the great gatsby

"'I'm p-paralyzed with happiness,'"

(Ch. 1): Shows the performative nature of their social circle.

"It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down..."

(Ch. 1): Daisy uses her charm to manipulate others.

'I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be...'"

(Ch. 1): Daisy recognizes the lack of options for women.

"But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules..."

(Ch. 3): Nick separates himself from the reckless passions of others.

"'I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.'"

(Ch. 3): Nick admits his relationship lacks true depth.

"Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion."

(Ch. 5): Gatsby loves his own idealized version of Daisy, not the real person.

"[He] revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes."

(Ch. 5): Gatsby uses his material wealth to woo Daisy.

"'[They're] such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed..."

(Ch. 5): Daisy expresses affection through material goods.

"His heart beat faster... wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath..." (Ch. 6): Daisy, turning her into a fantasy that cannot survive reality.

(Ch. 6): Daisy, turning her into a fantasy that cannot survive reality.

"'I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before,'"

(Ch. 6): Gatsby seeks to own the past and force a reunion.

"'I did love him once—but I loved you too.'" (Ch. 7): Daisy shatters Gatsby's dream of an exclusive, perfect love.

(Ch. 7): Daisy shatters Gatsby's dream of an exclusive, perfect love.

"'Her voice is full of money,'"

(Ch. 7): Gatsby recognizes Daisy is inseparable from her social status.

"She only married you because I was poor..."

(Ch. 7): Highlights the transactional nature of Daisy's marriage to Tom.

"'I'd like to get one of those pink clouds and put you in it...'"

(Ch. 7): Reflects a superficial, indulgent relationship.

"'There are all kinds of love in this world, but never the same love twice.'"

(Ch. 7): Suggests the uniqueness and fragility of intense love.

"'I go off on a spree... but in my heart I love [Daisy] all the time.'"

(Ch. 7): Tom justifies infidelity, viewing Daisy as property.

"'Gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!'"

(Epigraph): Suggests love is a performance and a commodity.

"They were careless people - Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things..."

(Ch. 9): The Buchanans use wealth to escape the consequences of their recklessness.

"'Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.'"

(Ch. 9): Nick describes his lukewarm, conflicted feelings for Jordan.

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

(Ch. 9): Concludes that chasing the past is a futile endeavour.