The Great Gatsby Chapters 1-3

Nick Carraway

• Acts as a foil for the other characters

• His morality contrasts with Jordan Baker’s, yet he persists to love her

“Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.” (65)

• Quite passive一Fitzgerald uses him to illuminate various parts of the inner narrative

  • He doesn’t speak much and meanders

Jay Gatsby

• Symbolizes the American dream

“Gatsby turned out alright at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.” (4)

• Dream=the American dream

“it was an extraordinary gift for hope” (4)

• He’s a hopeless romantic looking for love (Daisy)

  • He looks out at the green light on the horizon

    • Green:

      • Avarice and money

      • The American dream

• Has good parties

  • He’s charming

  • He doesn’t drink nor use his money

  • The drunk driving scene at the end of his first party

    • Fitzgerald interpretation of the American dream

The Valley of Ashes (26-27)

• A cross-section between West Egg and East Egg

• Desolate, the byproduct of the consumerism

• People who cannot compete in the capitalistic system

• The colors in Gatsby’s party contrasts the bleak parts of society outside the party

  • The color grey furthers this idea

• Dr. Eckelberg

  • Comparable to the eyes of god

    • Religion is absent

    • Symbolic of how nobody can avoid materialism

  • Yellow spectacles:

    • Opulence and joy but also annoyance and irritability

      • Daisy

      • Gatsby’s Station Wagon

    • Associated to decay and death

      • Yellow Leaves

    • Double meaning could represent the emptiness of seemingly accomplished people similar to the term “The Gilded Age”

      • Women at Gatsby’s party

  • Blue eyes:

    • Tranquility and loneliness

      • Gatsby’s garden

West Egg and East Egg

• New money & self-made (West Egg,) and old money and inheritance (East Egg)

• Luxury

  • Time of prosperity and consumerism after the war

Restlessness after war

“[..]dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game.”(8)

• What tom wanted after the height of his football season

• This quote could be a metaphor that everything after the war (climax) seemed meaningless and had no thrill

“one of those men who reach such acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax.” (8)

• After the war, everyone was restless so they had to make up for this by extravagance

  • The Jazz Age

  • Partying during the prohibition → thrill

Meandering nature of the book

• Shows people have been stuck in the pattern of extravagance for some time

Sexism

"I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." (20)

• Daisy on her newborn baby

• Could reflect Fitzgerald’s opinion

• Some sexist comments could perhaps be sympathetic, as women had it very hard

• Unhappy marriages

  • No satisfaction in others → perhaps because of the focus on consumerism but not on deep values

• New Women

  • Women gaining rights and independence

  • Jordan Baker is an athlete

    • More independent than most

  • Women at Gatsby’s parties are not chaperoned → more independence

  • Unhappy marriages

    • Divorce is acknowledging a failed marriage → people were not ready to accept failure

    • The divorce had an impact on the reputation

Myrtle Wilson

• Buying the puppy and wearing the chiffon dress (pretending she has many more) → Desperate attempts to appear rich

• Rich persona: aloof

• Aloofness: distract from their unhappy situation