The Great Gatsby

Title of Work: The Great Gatsby

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Date of Publication: April 1925

Genre: Historical fiction

Characteristics of the Genre:

Gives insight to historical time periods by providing a narrative of fictional characters who live in the time period.

Historical Information about the Period of Publication:

Published during the “Roaring Twenties” a time of economic growth after the first World War. Industry and business appeared to be prospering while in reality, the economic gap between the upper and lower classes only widened.

Biographical Information about the Author:

Known as one of the most acclaimed authors of American history, F. Scott Fitzgerald lived during the “Jazz age” of the 1920’s. His most accomplished book was The Great Gatsby.

Plot Summary:

The Great Gatsby is narrated by Nick Carraway, a resident of West Egg. As he moves into the bustling surrounding of New York City, he becomes friends with his next door neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is madly in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy, who lives with her husband Tom Buchanan in “old money” East Egg. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle is all an attempt to lure Daisy into running away with him.

Notable conflicts and significance of each:

Old Money vs. New Money Gatsby was not born into wealth. He gained all of his wealth by bootlegging alcohol. Gatsby longs to belong to the family wealth that Tom Buchanan is a part of.
Gatsby vs. Tom Gatsby has been in love with Daisy ever since their relationship before the Great War. After the war, Daisy married Tom, leaving Gatsby alone. Gatsby believes he deserves Daisy, after all, Tom has a mistress he does not even attempt to hide. The dispute over Daisy indirectly leads to Gatsby’s demise.
Social Class With the boom in the American economy during the 1920’s the wealth gap between the rich and the poor grew even greater. While characters like Gatsby were able to supply alcohol for their lavish parties, characters like Myrtle lived in the industrial wasteland between West and East Egg and New York. This difference in social status creates conflict between characters such as Myrtle and Daisy. Daisy, coming from a high social standing, is therefore more important to society than the characters of lower economic class. This conflict plays out in the influence character have in the plot line. While Nick narrates the story, he does essentially nothing to provide action to the plot.

Description of the Author’s Style:

Fitzgerald’s writing places an emphasis on visual and aural description. His diction is accordingly romantic and lush, even gaudy on occasion, which serves to complement the setting and thematic narrative.

F. Scott Fitzgerald has a type of writing that sets him apart from others. His diction and long, elaborate sentences are ornate but aren’t muddy and confusing. Fitzgerald has a purpose behind his writing and you can see it in his intricate plots and characters. Each character has a personality developed by his skills to capture all aspects of the characters traits to help the reader understand who they really are and the meaning behind their actions. The tone of the Great Gatsby fits the era it’s describing and had been written in. The connections and vocabulary he uses are perfect for the development of the story.

Example that Demonstrates Style and Explanation:

"He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself." – Nick Carraway, describing Gatsby

"The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names." – Nick Carraway, describing one of Gatsby’s parties

Memorable Quotations Including Speaker and Location in Text                 Significance

•  “All I kept thinking about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever; you can't live forever.” – Myrtle Wilson, justifying her relationship with Tom to Nick; Chapter 2

Although Myrtle Wilson is flippant when telling Nick about her fling with Tom, her comment represent more than just her character. The mentality of short-lived, chaotic, over-the-top life permeates the city, and Myrtle’s perspective—the idea that living a short and exciting life is better than a long, boring one—agree with the bright lights, fast cars, liberal alcohol consumption, and grandiose parties that dominate the scene.

• “...and 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....” – Nick Carrway, as narrator in reference to Daisy Buchanan; Chapter 3

Nick’s introspective musings about his feelings for Daisy reflect the conflicts between his conservative, Midwestern disposition and the poisonous atmosphere of the city, the latter having tainted his thoughts, beliefs, and motivations since his migration to New York. Nick is well aware that Daisy is vulnerable and trapped in an unfulfilling marriage, yet he only half-jokes about his moral conscience as “slow-thinking” and “full of interior rules,” both illustrating his character’s lack of fortitude and the process by which the city corrupts its inhabitants.

• “It makes me sad because I've never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.”  — Daisy Buchanan, during her Nick-attended “date” with Gatsby; Chapter 5

Daisy bursts into a fit of uncontrollable sobbing during her visit to Gatsby’s mansion; the cited quote is her answer to Gatsby’s confusion. Hailing from the rural Midwest, Daisy was not exposed to the luxury and decadence of upper-class Manhattan as possessed by Gatsby. The scene is integral to the theme of the narrative because it speaks volumes of the subtle ease with which material excess hypnotizes its victims; victims whose lives, slowly deteriorated by the moral decay of their environment, fall easy to prey to searching out material wealth (and/or alcoholism) as an empty substitution for real happiness.

• “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” – Nick Carraway, as narrator; Chapter 6

By the end of the novel, Nick comes to the realization that Gatsby’s West Egg persona differed significantly from the seventeen-year-old Gatsby. However, Nick is careful in choosing his words; though he believes the contrived Gatsby to be unfaithful to the real James Gatz, he also leaves open the possibility that Gatz, fascinated with his idea of Gatsby, transformed into the character over time; eventually, the masquerade and the person became inseparable. Gatsby portrays the fake, everything-to-everyone paradigm that possesses the West Egg urbanites; in desiring to meet the societal standards of an empty people, each adopts an equally shallow façade, until each person’s public and private personalities become one.

• “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” – Nick Carraway, as narrator, concluding the novel

In closing Gatsby¸ Nick dwells on the nigh-impossibility of achieving escape from a gilded, unrewarding life, frustrated with the superficiality that surrounds him. Disillusioned, Nick seems to implicitly identify with those that are dissatisfied with life but powerless to change the state of society, comparing himself and those like him (“we”) to a vessel doomed to recede back into the irrepressible ennui of a bright but bleak cityscape.

Major Characters

Character’s Name:

Role (What role does this person have in the story?):
FUNCTIONS!

Significance (Why is this character significant to the story?):

Character Traits (What sort of person is this?):

• Jay Gatsby (James Gatz)

Gatsby is a tragic, glorified man in the story who cannot let his love for Daisy go.  Immediately, he is under the skin of Tom Buchanan in a war of Daisy.   Likewise, Gatsby especially affects the ever- boring Nick Carraway as he introduces Nick to a world of glamour, lies, and fortune.

Gatsby serves as an agent of change for he affects everyone that he meets.  His presence alone causes a whole room of people to stare, and yet, he has one single goal of obtaining his lost lover, Daisy.  Due to this incapacitating obsession that is his mortal flaw, Gatsby tears apart everything and anything that is in his way.

Gatsby is a stubborn, slightly self- obsessed, and hopeful person.  With so much hope, Gatsby’s nature is almost crazed throughout the book as he believes that one can “repeat the past.” Similarly, Gatsby also believes that he is immortal or untouchable in a sense as he fears nothing but the loss of his love, Daisy.

• Daisy Buchancan

Daisy Buchanan’s function in The Great Gatsby is to be a trophy.  With her beauty alone, she causes great rivalry between Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby thus driving the plot towards a more aggressive tone. 

Daisy is significant because of the great conflict she unintentionally causes between two men.  A rather static character, her purpose is more to cause both external and internal conflicts with mostly the men in her life.

Fitting the typical stereotype of a blonde girl, Daisy’s personality is one of an airhead.  She does not think through her actions thus leaving other characters vulnerable to her mistakes since has a difficult time thinking for herself.  Likewise, her idea of love is money, money, and more money; she is quite superficial in her love conquests.

• Nick Carraway

Nick Carraway serves as the unreliable narrator for The Great Gatsby.  Rather than creating his own conflicts, Nick falls in line with those of others.  Functioning as more of a wall flower, Nick is friendly with every character despite whatever his personal feelings toward them may be.

Nick serves as a somewhat neutral point of view as the dramatic plot unfolds.  However, since Nick eventually develops his own feelings and viewpoints towards the end, his narration must be classified as unreliable.  Also, Nick serves as a joining point for all the characters as he brings them all together.

During the beginning of the book Nick is a wallflower until he is mentally pushed over the edge by the twisted love conflicts, whether between Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, Jordan, or the Wilsons.  Because of his quiet nature, Nick internalizes the majority of his feelings.

• Tom Buchanan

Tom Buchanan’s function is to be the antagonist of Gatsby.  He creates a love conflict between his current wife, Daisy, and his secret lover, Myrtle Wilson, who is also married.

Tom is significant to the story because he is the primary enemy to Gatsby who is infatuated with his wife.  Due to his less- than- secret affair, Tom drives Daisy towards the open arms of Gatsby.  Likewise, Tom signifies the premise of his “Old Money” versus Gatsby’s “New Money.”

Hoity and harsh, Tom Buchanan is a relatively cruel character.  Though his love lacks commitment, his violent actions do not.  Tom drives his whole entire being into a single purpose of destroying the famous Gatsby.  Easily angered, Tom is unafraid to attack any person- be it Nick, Daisy, or Gatsby.  With such disregard for others, Tom is essentially self- righteous and self- centered.

• Jordan Baker

Although not a major player in the main conflict of Daisy’s love, Jordan functions as a love interest for the stoic Nick Carraway. 

Due to her friendship with Daisy Buchanan, Jordan becomes romantically involved with Daisy’s cousin, Nick.  With relations to Nick, Jordan is the reason for Nick’s introduction to Gatsby on a more personal level.

Jordan is a static character who represents the new era of women emerging during the 1920s.  She, like most of the characters within this book, is self- centered and a liar for she cheats herself through golf.

• Myrtle Wilson

Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan’s secret married lover, functions to drive Daisy towards Gatsby, rather than her cheating husband.  Also, Myrtle’s death causes more issues than when she was living as it murders Gatsby and drives Tom insane.

Myrtle is significant mostly due to her bloody death, because that is what pushes each character to a sort of insanity.  Essentially, her death leads to the eventual ending to all conflicts.

Myrtle is flighty and obsessed with the married Tom Buchanan.  Living an unglamorous life with George Wilson, Myrtle’s only dream is to run off with exceedingly wealthy Tom showing her materialistic nature. 

Description of the Setting(s) and the Mood the Setting(s) Create:

Throughout the novel Fitzgerald depicts various sides of the 1920’s society and tries to recreate the era. East Egg is a representation of the old aristocracy while West Egg houses the newly rich.  The East Egg side is the stereotypical view of old money, and the sense that you have to be born into it to truly belong; however, the West Egg being newly rich and starting a culture of their own tend to spend their money and show it off more, in turn adding a boasting feature to their culture and group.

Significance of the Opening Scene:

Nick Carraway’s opening lines are written with narrator’s voice, reminiscing some father he received from his father when he was younger: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone … just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” Carraway proceeds to foreshadow the events of the rest of the story, stating that, “…after boasting  … of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit.” The opening scene, therefore, sets the framework for societal commentary that appears much later in the story, particularly that which is developed through Carraway’s initially less-than-self-confident character.

Major Symbols, Motifs, Images and Their Significance/Functions to the Text:

The Valley of Ashes
The Valley of Ashes is between West Egg and New York City. It contains a lonely long stretch of land created by the dumping of industrial waste. This waste land represents the moral and social decay as a direct result of the pursuit of wealth.
The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg
The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard overlooking the city. They may represent God watching from above and judging American society as a cultural and moral waste.
The Green Light
Situated between Daisy’s and Gatsby’s lawns, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for “The American Dream”. Therefore making all of his hopes and dreams for the future  with Daisy.

Significance of the Ending/Closing Scene:

Before the final line of the novel (see: quotation #5), Nick spends one last paragraph on Gatsby and the green light, writing: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning——“

Outside the significance inferred from quote analysis #5 (especially with regards to disillusionment), Nick’s penultimate paragraph touches on the idea of nostalgia and the impossibility of perfectly recreating the past. For Gatsby, the green light is an obsession; its emerald luminescence, his perfect world manifested. The older one gets, the less and less attainable his “green light” is, and yet the more driven to reach it he becomes—a mentality, the novel suggests, that leads to ruin.

Themes:

-The Gilded Wealthy are hollow: The wealthy is a theme in the book because the book is surround by the upper-class and what they represent. The wealthy in the book shows how dishonest, misleading, and careless the upper class can be, because they are the ones with money, which in many eyes represents power. The wealthy are “gilded” because they are not as nice as they look, and they also give people a false identity of themselves, because that is how they want to be seen such as Gatsby. The wealthy are also careless, because they can be. The one person they show a bit care about is themselves. Many people would be satisfied with what the wealthy possess, but in the book, the wealthy are clearly not. The affairs are a clear sign of this, because the wealthy cannot just be loyal and be true to themselves as well as others. The wealthy will never be reach their satisfaction, and will do anything which includes hurting people psychically and emotionally, lying, and stealing just to try to reach something they cannot. For example, Gatsby is greedy and will do anything to be rich, Tom will cheat on his wife, and Jordan turns out to have another man in the book.

-Hopeless love leads to alienation, destruction: Hopeless love is a theme in the book because many of the character’s downfall in the book is because of the hopeless love they have for people. The affairs seem to be a normality to them in the book, because they often have affairs and aren’t afraid of people knowing. For example, the time Tom brought Nick into the city and had him meet his mistress that is also having an affair on her husband. As no one is who they say they are, the affairs continue and their “love” for their significant other is hopeless. As the wealthy are gilded, so is their love. Daisy and Gatsby may have been in love in the past, but Gatsby’s love for her is also hopeless, because he cannot just let go of the past. Daisy admitting she never loved Tom makes it that much worse and gives Gatsby hope. Tom will also say he loves Daisy, but his love her hopeless, too, because throughout the book, he cheats with Myrtle.

- Discontentment stems from lack of purpose: The lack of contentment in the characters is shown continuously. Obviously, their lack of satisfaction tremendously affected their marriages and their happiness as well. The dissatisfaction in the Buchanan's marriage caused Daisy to search for love from someone else. Likewise, Daisy's husband Tom seeks for love from Myrtle Wilson. Ironically, Myrtle Wilson is also married. The novel clearly centers on the main characters as they constantly lust for love outside their marriage. In addition, Gatsby desire for a married woman shows that there is a lack of satisfaction in his life, even though he had reached such a high class in the society.

-The power of money and wealth: The wealthy and the poor are explicitly distinguished throughout the Great Gatsby. The East Egg signifies "Old money." They are established wealthy people. On the other side is the West egg, which represent "New money." The west egg mostly consists of the working class. The east egg occupants believe that they are superior to the West egg, and do not socialize with them. The power of wealth is shown when Daisy chooses to marry Tom instead of Gatsby, because of his class and wealth. Another way the importance of wealth to the society is shown was when Gatsby transformed his life so he could reside on the "East egg" and win Daisy back.

Possible Topics/Questions for Class Discussion:

1. What makes Gatsby “great”?
2. Why should Nick be the narrator? Would there have been another character more suited for this job?
3. Could The Great Gatsby be considered a autobiography by the way Fitzgerald describes the qualities of each character. 

Question: How does the author use syntax, diction, and imagery to characterize Gatsby?