick about Jordan -  “...for a moment I thought I loved her. But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires…” - in a moment  of close proximity Nick feels a desire however, unlike the other characters he controls it & breaks off his other ‘engagement’ first instead of acting impulsively on passion - acts as the moral compass, character w// sense

Sexualisation of Daisy - Daisy as the victim (of men’s desire)

Jordan telling Nick Daisy’s backstory: “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers…demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” - sexual connotations of officers wanting her for 1 night, Daisy has always been viewed as a sexual object / prized possession by men, for both her youth, beauty & wealth, (not as outright & obscene as Myrtle)

Tom’s carelessness & lack of real love

When Myrtle asks if the dog she wants to purchase is a boy or girl - Tom replies: “‘It’s a bitch…Here’s your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it.” - ch2 reflects his attitude to Myrtle too, she is simply a material possession of temporary distraction & entertainment, he ‘throws money at her’ figuratively by buying her anything she wants because ultimately he only wants her for sex

“the day before the wedding he gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” - Tom technically buys Daisy’s hand in marriage - pearl necklace typically signifies control? - ownership, like a dog leash.

“His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately out of his control.” -ch7 - his carelessness results in him losing everything he thought he had dominance over, but he gets it back in the end

“They were careless people - Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated into their money and their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made...” (chp 9) - represent American elite, don’t abide to social conventions, partake in infidelity but are still the only ones untouched by tragedy

“I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife…Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions…next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.” (chp 8) - Ironic, Tom reflects the patriarchal view, men are allowed to have extramarital affairs but not women. Implications of class/wealth. Upperclass weaponizing conservative traditions when it benefits them. Tom seems more insulted by Gatsby’s social status than Daisy’s affair.

“Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.” -ch7 Tom

“tears were overflowing down his face…” - “he disposed of the situation in a few brisk phrases” -ch7 Tom ‘grieves’ Myrtle

“if you think I didn't have my share of suffering…I sat down and cried like a baby.” - Tom ch9

Close proximity / mere curiosity & exploration of relationships

Jordan & Nick: “Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along…so I drew up the girl beside me…” -both only a mere “curiosity” to each other, forced together by proximity due to suggestions from Daisy that they should date, only exploring the possibility, no real passion

“the formidable stroke of thirty…a decade of loneliness…dies away with the reassuring pressure of her hand” - using the person closest to him to feel less lonely

A lack of passion allows Nick to clearly see Jordan’s flaws: “Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men…because…She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage…”-ch3

“She was incurably dishonest.” - ironic as Nick then claims 'I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.'

CH4: Nick about Jordan: “this clean, hard, limited person, who dealt in universal scepticism…”

Class divide

“I lived at West Egg…the less fashionable of the two”

“above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drifted endlessly over it…The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg…brood over the solemn dumping ground.” -ch2 - Doctor’s eyes serve as a symbolism for God, as society becomes more faithless, silently judging

CH6: “She was appalled by West Egg…appalled by its raw vigour…”

Daisy’s unrequited love

“She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby - nothing.” -ch8