The Great Gatsby Basic Notes (1 Viewer)

[closmo]

The Great Gatsby

• Thwarted love between man and woman
• Takes place during 1922 summer
• 1920s portrayed as an era of social and morale decay (through cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure)
• WWI ended 1918 younger people became disillusioned
• Alcohol was banned, created a thriving business for bootleg alcohol
• Nick and Gatsby: both fought in WWI and exhibit the newfound cynicism
• Social climbers who attend Gatsby's party show the greedy scramble for wealth
• Gatsby's increasing wealth symbolizes the rise of organised crime and 'bootlegging'
• Daisy's social status ruins Gatsby's dream to love her
• Places and objects in TGG have meaning only because the characters give them that meaning: Eyes of T. J. Eckleburg for example
• The weather, matches the mood/emotion of the scene
• Gatsby gives Daisy with an idealised perfection
• Gatsby longs to recreate the past
• When that fails, all Gatsby can do is die, and all Nick can do is return to Minnesota where morals are still standing

The eyes of TJ Eckleburg​

• fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes​
• May represent God staring over them and judging them as a moral wasteland​
• May represent the meaninglessness of the world​

The Valley of Ashes​

• Introduced Chapter 2​
• represents moral and social decay that results in the pursuit of wealth​
• Also symbolises plight of the poor​

The Hollowness of the Upper Class​

• major topic: Sociology and wealth​
• West Egg represents the new wealth​
• East Egg represents the old wealth​
• Fitzgerald presents the new wealth as vulgur and lacking in social graces (Gatsby)​
• Fitzgerald presents the old wealth as graceful, subtle, tasteful and elegance (Daisy/Jordan)​
• BUT old wealth are presented as bullies, the Buchanans exemplify this when they simply move to another house far away, at the end of the novel rather then going to Gatsby's funeral​
• Gatsby on the other hand is loyal, has a good heart, which in the end leads to his death​

Modernism Vs. Romanticism

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• Modernism revealed the harshness and reality of the world, Fitzgerald embraces this and is highly critical of the New York Society​
• Romanticism sees Gatsby as a love story in many ways, Gatsby's sacrificing for Daisy, Nick's coming-of-age.​
• The 'love' is undercut by irony and subversion as Gatsby's love is hollow, Daisy is materialistic and Nick is hardened by everything he has witnessed.
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Gatsby is not in love with Daisy but with the idea and his memories of her. While they obviously have a 'soft-spot' for each other, the emotion is not necessarily real, due to this they find themselves falling short of each other's expectations. It CAN be argued that she becomes involved with gatsby only to seek revenge at Tom's infidelity. This novel is not about love.


What is it about?
This novel is about materialism: Gatsby throws big and outlandish parties to be liked and to find Daisy, he feels like he needs it to be a “good person” and doesn't necessarily like it. Daisy is extremely materialistic, she promised to wait for Gatsby- but she needs to be loved and had a love of expensive things- Tom fit the bill. It is arguable that she was in love, not with him, but with what he possessed.


It is also about the “roaring twenties” and the moral decay that started, due to the disillusionment of the surviving soldiers and their generation.


The novel has a negative attitude towards women- making them deceitful, materialistic, and unfaithful.


Men are seen as arrogant, territorial, and violent.


The novel also concentrates on personal images and dreams/goals, having them unfulfilled and usually not very 'good'.


Quotes?


Gatsby turned out all right 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. Chapter One- Nick


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. Chapter One- Daisy (View on women)


Her voice is full of money Chapter One- Gatsby on Daisy


I married him because I thought he was a gentleman...I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe. Chapter Two- Myrtle (View on women)


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. Chapter Three- Nick (View on the time)


There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams - not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion. Chapter Five- Nick (On Gatsby's idealization of Daisy)


Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans. Chapter Seven (View on materialism)



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