(PP. 40-45) Literature Section III: Nick Carraway → Tom Buchanan (ACADEC '25-'26)

Who is our window into into “The Great Gatsby”?

Nick Carraway

How is “The Great Gatsby” presented?

As Nick’s written recollections of his time on the East Coast

Everything we read in “The Great Gatsby” is?

Filtered or focalized through Nick’s perspective

What family is Nick from?

A well-to-do Midwestern family

Does Nick consider himself part of the true upper-crust of the American elites?

No

What is evidence that Nick doesn’t consider himself part of the true upper-crust of the American elites?

His amazement at Tom’s wealth: “It was hard to realize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that”

What people is Nick very quick to judge?

The truly wealthy, as he does in the novel’s final sections where he describes them as being “careless” and quick to harm and then dispose of others

Is Nick working class or middle class?

He’s neither

Nick’s judgments of Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby are not necessarily judgments of what?

Economic systems, or exploitations of those systems, by which these people came into enormous wealth

Whose writings, unlike Fitzgerald, are anti-capitalist?

Upton Sinclair or Frank Norris

Unlike the work of Upton Sinclair or Frank Norris, Fitzgerald’s writings were?

While suspicious of the negative effects of wealth, are hardly anti-capitalist

What kind of narrator is Nick?

An unreliable narrator

What do we often think of unreliable narrators as?

Narrators who lie or deliberately mislead us

Who originally developed the unreliable narrator?

Wayne C. Booth

In what did Wayne C. Booth create the unreliable narrator?

The Rhetoric of Fiction

When did The Rhetoric of Fiction release?

1961

What did the unreliable narrator term begin as?

A way for literary critics to designate statements or thoughts by a narrator that differs from the inferred beliefs and values of the author; or, a narrator that expressed judgment that the author wouldn’t agree with

What is James Phelan’s profession?

Narrative theorist

Who gave readers useful terminology for the different types of unreliability?

James Phelan

What are reader’s 3 central tasks, according to Phelan?

They report things to the reader; they evaluate things (tell readers what things are good, bad, etc.); and they interpret things (decide what things mean, significance)

How can a narrator unreliably report?

By lying, misstating, or misremembering events

How can a narrator unreliably evaluate?

By making a value judgment that is not endorsed by the narrative

How can a narrator unreliably interpret?

By drawing a conclusion that is inaccurate, misguided, or incomplete

Do we have much unreliable reporting from Nick?

No, as he was wither directly present or provides a source for a secondhand event (Jordan and Gatsby’s recollections about Louisville or Michaelis’s statements about George Wilson at the inquest about Myrtle’s death)

What is Nick not recognizing or understanding?

Recognizing something about himself that influences how he perceives or interprets events, or not fully understanding the significance of what is happening

Who said: “The very events of that summer of Nick’s initiation into Eastern life elude analysis because of Nick’s deliberate omissions and ambiguities in rendering his account of it”?

R.W. Stallman

Who said: “His facts resist reduction to simple certitude”?

R.W. Stallman

What’s an example of Nick’s unreliability?

• He casually mentions several times that he left the Midwest in part because of some difficulties regarding an engagement that may or may not have been broken off

• He also enters into a fling at his office that he calls off because of some suspicious glances from her brother

What is Nick often engaged with?

Women in ways that he chooses not to explain in detail

How does Nick describe himself?

“One of the few honest people that I have ever known”

Why does Nick think he’s one of the only honest people he knows?

Because of his belief in his ability to be honest with himself

How does Nick demonstrate that he is perfectly capable of being disingenuous as the people he criticizes?

In his refusal to fully break off the engagement back home, and in his refusal to be fully honest about his affairs with women

There is ultimately not a single character in “The Great Gatsby” whose?

Judgments can be completely trusted

Who portrayed Nick Carraway in “The Great Gatsby” (1926)?

Actor Neil Hamilton

Are Nick’s judgments completely biased or faulty?

No

What kind of observer is Nick?

An astute observer, noticing, for instance, that other people behave physically in ways that communicate something about their personality

Why does Tom Buchanan stand aggressively?

To assert dominance

Why does Daisy whisper?

In order to draw you closer and force you to pay attention to her

Why does Jordan often remain physically still?

In order to command reverence

Why does Gatsby tend to look at you so intently?

So that you become charmed by his stare and more willing to listen to him

What is at the root of the most significant transformation that Nick undergoes during his time in NY?

Judgment

What did Nick feel was important to reserve judgment of others to preserve?

“Infinite hope”, at the beginning of his time in NY and at the advice of his father

What is an admirable quality?

The desire to hold off on judging someone to give them the benefit of the doubt

What does Nick come to recognize the need to?

Make certain judgments, especially about the behavior of the extremely wealthy who

How does Nick describe the extremely wealthy?

A “rotten crowd” who “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made”

What desire did Nick might’ve held onto at the beginning of his time in New York?

To not fully judge Tom and Daisy for what they left in their wake

By the end of Nick’s time in NY, what does Nick recognize about the behavior of his friends?

For the cruelty that it truly is

How does Nick’s character development manifest?

As a change in his moral values: he no longer feels that withholding criticism is always a moral good and believes that some behavior truly deserves judgment

Between what chapters does nick take a backseat in the action?

Between Chapters 3 and 9

What is Nick capable of doing in the story?

Disappearing into the story, at least in the sense that he doesn’t take any actions that have significant consequences for the overall ploy

What does Nick usually do to disappear into the storu?

Follows others, willing to be an additional body at a party or a casual observer slightly in the background

What are very much actions by Nick, despite him not having consequences on the plot?

His perception of events, his judgments of others, and his moral judgments

Interpreting Nick’s character is less about?

Judging his behavior than about judging what he says and thinks about the behavior of other characters

What is one of the central ironies of “The Great Gatsby”?

How little Gatsby himself is actually in it

When does Gatsby actually show up in “The Great Gatsby”?

The end of chapter 1, but only as a silhouette

Until what page does Gatsby disappear after the end of chapter 1?

Page 48

What does Nick realize in page 48?

That the man he recognized from the war is actually Gatsby

What fraction of the novel is Gatsby actually present for?

1/3

Even when Gatsby is in the later chapters, he’s often what?

An enigma to those around him

Who mostly communicates Gatsby’s backstory?

Jordan, Tom, and even Meyer Wolfshiem

When does Gatsby fill in the blanks himself of his past?

Chapter 8 when he details his past romance with Daisy to Nick

Who is both at the heart of the novel and yet never fully revealed to us?

Gatsby

Who do we never get to enter their mind or get a privileged glimpse into his psyche?

Gatsby

Who plays Daisy Buchanan in the first stage adaptation of “The Great Gatsby”?

Florence Eldridge

Who plays Jay Gatsby in the first stage adaptation of “The Great Gatsby”?

James Rennie

What is understand about Gatsby because mich of what we know about him comes from others?

Understanding his character

How was Jay Gatsby born?

James Gatz in North Dakota to a poor farming family

How was Gatsby as a child?

High ambitions and destined for great things: “But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night”

What did Gatz do without a plan for how to achieve his fantasies?

Worked on Lake Superior as a clam-digger and salmon-fisher; tried to go to college for a few weeks but dropped out “dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny” and ultimately returned to Lake Superior where he met Dan Cody

How does Nick describe Gatz’s transformation into Gatsby?

Springing “from his Platonic conception of himself”

What did Gatsby believe in, according to Nick?

An ideal version of himself and then created it from nothing

What does Gatsby do using the money and connections that Cody provides him?

Skips many of the steps that most of us must got through: he doesn’t learn a trade, or go to school, or work his way up in a profession or a community

What does Gatsby do instead of going through many of the steps we must go through?

He tries to simply create a character and play a role, hoping that doing so will help make that version of himself more “real” than his actual self

What does Gatsby do because his desire to create his real self is so strong?

Become involved in organized crime and bootlegging

What explains why Gatsby is so desperate to get Daisy back?

The desire to be in total control of his identity and destiny

What is more important to Gatsby about Daisy than loving her?

He “wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy”

What does Gatsby feel very strongly about Daisy?

That she’s crucial to his dream for himself

How does Gatsby frame his choice to pursue Daisy?

As a turning away from his fullest ambitions

What season had it been when Gatsby and Daisy kissed?

An Autumn night

How many years before had Gatsby kissed Daisy?

5 years

Where did Gatsby and Daisy stop 5 years before when they met?

They had been walking down the street when the leaves were falling, and they came to a place where there were no trees and the sidewalk was white with moonlight

What did Gatsby see in the corner of his eye when he and Daisy went for a walk?

The blocks of the sidewalks really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees

What could Gatsby do if he climbed the ladder formed from the sidewalks alone?

He could suck on the pap of like, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder

How was Gatsby feeling when Daisy’s white face came upon his own?

His heart was beating faster and faster

What did Gatsby know would happen when he kissed Daisy, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath?

His mind would never romp again like the mind of God

What did Gatsby wait to listen for before he kissed Daisy?

To the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star

What did Gatsby do after listening to the tuning fork?

He kissed Daisy

What happened when Daisy and Gatsby kissed?

She blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete

What does Gatsby mention to Nick about his visions of life?

They were only visions that were possible by himself

Where is the place that Gatsby had been working toward where he could finally achieve his fantasies of total self-manifestation?

The “secret place above the trees”

What is Gatsby willingly surrendering by choosing Daisy?

His sense of self, some idea he has about his own ability to truly create himself in this world

What helps explain Gatsby’s relentless desire to reunite with Daisy?

Gatsby feels that he gave up something to be with Daisy, and if he doesn’t have Daisy then that loss was for nothing

What, therefore, defines Gatsby?

An overwhelmign desire to have something that is lost

Why can Gatsby not conceive of a world in which things are truly irrecoverable?

Doing so would involve surrendering control over his self-hood

What does Daisy Buchanan often get?

A bad rap

Is some of the negative perception about Daisy having a bad rap appropraite?

Yes, she’s a part of the “careless” upper class, and her actions are calculated and performative as those of any of the other image-obsessed people around her

What actions does Daisy Buchanan do that earns her bad rap?

Her sly habit of whispering so as to draw people closer to her

Is Daisy a soulless, conniving backstabber?

No

Understanding what character is crucial to understanding the novel and its representation of the challenges of living with regrets and dashed hopes?

Daisy Buchanan

Who said: “Daisy, in fact, is more victim than victimizer”?

Leland S. Person