AO5

Question 1

Industrialisation in TGG

Answer 1

In “The Great Gatsby,” industrialisation resonates with themes from “Journey to the End of the Night” and “The Waste Land.”

Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s portrayal of working at a Ford plant reflects loss of individuality, echoing the dehumanising effects seen in characters like George Wilson/Gatsby.

T.S. Eliot’s depiction of a mechanised landscape in “The Waste Land” mirrors the environmental decay portrayed in TGG, both symbolizing the negative consequences of industrial progress.

Question 2

Implication that TGG is a satire

Answer 2

Fitzgerald’s publisher Scribner placed seven advertisements in The Saturday Review of Literature. The second ad on April 25th was captioned “F. Scott Fitzgerald, Satirist”

Question 3

Representation of America

Gatsby

Answer 3

AO5) Lionel Trilling: Gatsby “comes inevitably to stand for America itself”

The novel’s conclusion transforms Gatsby’s fate into a mythic allegory for the direction of the American nation and for the struggles and dreams of its citizens

Nick Carraway, the narrator, is able to look beneath the superficial surface and sees a vital American hope, seeing Gatsby as the embodiment of this national impulse

Gatsby’s story is portrayed as a collective American narrative, with his fate intertwined with that of the nation (assuming ignorance of his previous characterisation-see OneNote)

Referenced by Barbara Will when analysing the ending of TGG

Question 4

Construct of American society/body

Name critic + Modernity thereof

Answer 4

Ben Ghan (2020~Modern)

“The city demands that the American body must perform as this normative body. Bodies that fail to ‘pass’ under this rigid construct are under constant threat of having their humanity, agency, and autonomy stripped away.”

Gatsby as obscuring his race/class
Irene/Clare obfuscating their race

those who “self-identify as white, heterosexual, and upper class”

Question 5

TGG and Passing as a Tragedy